ODFW pushing accessibility with local visits, office switch.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg / The Register-Guard

OREGON'S FISH and Wildlife Commission will make one of its periodic appearances in the Eugene-Springfield area next week, giving local hunters and anglers a convenient opportunity to speak out on fish and wildlife issues.

Up for commission action during their meeting here are sturgeon fishing regulations on the Columbia River and the recreational and commercial groundfish and Pacific halibut seasons and regulations for 2003. The commission had also been slated to adopt new elk and deer management plans. But those items have been postponed to allow more time for rewrites prompted by public comments on the draft plans.

The official commission meeting begins at 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13 at the Doubletree Hotel, 3280 Gateway Blvd. in Springfield.

But the best chance to engage commission members in dialogue will come the previous evening, at a public reception hosted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Local politicians and activists from hunting and fishing clubs have been sent invitations, but everyone interested in discussing fish and wildlife topics with the commissioners is welcome. The reception will be held at the Doubletree at 7 p.m. on Dec. 12th.

The sturgeon issue is likely to be the most controversial item on Friday's agenda, as commissioners must decide what Oregon's stance will be regarding a reduction in the allowable harvest on the Columbia River - and who will bear the brunt of that cutback.

The Columbia fishery, of course, is managed jointly by the states of Oregon and Washington. That management has been considered a success story, thanks largely to a "slot limit" that protects large brood fish and smaller juveniles. The limit exposes slow-growing sturgeon to harvest only during a relatively small portion of their life span.

The popularity of sturgeon fishing exploded when poor salmon and steelhead runs in the late 1980s and early 1990s forced anglers to look elsewhere for excitement. Many new sturgeon anglers found themselves hooked on these hard-fighting fish.

A three-year management agreement that allowed the harvest of 50,000 legal-size sturgeon per year expires at the end of this month. Under the current agreement, 40,000 sturgeon can be taken by sport anglers and 10,000 by commercial gillnetters.

Biologists say too many sturgeon are being harvested to sustain the population at the desired level. Thus, the harvest must be reduced.

At issue is the actual magnitude of the cut - something in the 10 to 30 percent range is likely - as well as how the harvest should be divided between sport and commercial fleets.

The timing of the season is also seen as an important issue, because timing dictates which areas of the lower Columbia will be hardest hit by any closures.

The estuary has the best catch rates during the summer months, while fishing in the rest of the river is better during spring and fall.

This year, the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam was closed to the retention of sturgeon on Sundays and Mondays between March 1 and May 13, and closed entirely from July 25 to Nov. 13. That schedule hurt anglers and businesses in the Columbia Gorge, where sturgeon fishing is popular in October and November.

As a compromise, some anglers have suggested that separate harvest quotas be established for waters above and below Puget Island, which is about 20 miles east of Astoria.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to discuss the sturgeon situation at a meeting this week. After Oregon's commissioners make their decision next week, staff members of the two departments will meet to hammer out a new three-year agreement.

Most Fish and Wildlife Commission meetings are held at ODFW headquarters in Portland. But the seven-member panel is required by statute to meet at least once each year in each of Oregon's five Congressional Districts. Hence the visit to Springfield.

By this time next year, however, the typical commission meeting will be a little easier for Lane County residents to attend.

That's because the ODFW is moving its offices from Portland to Salem (actually, to the northern suburb of Keizer). The new headquarters building is located almost an hour closer to Eugene than the present ODFW headquarters.

The move to Salem was dictated by the 2001 Oregon Legislature, which wanted the department's headquarters to be located closer to other state natural resources agencies (and, presumably, to facilitate legislative oversight).

While the relocation will inconvenience the more than 200 ODFW employees who work at the Portland headquarters, the move will make it easier for downstate residents to get involved in fish and wildlife management issues on a regular basis.

Mike Stahlberg is the Register-Guard's outdoor writer. He can be reached at [e-mail].