NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Gillnetters get continued access
to main Columbia channel
BRIEFLY
Flu season hitting hard in Oregon
PORTLAND (AP) — It’s not even February,
and this flu season has already sent more
Oregonians to the hospital than the last one.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that 736
people have been hospitalized with the flu this
winter. Only 443 were hospitalized during the last
flu season.
The elderly, as usual, have been hit the hardest.
They account for about two-thirds of those
hospitalized based on numbers collected in the
Portland area.
Dr. Ann Thomas, Oregon public health
physician, says nearly all of the outbreaks affecting
three or more people have been in long-term care
facilities.
Public health officials say it’s still not too late to
get vaccinated. It generally takes two weeks for a
shot to take effect.
Decision puts
Oregon at odds
with Washington
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Bureau
SALEM — By a tight 4-3
vote, the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife Commis-
sion veered away from an
outright ban on gillnetting
in the main channel of the
lower Columbia River and set
the state at odds with neigh-
boring Washington on how to
manage protected salmon and
steelhead.
The commission heard
more than six hours of
staff reports and strikingly
discordant testimony from
commercial gillnetters and
recreational anglers, who
have argued for years over
who gets to catch how much
of seasonal salmon runs, and
what methods they may use.
On Friday, the commercial
fishery won the day, their case
made by a parade of gritty
Astoria gillnetters who spoke
of generational ties, commu-
nity businesses and family
fortunes at risk if they were no
longer able to make a living.
The ODFW commission
had previously appeared more
likely to continue phasing
out gillnets in the river’s
main channel, a move long
favored by the sports fleet,
the recreational anglers and
guides who hit the river with
line and hook. Washington
and Oregon agreed to such a
plan, set in motion in 2012 by
then Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Instead, the commissioners
approved an “enhanced”
rebalancing plan, one of six
options analyzed by ODFW
staff. Highlights of the plan
include:
• Recreational anglers
are allowed to account for
80 percent of the spring and
summer Chinook, the wild
fish protected under the
Endangered Species Act.
Commercial anglers will get
20 percent of what is called
the “ESA impact” and will be
allowed to fish the main stem
with tangle nets.
• The harvest of fall
Groups seek to oppose lawsuit
over Oregon rail expansion
Courtesy Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Gillnetters fish the Columbia River. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Com-
mission Friday backed off a plan to ban gillnetting in the main channel of the lower
Columbia River.
Chinook would be split 66
percent
recreational,
34
percent commercial, with
main stem gillnetting allowed
in Zones 4 and 5 and Coho
tangle nets in Zones 1,2 and 3.
• Anglers can use barbed
hooks in the Willamette River.
• The Youngs Bay control
zone will continue to be
closed to sports fishing.
Gillnetters had offered
their own plan that would
have given them a greater
share of salmon. Steve Fick,
owner of Fishhawk Fisheries
in Astoria, said he wasn’t
disappointed in the commis-
sion’s action.
“When everybody’s a
little unhappy, it’s probably a
reasonable decision,” he said.
Recreational anglers main-
tain that gillnetting takes fish
indiscriminately, with no way
to differentiate between wild
fish and hatchery fish, for
example. They argue that gill-
netting should be relegated to
the river’s side channels and
say the sports fleet has a much
bigger economic impact.
“We fill the hotels to
bursting in Astoria,” said Liz
Hamilton, executive director
of the Northwest Sports-
fishing Industry Association.
During Friday’s hearing,
recreational
anglers
the
commission shouldn’t vary
from the path set by Kitzhaber
and the “concurrent manage-
ment” agreement between
Oregon and Washington.
“A deal is a deal,” one man
testified.
Earlier this month, the
Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife Commis-
sion voted to remove gillnet-
ting from the main channel
in two years and increasing
recreational anglers’ share
of fall, spring and summer
chinook.
The Washington commis-
sion also directed the wildlife
department to “aggressively
pursue” a buyback program
for commercial gill net
licenses.
Oregon chose a different
route. Fick, of Fishhawk
Fisheries, shrugged off the
split between the states. If
necessary, he said, there is
technology to “draw and
management line down the
river” and let each go its own
way.
