Originally Posted By: bushbear

The protocols already exist in the statutes for the Commission to set such rules on manner of take. It would be much easier (used loosely) for the WAC to be amended than to allow the legislature to get involved. There are inherent risks in establishing take rules by statute.



bushbear ... That is a good point, often what seems like a good idea can have unintended consequences. It is possible that if there was an interest in a commercial hook and line fishery that ODFW, WDFW, and some of the commercial fishery organizations good get funding from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council for a couple years to establish the fishery and evaluate it's success. The amount of money that is spent to maintain the fishery as it exist now, to reduce bycatch, to run hatchery programs, to monitor catch, and the cost of establishing allocation is far more than the NEV of the fishery. I think some of those costs can be reduced by a different commercial harvest technique. The REI would remain the same or maybe even go up.