[ODFW-News] Commission Adopts Expanded Ocean Sport Salmon Seasons

[ODFW News]

Sorry for the delay. E-mail was down Friday.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 	
Contact: 	Anne Pressentin Young (503) 872-5264 x5356	
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us  Fax: (503) 872-5700
	
For Immediate Release	Friday, April 11, 2003

Commission Adopts Expanded Ocean Salmon Season for 2003
Wolf planning process moves forward

PORTLAND - The allowed catch for ocean-caught coho off the central Oregon coast will nearly quadruple this summer compared to last year due to abundant hatchery-bred coho, under rules adopted Friday by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. 

The allowed catch for hatchery-bred coho between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mountain is 88,000 fish compared to 22,500 in 2002. 

In addition, the Commission changed the sport angling rules for the ocean and the Columbia River Buoy 10 fishery to allow each angler on a boat to continue fishing until each individual on the boat has reached his or her daily catch limit. However, the rule change will not allow any individual angler to exceed the personal daily bag limit. 

The practice is currently legal in Washington and common in other west coast fisheries. Allowing anglers to continue to deploy angling gear can have the effect of increasing the chances of everyone on a boat reaching the daily catch limit. Thus, it is seen as a way to increase Oregon tourism and to encourage young anglers to enter the sport.

The Commission is the rule-making body for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The seven-member panel meets monthly to establish policies and administrative regulations for the agency to implement.

The following ocean sport salmon regulations were adopted Friday for state waters inside of three miles:
·	Leadbetter Point, Wash. to Cape Falcon, Ore.: The season is open June 29 - Sept. 30, or until the coho quota is reached. The catch quotas are 112,500 coho and 12,700 chinook. Angling is allowed Sunday through Thursday, although an in-season change could allow angling every day. The daily limit is two salmon, with only one being a chinook. All coho must be missing their adipose fin, identifying them as hatchery bred.
·	Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain: Chinook angling is allowed March 15 to Oct. 31. The "selective" coho season is open June 21 to Aug. 24, seven days a week. The daily limit is two salmon. All coho must be adipose fin-clipped.
·	Humbug Mountain to Horse Mountain: The season is open May 17 - Sept. 14. The daily catch limit is two chinook. The adopted season is the longest in more than a decade. 
·	Columbia River "Buoy 10" fishery: The season is open to retention of adipose fin-clipped coho and fall chinook Aug. 1 - Dec. 31. From Aug. 1 through Aug. 15, the daily bag limit is two salmon, only one of which can be a chinook. Beginning Aug. 16, the daily bag limit increases to three salmon, only one of which may be a chinook. 
·	Tillamook Terminal Area: Both a spring and fall season were adopted with no changes from 2002.
·	Elk River Terminal Area: A late fall fishery was adopted with no changes from 2002.
·	Chetco River Terminal Area: A fall fishery was adopted with no changes from 2002.

In addition, the Commission adopted commercial troll salmon seasons. 

A pamphlet describing the ocean sport fishing seasons will be available at ODFW offices and some coastal license agents in May. 

Commission Approves Process to Move Forward with Wolf Management Planning
 
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a wolf management planning process Friday that included a planning goal statement and a process to appoint members to a citizen advisory committee.
 
The Commission and ODFW Director Lindsay Ball said that the end result of the planning process will be a management plan for wolves in Oregon and not a recovery plan. 
 
The Commission approved the following language for a working goal to initiate the planning effort: "The goal of this management plan is to ensure the long-term survival and conservation of gray wolves as required by Oregon law while minimizing conflicts with humans, primary land uses and other Oregon wildlife." 
 
The goal statement will be used by a soon-to-be formed advisory committee as it begins work to assist ODFW with development of a management plan. The Commission will appoint 14 members to an advisory committee that includes the following: livestock producer, hunter, trapper, eastern Oregon county commissioner, wolf advocate, range/forest land conservationist, educator, wildlife biologist/researcher, economist, resident of rural Oregon, two at-large public representatives, public land manager, and tribal representative. In addition, an ODFW representative will work closely with the committee. 
 
