[ODFW-News] Sport halibut fishery topic of public meetings in three Oregon ports

[ODFW News]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 	
Contact: Information and Education 503-947-6002	
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us  
	
For Immediate Release	Monday, October 11, 2004

Sport halibut fishery topic of public meetings in three Oregon ports 

NEWPORT - The public is invited to meetings on eight proposed changes
to Oregon's recreational halibut fishery. The October meetings will
take place in three Oregon ports: North Bend, Astoria and Newport.

Proposed changes include adding a day to each of the central coast
all-depth openings, increasing the summer all-depth fishery daily bag
limit to two halibut, adopting a yelloweye rockfish closure area at
Stonewall Bank, splitting the Columbia River subarea at the Columbia
River and increasing allocation to the Oregon side, eliminating the
minimum length requirement, and prohibiting the retention of groundfish
during the all-depth halibut fishery.

Each of the evening meetings will have representatives of the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program present to
answer questions and hear comments about the recreational halibut
fishery.

All the meetings will start at 7 p.m. They will take place:
* Oct. 19 at North Bend in the large meeting room of the North Bend
Library, 1800 Sherman Ave.
* Oct. 25 at Astoria in the Astoria Seafood School meeting room, 2001
Marine Drive.
* Oct. 26 at Newport in the Hatfield Marine Science Center, rooms
30-32, 2030 SE Marine Science Drive.

The public is invited to attend these meetings. Reasonable
accommodations will be provided as needed for individuals requesting
assistive hearing devices, sign language interpreters or large-print
materials. Individuals needing these types of accommodations may call
ODFW at 800-720-6339 or 503-947-6002 at least 24 hours in advance of the
meeting.
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