The Crisis
Columbia River fisheries are in Chaos
• Wild salmon populations, many of which are already listed as threatened or endangered species, are dwindling.
Businesses, communities and families dependent upon successful salmon runs and regular salmon seasons are on the brink of the disaster.
Fisheries agencies attempt to balance sport and non-Indian commercial gill-net fisheries within tight Endangered Species Act (ESA) constraints resulting in irregular and unpredictable season.
The Oregon economy, already constricted, is facing the collapse of a multi-million dollar sport fishing industry that employs thousands of Oregonians and adds tens of million to the Oregon tax base.
The Lower Columbia commercial gill net fleet is also struggling under the status quo.
The Status quo is failing
• The controversy of how to manage competing sport and commercial fishing interests on the Lower Columbia is decades old and has worsened with time.
The ESA impacts, designed to aid in the recovery of listed species of salmon, dictate the harvest rates which, in turn, dictate the length of the salmon season.
Columbia River fisheries harvests are limited to well below 10% impact on endangered or threatened fish, with some fisheries such as spring chinook, limited to just 2% impact. When the handling mortality of sport and gill-net fisheries combined reaches 2% of the projected run, the spring chinook season is over. Sportfishing seasons get shorter each year.
Today, there simply are not enough ESA impacts to allow meaningful, dependable sport fisheries as well as substantial lower Columbia River commercial gill-net fisheries in the mainstem.
Current management practices are hurting the salmon dependent industries and are causing conflict between commercial and sport interests.
• Competition over a dwindling resource, exacerbated by strict ESA restraints, have led to bitter disagreement between commercial and sport fishers preventing cooperation on Columbia river issues.
Sportsmen are frustrated by reduced fishing seasons, halved daily limits, abrupt closures and increased license fees.
Commercial fishermen are frustrated by short seasons and mainstem constraints on protected salmon and steelhead, putting harvestable hatchery salmon off limits.
Businesses, including those in the restaurant, tourism and manufacturing industries, suffer devastating economic losses when the states of Oregon and Washington curtail salmon seasons. Sportfishing supports nearly 31,000 jobs in the Pacific Northwest. Many are directly tied to the Columbia River.
In 2006, Oregon sportfishing accounted for:
623,455,292 in retail sales
$1,025,071,246 in “ripple effect” dollars
$71,746,495 in Oregon State Tax revenue
These industries are crucial to local and state economies and cooperation and innovation will be required to finding a way forward.
Current management practices are not improving listed fish populations.
• Salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia Basin continue to decline with 13 out of 18 species now on Federal threatened or endangered lists.
Conservationists site the unintentional harvest or bycatch of protected fish, a consistent problem with gillnetting and other nonselective fishing techniques, and negative genetic impacts resulting from hatchery salmon mixing with wild salmon on spawning grounds as major problems that need to be addressed.
A Solution is Needed