From Region 6

Greetings,

Sorry there hasn’t been much news from the North of Falcon front. Some of us are running on 3-4 straight weeks without a day off and have been working our rear ends off.

With regards to the Sport Fishing Pamphlet, I’ve indicated in the past that the North of Falcon and pamphlet process do not line up well with the APA process. To partially address that mis-match, WDFW will be moving the pamphlet to a July through June publication next year. Then the APA process will line up better with most salmon regulations, except spring chinook fisheries. In the meantime, we have a need to get the pamphlet to the printer this week. To that end, we have taken a shot at what we believe our CR-102 package for recreational fisheries will look like and put those into the Pamphlet. If at the conclusion of the APA process and public input, a recreational season is changed, we will address the change through an errata to Pamphlet.

We have a meeting scheduled with Quinault tribe tomorrow and hope to conclude our discussions with them. I don’t know whether I will have a chance to report to you after the meeting because I intend to take Friday off come hell or high water. I’ll try to get something out early next week.

With regards to the commercial seasons, Grays Harbor will hopefully come to some resolution in discussions with Quinault tomorrow. Willapa Bay will likely take a bit longer. We need to ensure we have carefully reviewed and considered the abundant public input before finalizing a proposal.

We have discussed the potential of an additional public meeting to present the Department’s proposals for Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. At this time, I can’t give a potential date until I’m sure that we have a solid foundation for the commercial packages, which we don’t at this time.

I hope this helps bring everyone up to speed. I appreciate your patience as we work through the numerous issues.

Cheers.

Steve Thiesfeld
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Region 6 Fish Program Manager
48 Devonshire Road, Montesano, WA 98563
Steven.Thiesfeld@dfw.wa.gov
360-249-1201