ACTION ALERT:

SPORT/COMMERCIAL SPLIT TO BE DECIDED BY OREGON AND WASHINGTON FOR
COLUMBIA RIVER SPRING CHINOOK.

This is a three year agreement! Are you going to shape your future or sit back and wait for it to happen


our fishery should not be shut down by gill netters inability to manage their high mortality rates. It is critical that WDFW staff develop and present a plan to separate the impacts of the two fisheries on one another.

It is simply wrong for sport anglers to lose fishing days because gill netters quickly wipe out their allocation percentage using a technique that was banned on every other river in the state of Washington.

Sport fishers and the tourism economy they support should not be penalized while the commercial fleet solves its problems with selective fisheries and high release mortalities. It's not fair.

Through a series of complex models, NSIA has identified that a sport fishing season would be fully realized in most years if 1.2% of the catch (out of the allowed 2% allocation) was reserved for sport angling below McNary Dam.

Given the tens of thousands of anglers, fishing guides and businesses, this makes sense as an equitable solution.

However, gill net representatives have put on the table a proposal that would reduce the sport catch impacts by 30%!

Please do what you can to help keep our seasons strong.

Any noise that we can make WILL BE HEARD!!

Any little bit helps.

Below is a form letter that I stole from Pete at IFISH (I hope you don't mind Pete =) )
Please fill in the blanks and send it in

Dear ________________________;

I am a sport fisher concerned about the upcoming 3 year agreement for the allocation of Spring Chinook Salmon in the Columbia River. Please do everything in your power to ensure that sport fishers are given a fair opportunity to pursue these prized fish, seven days a week, without risk of premature closure due to the impacts of other less discriminate forms of fishing, through the month of April. Sport fishers should be given 1.2% of the 2% allowable impact below McNary dam, to ensure that the economic benefit of the sport season will be fully realized. Sport fishers have suffered abbreviated seasons in the past due to commercial over-fishing and high release mortality rates. Please help ensure that this doesn’t happen again by providing an equitable allocation and a fair season!

Let’s get Washington's economy going again! Let’s start by making the right choices for Washington citizens by providing a full, fair Columbia River spring sport chinook season!


Yours truly,


Your Name
Your Address
Your State Senate District (if you know it, find it from the link below)
Your State Representative District (if you know it, find it from the link below)
Your phone number

Write your letter to the Fish & Wildlife Commission expressing your support for the NSIA proposal (600 Capitol Way N #43149, Olympia, WA 98501 1091, Fax 360 902 2947). Tell them to establish effective protocols that help ensure the sport fishery is not damaged by the commercial fishery. Copy your letter to Governor Locke 503 378 3225, and your legislator.

http://access.wa.gov/

Sending this back up to the top. Will send in a letter. So will the NSIA proposal be discussed/defended/lobbied for at North of Falcon? I'm not very knowledgeable about the process. Perhaps Smalma can provide some input here.


By the way, how many posts do I have to make before I can become "Man Candy"

I saw this posted on another site and have already sent my letters.

Everyone who utilizes this fishery, should get involved and send some letters. It doesn't take much time, and it will make a difference.

Great idea ! I am concerned, however, with the "through April" part in the letter. I live in Pendleton and so do nearly all of my fishing below McNary. Guys fishing below Bonn. have been catching springers for 4-6 wks before we get substantial numbers up here. So "through April" won't protect us upriver guys much, we need "through May" as well.

Best Regards,

RM