The Clark-Skamania Flyfishers have chastised the Department of Fish and Wildlife, telling state officials if they want the club’s support for an anticipated 2017 license fee increase proposal then sport fishing needs to be given priority.
At point is the commercial salmon season on May 11, when the net fleet fished from in the lower Columbia River two days prior to reopening sport fishing.
The Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee met on May 9 and determined the upper Columbia-Snake spring chinook run would be close to the initial forecast of 188,800 salmon.
That updated forecast frees the states of Washington and Oregon from a 30 percent buffer against under forecast and over harvest.
The Columbia River Compact met the next day, May 10, and adopted a 14-hour commercial fishing period beginning at noon on May 11 using 4.25-inch maximum mesh nets.
Officials also adopted three additional days of sport fishing, beginning May 13.
The Clark-Skamania Flyfishers have multiple concerns about the May 11 fishery, wrote Mark Heirigs, club conservation chair, in a letter to director Jim Unsworth.
Conservation issues aside, netting for 14 hours two days before opening a sport fishery “fuels the perception of your agency being biased in favor of commercial fishing interests due to your staff chronically accommodating commercial fishers needs while ignoring the benefits provided your agency by recreational fishing license buyers,’’ wrote Heirigs.
It may be the two-day delay in opening the sport season had no real impact on recreational opportunity, he said.
“Regardless, the perception is that your agency is biased in favor of the gillnet fleet, and perception is reality,’’ wrote Heirigs.
If the Department of Fish and Wildlife plans next year to ask sportsmen to support increased license fees, then recreational fishing needs priority, he added.
License fees and the Columbia River endorsement fee generate $10 million annually for the agency, compared to less than $100,000 a year in lower Columbia commercial license fees, Heirigs wrote.
Guy Norman, regional director for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, said several factors lead to the timing of the two fisheries in mid-May.
The sport fishery is allocated 70 percent and the commercial fishery 30 percent of the wild-fish impacts for the entire spring season.
Fish and Wildlife Commission policy puts a larger buffer on the early spring commercial season giving recreational fishery priority for March and April.
“In May, if the run size is updated near the forecast, the commercial fishery has more of their allocation left to catch,’’ Norman said. “If the run is well below forecast, then both fisheries will not likely have any fish left to harvest in May.’’
At the time of the May 10 compact, the commercials had caught just 37 percent of their allocation, while the sportsmen in the lower Columbia had taken 70 percent.
Price per pound for chinook also drops after mid-May as fish come on the market from other locations, he said.
Also, the Washington and Oregon commissions want 4.25-inch-mesh tangle nets used as much as possible in the lower Columbia spring chinook commercial seasons.
However, those small-mesh nets are difficult to use as the shad run builds in the lower Columbia, he said.
By mid-May, more shad enter in the lower river every day.
Shad get caught in the nets and take time to clear. Wild spring chinook destined to be released spend more time in the net as the commercial fisherman picks through the shad, he added.
“To ensure that the commercial fishery has an opportunity to efficiently harvest their allocation, we need to get them back in the water as soon as possible after the run-size update,’’ he said.