He said commercial fishing
is like logging, farming and
ranching — a mainstay of
economic life in rural areas.
“It’s not a dying industry,”
he said. “You can’t start
chopping away at people’s
opportunities.”
At least a dozen commer-
cial fisherman testified along
those lines Friday. Several
said they are sole providers
of their families, and need the
main stem fishery to make a
living.
“Is this the time of our
lives to take away jobs from
people?” asked William
Huntsinger, representing the
Port of Astoria. “Commercial
fishermen and the ocean
are what’s going to feed the
world.”
“I can’t afford to get kicked
off the main stem,” said one
man, adding that he is a fifth
generation gillnetter with
a wife and daughter. “I’m
a 40-year-old uneducated
man,” he said. “What am I
going to do?”
Alex
Hendricks,
a
17-year-old senior at Clats-
kanie High School, said he is
a fourth-generation gillnetter,
following his mother, grand-
father and great-grandfather.
“I ask you for the opportu-
nity to embrace the heritage
the generations before me
have created,” he said.
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Fog in the morning;
cloudy, cold
Fog in the a.m.;
mostly cloudy
36° 26°
35° 26°
THURSDAY
A little morning
snow
FRIDAY
Mostly cloudy and
cold
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
36° 23°
36° 21°
35° 22°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
34° 25°
35° 24°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
33°
25°
42°
28°
63° (1935) -20° (1930)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Trace
1.33"
1.11"
1.33"
1.13"
1.11"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
32°
20°
43°
29°
60° (1947) -26° (1930)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
1.39"
0.96"
1.39"
0.87"
0.96"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
First
Jan 27
Feb 3
Full
Feb 10
35° 23°
33° 22°
Seattle
45/36
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
36° 23°
7:25 a.m.
4:50 p.m.
4:38 a.m.
2:15 p.m.
Last
Feb 18
Today
SATURDAY
Cold with variable
cloudiness
Spokane
Wenatchee
32/24
33/20
Tacoma
Moses
46/31
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 31/19
32/22
47/37
47/32
34/17
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
44/36
38/25 Lewiston
35/23
Astoria
36/27
50/40
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
43/33
Pendleton 29/13
The Dalles 35/24
36/26
38/29
La Grande
Salem
33/19
48/35
Albany
Corvallis 48/34
48/34
John Day
33/22
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
33/13
49/32
36/18
Caldwell
Burns
33/14
27/3
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
50
30
36
51
27
29
49
36
35
33
32
33
31
46
50
51
33
34
36
43
37
48
32
32
42
38
34
Lo
40
6
18
36
3
13
32
23
24
22
12
19
19
29
39
37
13
20
26
33
20
35
24
18
34
25
17
W
pc
c
pc
pc
c
c
pc
c
c
c
pc
c
c
pc
pc
pc
c
c
c
pc
c
pc
c
c
pc
c
c
Hi
49
24
35
48
22
27
46
35
34
33
31
31
30
44
49
51
25
34
35
45
37
46
32
30
44
34
33
Lo
38
11
20
40
3
15
35
23
25
20
17
22
21
32
40
40
7
21
26
29
20
33
24
18
31
25
20
W
c
c
pc
c
pc
c
pc
c
c
pc
c
c
c
c
pc
c
pc
c
c
pc
pc
pc
c
c
pc
c
pc
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
32/12
Boardman
Pendleton
Hi
38
67
61
42
76
34
36
56
29
99
44
Lo
15
61
49
31
46
12
26
38
12
71
34
W
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
sn
pc
pc
s
t
s
Wed.
Hi
41
71
64
44
76
15
33
55
33
78
48
Lo
19
59
48
29
46
-4
22
37
14
71
36
W
pc
r
c
pc
s
c
s
s
s
c
s
REGIONAL FORECAST
Eastern Washington: Areas of freezing fog
in the morning; mostly cloudy today.
Cascades: Partly sunny today. Mostly cloudy
tonight; a fl urry across the north.