Friday's action was the first in an eight-step planning process that the Commission approved for implementation. The steps include: 1) Commission approves planning process; 2) Wolf Advisory Committee formed to recommend management plan framework; 3) Commission approves draft framework; 4) Committee uses finalized framework to recommend draft management plan and Commission approves sending it out for public review; 5) Public reviews draft plan; 6) Draft plan revised based on public comment; 7) Commission votes on management plan; and 8) Implementation.
 
Also Friday, the Commission called for nominations for people to serve on the wolf advisory committee. The deadline for nominations is May 15, 2003. Organizations or individuals may submit nominations for one, some or all of the stakeholder groups. Nominations should include the following information: the individual's background, a statement about why the individual is qualified and the perspective they bring to the discussion, Oregon residency status, and their willingness to commit time to the planning process. 
 
Nominations may be sent to ODFW, Information and Education Division, P.O. Box 59, Portland, OR 97207. A two-person subcommittee of the Commission will review all the nominations and will present a recommended advisory group to the full Commission at the June 6 meeting in Pendleton. 
 
The specifics of the management planning process adopted by the Commission will be posted to the ODFW Web site the week of April 14.


 2002 Sample Results Test Negative for Chronic Wasting Disease

The agent for a deadly disease affecting deer and elk herds in 14 other states and provinces was not detected in any samples from Oregon obtained during last year's hunting seasons, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday. 

More than 670 samples from hunter-harvested deer and elk and some vehicle-killed deer and elk tested negative for chronic wasting disease (CWD). 

Hunters voluntarily provided brain tissue samples to ODFW from 701 deer and elk harvested throughout Oregon in late 2002 and early 2003 to allow testing for CWD. Of those, 672 were usable. All tested negative for the agent believed to cause CWD. From 1995 to 2001, ODFW tested 111 deer and elk and none tested positive for the CWD agent.

Another 166 samples from late season hunts and vehicle-killed deer and elk also are being tested. Results are due in the next few weeks.

The fatal disease affects privately held and/or wild herds in Alberta, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Saskatchewan, Illinois and Utah. The untreatable disease leads to progressive loss of body condition, behavioral changes, excessive salivation and death. In the later stages, small holes in the brain tissue of affected animals are visible with a microscope, producing a spongy look characteristic of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Similar TSE diseases exist in domestic sheep (scrapie), cattle (bovine TSE or mad cow disease), cats, mink and humans (Crueutzfeldt-Jakob disease). There is no known connection between CWD and brain diseases in people.

Researchers believe an abnormal type of prion protein serves as the disease agent, but the origin and transmission of CWD are not clearly defined. 

ODFW plans to continue sampling for CWD for the next several years and will ask for the continued strong cooperation of hunters. 




ODFW Director Re-Appointed
 
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously Friday to extend by two years the employment contract of Lindsay A. Ball, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
 
In addition to its role as the rule-making body for ODFW, the Commission hires the ODFW director.
 
Ball began working for ODFW as the interim agency director in February 2001. In August 2001, the Commission approved a two-year contract with Ball as the agency's permanent director. Friday's decision will extend the contract until August 2005.

In other action, the Commission: 
·	Delayed a decision on establishing a season for the harvest of Pacific lamprey at Willamette Falls. The delay occurred because of the lack of information about lamprey populations and to allow staff to develop a proposal for daily harvest limits;
·	Approved a grant award as part of the ODFW Restoration and Enhancement Program to fund a survey of nearshore management approaches and analyze funding options for nearshore management needs;
·	Approved a permanent rule to allow ODFW to trap wild turkeys in the city limits of Roseburg and release them in other areas of the state with wild turkeys;
·	Approved a temporary rule to allow ODFW to trap nuisance wildlife in the city limits of Baker City;
·	Rejected a citizen petition calling for a change in razor clam commercial harvest rules; and
·	Rejected a citizen petition calling for a change in Nestucca River hatchery steelhead management.
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