WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE     Print Version
NEWS RELEASE
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091

OLYMPIA -- The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will hold a series of workshops across the state from June 17 through 28 so anglers and other interested persons can help plan next year's sportfishing regulations.

Bern Shanks, WDFW director, said the workshops are a new way to set regulations. "We want the interested public in the room at the beginning of rule development instead of at the end. This gives our customers an opportunity to meet with the regional biologists to share ideas."

Participants in the workshop will be provided with regulation proposal forms and assistance from WDFW staff to fill them out. Anyone not able to attend a meeting is invited to obtain the forms from the WDFW website at:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regchnge.htm

Following the June workshops, testimony on the sportfishing proposals will be heard in public meetings that will be scheduled during November.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission will take both written and oral testimony during a December meeting, before adopting sport rules in early 1998.

Sportfishing Workshops will be held at the following places:

June 17, 7-9 p.m., Spokane Co. Public Health District
Building Auditorium
West 1101 College
Spokane

June 18, 7-9 p.m., Grant Co. PUD
Auditorium
312 West 3rd Ave
Moses Lake

June 18, 7-9 p.m., Montesano City Hall
112 North Main St.
Montesano

June 21, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., WDFW Mill Creek Office
16018 Mill Creek Blvd.
Mill Creek

June 24, 7-9 p.m., Water Resources Education Center
4600 SE Columbia Way
Vancouver

June 26, 7-9 p.m., Natural Resources Building
Room 172
1111 Washington St. SE
Olympia

June 28, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Yakima Valley Arboretum
1401 Arboretum Dr.
Yakima