Northern California: Clouds and sun today;
morning snow showers in the interior
mountains. Cold tonight.
Today
Wednesday
WSW 4-8
WSW 4-8
NE 4-8
NW 4-8
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Coastal Oregon: Partly sunny today. Rather
cloudy tonight; a shower in spots across
the north.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Cloudy and
cold today, except partly sunny near the
Cascades; fog across the north.
Western Washington: Partial sunshine
today; patchy fog across the south during
the morning.
Corrections
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COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
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NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Wed.
WINDS
Medford
46/29
BEND (AP) — Officials have proposed a law
that would require river floaters in Oregon to wear
life jackets.
The Bulletin reports that current law requires
children age 12 and under to wear life jackets while
in a boat. Older boaters must carry a life jacket. The
rule doesn’t apply to unmotorized craft, like inner
tubes, air mattresses, pool toys and surfboards.
The Oregon Marine Board has suggested that
those who flout the proposed new law should also
pay $30 in fines.
If the proposed law is passed, it would eliminate
the distinction between motorized and unmotorized
vessels and require people to wear a life jacket on
any Oregon river or steam
Oregon lawmakers have not yet scheduled
a hearing on the bill, which will go through the
Committee on Transportation policy.
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
WEDNESDAY
Oregon lawmakers consider
potential life jacket law
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Subscriber services:
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TODAY
PORTLAND (AP) — Three groups are seeking
to oppose Union Pacific Railroad’s lawsuit
involving a proposed rail expansion along the
Columbia River Gorge where a crude oil train
derailed last June.
Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Oregon
Physicians for Social Responsibility and Columbia
Riverkeeper say they want to stop Union Pacific
from circumventing laws that protects the Gorge as
a national scenic area. They filed a motion Monday
to intervene in the case.
Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific earlier
this month sued Wasco County, which rejected the
railroad’s expansion application, and the Columbia
River Gorge Commission, which is scheduled
appeals of that case.
Union Pacific says federal rules govern
railroads, so local restrictions like the ones Wasco
County approved don’t apply to the project.
The derailment last June sparked a massive fire
near Mosier.
0
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: A major storm will affect the Northeast with strong winds, heavy rain
and interior snow and ice today. Another storm will spread snow to the northern Rockies
and Plains. Showers will dot California.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 83° in McAllen, Texas
Low -5° in Bannack, Mont.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
41
60
43
47
26
61
32
46
67
49
44
42
76
34
44
54
6
31
80
81
46
69
57
51
65
58
Lo
22
44
37
35
12
45
14
37
44
37
37
38
42
16
37
32
0
22
70
63
38
42
31
35
50
43
W
s
s
r
r
c
s
c
r
s
c
c
c
s
sn
c
s
pc
c
pc
s
pc
s
pc
pc
s
c
Wed.
Hi
38
68
51
55
28
65
29
47
72
63
45
53
56
32
49
50
16
29
81
71
52
74
36
49
57
60
Lo
18
42
46
47
15
39
13
38
56
38
31
37
32
16
36
27
12
19
68
44
32
59
23
34
31
42
W
pc
pc
s
s
pc
sh
pc
s
s
pc
sh
pc
s
pc
c
s
pc
sf
s
pc
pc
s
sf
s
s
s
Today
Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
51
60
79
42
38
56
71
41
70
40
43
55
37
47
59
24
33
54
54
32
58
54
45
54
51
65
Lo
41
52
58
37
32
46
58
37
31
28
35
38
31
37
42
10
14
34
45
23
45
41
36
32
39
29
W
pc
s
s
r
sn
s
s
r
s
r
r
pc
i
r
s
sn
pc
pc
pc
sn
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
Wed.
Hi
59
62
81
44
34
65
78
49
49
32
52
56
43
49
67
24
35
54
47
29
62
55
46
54
61
42
Lo
35
35
65
32
25
36
49
42
24
21
44
39
28
37
54
11
18
39
32
19
46
45
36
30
49
22
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
pc
pc
pc
sf
sn
pc
sh
s
s
c
s
s
pc
s
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
sn
s
pc
pc
s
s
pc