SW, it's a variation on the exact same thing I say every time the issue comes up with regards to the lower Columbia stuff going on now...it is a very INappropriate place to do it for any reason other than increased commercial harvest...it's the only factor that will benefit from doing it there.

As I said above, many folks have just flat out accepted, with no knowlege of how the fisheries there work, or even what "selective" means, that purse seines will save the Columbia River, and that you're a "gillnet lover" if you try to explain to them even the most rudimentiary factors involved in coming to a useful opinion on it.

Wherever there are ESA fish present, you will need a permit from the Feds to conduct a fishery. The permit is called an Incidental Take Permit, and its only two functions are to determine thru consultation whether or not the proposed fishery will cause the extinction of the ESA fish present, and if not, then to set out the amount of ESA fish that are allowed to be incidentally taken...i.e., killed.

So long as there are ESA fish present, this is how fisheries are conducted...and will continue to be so conducted unless the ESA is repealed (not likely), the states agree amongst themselves to further limit their catch to levels below what the ESA allows (also very unlikely), or the fish are delisted (unlikely to recover, more likely to be delisted in the more common way, by going extinct.)

Fish on...

Todd