[ODFW-News] Five meetings focus on groundfish management

[ODFW News]

For Immediate Release Thursday, May 4, 2006
 
Five meetings focus on groundfish management

NEWPORT - Meetings in four Oregon ports are scheduled to discuss sport
and commercial groundfish issues for 2007 and 2008. 

The Pacific Fishery Management Council currently is setting harvest
levels and management measures for the next two years of recreational
and commercial groundfish fishing. Seven West Coast groundfish species
are declared over-fished, and five of those species affect fisheries off
Oregon's coast. These species drive management measures for all
groundfish fisheries.

In April the PFMC adopted preferred harvest levels for both depleted and
healthy stocks, as well as a range of management measures for all
groundfish fisheries. At the next PFMC meeting, June 11-16 in Foster
City, Calif., the council will take final action and adopt management
measures that will be recommended to the National Marine Fisheries
Service for implementation. 

"It is important that fishers attend the ODFW meetings so they can let
Oregon's representatives to the PFMC know what messages to give the
council," said Gway Kirchner, ODFW Groundfish Management project leader.

The meetings will take place:
* May 15 in Brookings at the Brookings Best Western Beachfront, 16008
Boat Basin Road, Harbor, Ore.
* May 16 in Coos Bay at the Southwestern Oregon Community College, 1988
Newmark Ave., Coos Bay. 
* May 17 in Newport at the Best Western Agate Beach Inn, 3019 North
Coast Highway, Newport.
* May 18 in Astoria at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, 204 West
Marine Drive, Astoria.  

The meetings in Brookings, Coos Bay and Astoria will run from 6 to 9
p.m. and consist of a general session to discuss harvest levels, then
commercial and recreational breakout sessions to discuss specific
management measures.  In Newport commercial and recreational fishers
will have separate meetings, with the commercial meeting from 1 to 4
p.m. and recreational from 6 to 9 p.m.
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