ASTORIA — Gov. Kate Brown is criticizing the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s decision to continue allowing the use of gillnets along the lower Columbia River.
Last month, Oregon’s volunteer commission voted 4-3 to indefinitely extend gillnets on the Columbia in certain seasons, while also awarding commercial fishermen a larger-than-expected share of the salmon runs in the fall. The move came a week after a similar panel in Washington reached a compromise to extend some gillnetting until 2019, while promoting the use of alternative methods to the long-debated practice. Washington also said it would “aggressively pursue” a program to buy back gillnet licenses from commercial users.
Brown expressed her displeasure Thursday in a letter to Commission Chairman Michael Finley, The Daily Astorian reported. She asked the panel to comply with state policy and the previous agreement made with Washington, which voted to end gillnetting in two years.
Oregon and Washington had pledged to phase-out gillnets on the main channel of the river as part of a compromise that averted a messy ballot fight in Oregon in 2012. The reforms didn’t apply to tribal fisheries.
Lawmaker promises ‘dog fight’ over gillnets
The compromise briefly muted the long-standing rift between commercial fisherman and sport anglers over the level of access to prized salmon runs on the river, which are heavily regulated due to the presence of 13 endangered or threatened species of salmon and steelhead.
Environmentalists and sport fishers oppose the use of gillnets, saying it doesn’t distinguish between wild and hatchery fish. They have long asked the commission to limit gillnetting on the river’s side channels.
Commercial fisherman, though, argue that banning gillnetting in the river is a threat to their livelihood.
– From staff and wire reports
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