SAFE for Salmon

Despite great support from the sportfishing community, SAFE for Salmon did not make out of committee during the 2011 Oregon legislative session. While our measure to move gillnets off the mainstem Columbia River ultimately failed, there were several positive signs when compared to the 2009 legislative session that provide hope for a successful resolution to this issue in the near future.

For starters, the Oregon Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources voted April 21 to pass SAFE out of committee. The vote was historic, as it was the first time in nearly 40 years that the Oregon Legislature made meaningful progress toward reducing gillnetting on the Columbia. Also, this year, the sportfishing community spoke together with one voice in favor of SAFE, compared to 2009 with the Coastal Conservation Association did not support the measure. In 2009, there was also opposition from a few environmental groups, and that did not happen this year. Another positive sign was that almost two dozen legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, signed-on as sponsors of the bill. Steelheaders lobbyist Bob Oleson said that in all his year’s working at the capitol he has “not see any natural resource bill that comes close to having such an impressive list of sponsors. Most of these folks are veteran leaders in their respective parties and houses, and the chief sponsors are four of the most respected people serving in the legislature.”

Unfortunately, that broad, bi-partisan support for the measure was never able to materialize, because the Republican members of the House and Senate Rules Committee took their voting cues from the Coastal Caucus rather than their constituents. It’s hard to understand how members from the Willamette Valley would let members from the Coast call the shots, but that’s what happened. 

SAFE for Salmon, which this session was bill 736 in the Senate and bill 3657-3 in the House, would have moved the non-tribal commercial gillnet fleet in the Lower Columbia River below Bonneville Dam into off-channel Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) areas.  SAFE for Salmon would change fish management of the Columbia River in order to reduce bycatch mortality on wild fish, increase sportfishing catch, and benefit Oregon's economy by providing a more consistent sportfishing seasons and more jobs, while at the same time providing tens of thousands of fish annually to the commercial fishery and general public.          

SAFE areas are a proven success.  Currently, Oregon has three SAFE areas in use: Youngs Bay, Tongue Point/South Channel, and Blind Slough/Knappa Slough. In the last two years, commercial gillnet landings in the SAFE zones has grown to be larger than the sport harvest in the entire lower Columbia river.  The outlook is even brighter for future SAFE zone harvests. In recent years, the states have increased releases of smolts into SAFE areas by nearly 40 percent. This smolt releases in the SAFE areas provides even more fish to our region’s fish markets and reduces by-catch of non target and ESA-listed species in the commercial fishery. 

Despite not getting SAFE for Salmon passed during the 2011 Legislative Session, Steelheaders will not give up. Our sportfishing and wild fish runs are too important to let this setback stop the effort. We are currently strategizing what our next steps will be. There were enough positive signs and progress when compared to the 2009 session, that we are confident there will be positive movement in the right direction in the near future. 

Please contact your Oregon's represenatives and ask them to readdress SAFE during the 2012 interm session.

For contact information, for you Oregon represenative and senator, please click HERE

More information:

SAFE for Salmon economic study