Public meeting to focus on Columbia spring chinook

VANCOUVER- Washington and Oregon fish managers will hold a public discussion here next week on future management options for Columbia River spring chinook.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 in the Water Resources Education Center, 4600 SE Columbia Way in Vancouver.

The meeting is the second in a series of public sessions on future non-tribal recreational and commercial allocation of Columbia River spring chinook.

Fish managers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife are holding the meetings to gather public input as part of the process of developing a policy to guide sharing of non-tribal harvest opportunity between sport and commercial fishers.

Total allowable non-Indian harvest levels were set earlier this year in a multi-year plan developed by both states and Columbia River treaty tribes. The plan set conservation goals for weak wild salmon stocks on the Columbia and Snake rivers.