Washington fishery officials are proposing size and bag limits for walleye and bass in the Columbia River and tributaries contiguous with Oregon be eliminated beginning in July of 2016.
A public meeting to take comments on the proposal, plus rule changes for freshwater areas of Puget Sound and the Washington coast, will begin at 6 p.m. Monday at the Department of Fish and Wildlife office, 2108 Grand Blvd.
Comments will be accepted by the agency through Nov. 4. The state Fish and Wildlife Commission will listen to testimony on the proposed rules when it meets Nov. 13 and 14 in Olympia. The panel will vote on the proposals in December.
Washington’s walleye limit for the lower Columbia River currently is 10 fish per day with up to five longer than 18 inches and one longer than 24 inches. There is no minimum size for walleye.
Washington’s lower Columbia bass regulations include a daily limit of five with no more than three longer than 15 inches. There is no minimum size for bass.
Oregon also is proposing to deregulate bass and walleye fishing in the lower Columbia. Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission heard testimony Friday in Salem on the deregulation plan.
Mike Gauvin, recreational fisheries program manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said eliminating restrictions on the catch of warmwater species in the Columbia matches with Oregon’s goal to prioritize recovery of salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
A staff report prepared by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife states, “While it is unlikely the removal of bag limits will have any real biological effect on salmon and steelhead, it sends a message that the recovery of ESA-listed species is the priority and that fish managers will take all the actions they can to reduce these threats.”
Bud Hartman of Portland, a life member of the Oregon Bass and Panfish Club, told the Oregon commission that state and federal research in John Day pool in the mid-1980s found that salmon and steelhead smolts were 0.02 percent of the stomach contents of sampled smallmouth bass.
Smolts and bass occupy different locations in the water column and smallmouth have no problem finding forage when smolts are not passing down the Columbia, he said.
“To point a finger at smallmouth bass is a witch-hunt at best,” Hartman said.
Removing the bag limits won’t reduce bass because most anglers release them, he said.
“It sends a negative message to the rest of the nation that we have devalued this resource,” Hartman said.
Larry Butts of Grants Pass, a Coastal Conservation Association-Oregon member, said research shows high predation by smallmouth bass on young fall chinook in Washington’s Yakima River.
Sara LaBorde of the Wild Salmon Center, a former high-ranking Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife official, said eliminating the catch limits for warm-water species shows a priority for salmon recovery by addressing all limiting factors.
She called it “an important first step.”
Erica Stock, executive director of the Native Fish Society, said warm water species are “pretty major predators” to salmon and steelhead. She urged Oregon to remove bags limits on warm-water species statewide.
Lonnie Johnson, conservation director of Oregon Bass Nation, said warm-water anglers are 25 percent of Oregon fishing license sales.
Edward Chinn of Gresham, Ore., president of the Bass Federation of Oregon, said bass tournaments scattered across Oregon bring money to many small communities.
Bob Judkins of Portland, also an OBPC member, suggested a different way to recover ESA-listed salmon and steelhead.
“Stop harvesting them,” he said.
