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SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
Commission to announce big game tags, coho seasons today
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SALEM — The Oregon Fish
and Wildlife Commission
adopted 137,015 controlled
hunt big game tags for this
fall’s hunting season earlier this
month during a meeting in
Salem. Draw results will be
available today.
The commission also consid-
ered changes to the 2016 big
game hunting regulations.
While it won’t make a final
decision until the October
meeting, the commission indi-
cated support for most staff
proposals including:
• A new Special Opportunity
and Premium Hunt series that
would offer an opportunity to
draw an additional deer, elk or
pronghorn tag with a longer
season. These tags would be
very limited but available in
most areas. Tags would be allo-
cated through the regular con-
trolled hunt draw process but
would not use preference
points.
• Changing renewal period
for hunters with a disability
permit from every two years to
every five years.
• Conducting new and con-
tinued cougar target areas to
reduce cougar damage to live-
stock, limit human safety prob-
lems and reduce impacts on
ungulate populations. Units
still under consideration are:
Melrose, SW McKenzie/NW
Indigo,
South
Paulina/N
Wagontire,
Steens
Mtn,
Warner, and Interstate.
• Increasing Wenaha any-
bull rifle and archer tags to 40
(from 35), a reduction from
original staff proposal to allow
45 tags. (Hunts #256Y1 and
256R1.)
The commission heard pub-
lic testimony in favor of lighted
nocks for archery hunters and
indicated support for the con-
cept, and has asked staff to
ensure the concept is consistent
with existing statutory authori-
ty.
The commission also set
wild coho salmon seasons for
the
Siuslaw,
Tillamook,
Nestucca, Siletz, Yaquina,
Alsea, Umpqua, Coos and
Coquille basins, Beaver and
Floras creeks and Tenmile
lakes (Siltcoos and Tahkenitch
lakes remain open under per-
manent regulations).
Due to low projected returns,
the Nehalem River will be
closed to wild coho harvest in
2015, though anglers will be
able to harvest hatchery coho
thanks to an existing hatchery
coho program on the river.
Daily and seasonal bag lim-
its in open areas will be similar
to recent years. However,
because fewer Endangered
Species Act impacts are avail-
able in 2015, seasons in some
basins will be shorter than in
2013 and 2014.
All proposed coho fisheries
must be reviewed and approved
by NOAA.
The 2015 Coastal Coho
Fishing Regulations will be
posted on the ODFW website
by late June.
For the first time in several
years, there will be no emer-
gency regulations for coastal
fall Chinook. Anglers should
refer to the 2015 Oregon Sport
Fishing Regulations booklet for
those seasons.
In other business, the com-
mission:
• Allocated 2016 tags to the
big game auction and raffle
program.
• Approved funding for
access and habitat projects that
provide hunting access or
improve wildlife habitat.
• Set the July 2015 - June
2016 commercial seasons for
coastal pelagic species. Under
federal regulations for the
2015-16 season, there will not
be a directed sardine fishery off
the West Coast due to very low
numbers in the latest stock
assessment.
• Approved $1,328,936 in
funding for 17 fish enhance-
ment and restoration projects
recommended by the Fish
Restoration and Enhancement
Board.
The Commission is the poli-
cy-making body for fish and
wildlife issues in the state.
It usually meets monthly.
The next meeting is sched-
uled for July 27 in Salem.
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ODFW
SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT TO SIMPLIFY
NEW STATE FISHING REGULATIONS
SALEM — For new anglers,
Oregon’s complex fishing reg-
ulations can be daunting. Even
seasoned anglers claim they
frequently need a law degree to
help them understand what’s
allowed and what’s not.
Over the years, the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife has heard an earful
from the fishing community
about how its regulations make
fishing less fun, and pose a bar-
rier to new anglers getting
started. Beginning earlier this
year, the agency embarked on a
process to try to simplify the
state’s trout and warmwater
fishing regulations in time for
the 2016 seasons.
“We’ve looked at every
water body across the state,
trying to develop common reg-
ulations, consistent language,
and increased fishing opportu-
nities,” said Mike Gauvin,
ODFW recreational fisheries
program manager.
Because of their popularity
and appeal to beginning
anglers, the simplification
process is beginning with trout
and warmwater fisheries,
Gauvin added.
Anglers will have a chance
to hear about the results of this
effort in a series of eight public
meetings to be held throughout
ODFW
from 1B
The videos are being
released just as Oregonians are
making their outdoor travel
plans.
“Summer vacation and fish-
ing just naturally go together,”
Willard said. Whether you’re
planning a week-long getaway
to a remote location, or a one-
day staycation close to home,
View
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from 1B
of the other groups out there
with noble causes, spending
their money on precious
advertising time.
The networks thank them,
too. And so do the ad firms and
all the people that are in the
industry.
But I gotta tell ya, it’s get-
ting to the point where you’re
praying for the players to play
in perpetuity because you
know if they stop for any rea-
son — a pitching change, a
technical foul, multiple penal-
ties to sort out — it means
you’re going to have to watch
the guy pop out his eyeball,
tear off his legs and rip out his
jaw again during the station
break.
As a fan, you should not
the state in June and July.
Gauvin points out that these
meetings are not part of the
agency’s traditional public
process for soliciting new reg-
ulations.
“We’re excited to share with
the public the progress we’ve
made simplifying fishing regu-
lations,” he said. “There will
time during the meetings for
questions about some of the
changes we’ve made, but we
will not be accepting new reg-
ulation proposals.”
The meeting closest to
Florence will be in Newport,
July 6, at Hallmark Resort, 744
SE Elizabeth, from 6 to 7:30
p.m.
Working with local district
fish biologists and Oregon
State Police officers, the sim-
plification process took aim at
the many “special regulations”
that applied to individual water
bodies across the state.
The goal was to reduce the
number of special regulations
to those with a clearly identi-
fied biological or management
purpose, and to streamline the
remaining regulations into
fewer, more consistent cate-
gories, Gauvin said.
Examples of some of the
changes include:
• Eliminating the April trout
opener and (with a few excep-
tions) opening those areas to
year-round fishing.
• Standardizing catch limits
for trout.
• Maintaining consistency in
the how the regulations are list-
ed.
“There still will be a few
exceptions to the general
rules,” Gauvin said, “but they
will be far fewer and easier to
understand.”
Beginning in 2016, regula-
tions will be adopted, and new
regulation booklets will be
printed, every two years
instead of every year.
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there will be an opportunity to
add fishing to the agenda,” he
said.
The new video series is part
of ODFW’s on-going efforts to
introduce newcomers and oth-
ers to the fun of fishing.
Links to the video series,
and other resources about how
and where to fish in Oregon,
can be found at www.dfw.
state.or.us/resources/fishing
/learn_to_fish.asp.
have to hope that Don
Mattingly blows Clayton
Kershaw’s arm out because
you’re afraid that if he stops
pitching for even a second, it
means you have to be subject-
ed to a colonic camera view
and thrust on another journey
through the fat layers sur-
rounding the liver of the guy
who wanted to have a Fanta.
Watching a full seven-game
series or a Stanley Cup win on
home ice should be exciting,
but there’s a difference
between the exhilaration of
having witnessed a nail biter
for the ages as opposed to
being left a complete neurotic
with borderline PTSD because
of
the
public
service
announcements.
Whatever happened to fry-
ing an egg and just saying no?
#I’mJustSayin.
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