Columbia will not open back up 1n 2012 for Sturgeon

[Marvin's Guide Service]

Odfw did announce today they will not open Sturgeon back up on the Columbia River this year.
I think this is total BS!! How do you guys feel about this? When I was putting my boat in om last Monday i watched a gill net boat pull out and have Sturgeon mixed in with salmon....... Whatever Odfw

 

[osmosis]

I agree we should split the conservation, Not put all the weight on the sportsmen. Absolutely insane way to regulate things in my opinion.

However I also think that measures need to be taken for the longevity of this species.

 

[igquick]

so I can't target sturgeon anywhere on the columbia? such as chinook landing?

 

[bass]

igquick, you can still C&R sturgeon in the Columbia, but no retention.

Guys, the quota for sportsman vs commercial is 80% for sportsman and 20% for commercial. The sportsman have already taken their 80% of the allotment, the commercials have not taken their 20% yet. Thus, commercial stays open until they take their allotted 20% then it closes for them as well. I know this is disappointing for all those who want to keep a fish, but a quota was set and has already been met. Personally, I wish they would close it for retention (sport and commercial) for a good 10 years to help the population recover, but I doubt this will happen.

 

[SturgeonSurgeon]

I feel sturgeon should not be a commercially fished species. Salmon, steel head, halibut, cod, etc. are fine but with low numbers of sturgeon already why does it have to be commercially fished?

 

[bass]

I feel sturgeon should not be a commercially fished species. Salmon, steel head, halibut, cod, etc. are fine but with low numbers of sturgeon already why does it have to be commercially fished?

I agree with this. However I really think it needs to be closed to commercial and sports retention until the population recovers. Stopping the 20% but leaving the 80% is not going to fix anything.

 

[SturgeonSurgeon]

I agree with this. However I really think it needs to be closed to commercial and sports retention until the population recovers. Stopping the 20% but leaving the 80% is not going to fix anything.

You are correct that it wouldn't stop anything. I should have been more specific by stating that they should revise the regulations for sportsmen as well as eliminate commercial all together. Just one sturgeon per person per year would be nice. To taste the wonderful meat of this fish just once a year would be nice. Maybe even have people pay extra just for the one sturgeon a year to tag, which would probably weed a lot of people out of the yearly harvest. If that was not able to cut back on the harvesting of these fine fish then yes by all means close it down completely, yet still retaining catch and release regulations. I think any true fisherman would be O.K. with this so the future of the species could thrive and someday our children or grandchildren can enjoying reeling in this magnificent and majestic fish.

 

[bass]

You are correct that it wouldn't stop anything. I should have been more specific by stating that they should revise the regulations for sportsmen as well as eliminate commercial all together. Just one sturgeon per person per year would be nice. To taste the wonderful meat of this fish just once a year would be nice. Maybe even have people pay extra just for the one sturgeon a year to tag, which would probably weed a lot of people out of the yearly harvest. If that was not able to cut back on the harvesting of these fine fish then yes by all means close it down completely, yet still retaining catch and release regulations. I think any true fisherman would be O.K. with this so the future of the species could thrive and someday our children or grandchildren can enjoying reeling in this magnificent and majestic fish.

I think that the idea of one fish a year is nice, but realistically, I doubt ODFW/WDFW could make that happen without having a commercial season as well. I think the whole thing just snowballs from there. I am all for C&R only for a while.

Final thought. Coming from the East coast it looks to me like a lot of folks who are born here lose sight of how un-freaking-believable it is that there are sturgeon in the rivers here. I mean there are fish that are more than 10' long swimming around the Portland area. It almost gives me a brain hemorrhage sometimes when I think about it too long and too hard. We definitely need to do whatever is necessary to help this species.