Grays Harbor Salmon Fishery meeting is tomorrow
January 10, 2014KXRO Newsradio
Tomorrow morning, hundreds of local fisherman could be in Tumwater asking the Department of Fish and Wildlife to ban commercial gill netting locally.

According to the official schedule, on Saturday, January 11th at 9am at the Comfort Inn Conference Center in Tumwater, department staff will “brief the Commission on Grays Harbor salmon fishery management and discuss challenges, provide an update on the public process and seek further guidance from the Commission”.

The public will be able to speak following the presentation.

Local anglers are hoping that over 300 people will attend the meeting to ban commercial gill netting in Grays Harbor. According to Sportsman for Change, their plan is to “Let the commission know that it is no longer acceptable for WDFW to spend 250,000.00 to 300,000.00 per year on over-seeing a commercial fishery for 20 to 30 commercial fishermen.” They say that the money should be spent on hatchery production and reform to, “Boost the numbers in the basin, providing more opportunity for the thousands of sports fishers who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, in the region. “

According to event organizers, the meeting will be the last time to speak in front of the commission prior to their February 14th vote on the Grays Harbor Management Plan.