Why does ODFW allow commercial fishing in the Columbia River?
Both Oregon and Washington have state statutes directing the fish and wildlife agencies to provide for both recreational and commercial harvest opportunity. Oregon State Law (ORS 506.109) directs the Fish and Wildlife Commission to provide for recreational and commercial harvest opportunity and to “manage food fish for optimum economic, commercial, recreational, and aesthetic benefits”. Drift nets are currently the only legal harvest gear for commercial salmon fisheries in the Columbia River. However, ODFW and WDFW have the authority to regulate gear requirements, hours of fishing, and times and areas open for harvest, and use all of these to manage the fisheries. The question of whether commercial fisheries should continue on the Columbia River is primarily a social, rather than a biological, issue. Commercial and recreational fisheries are both managed to ensure that the incidental mortality of wild fish resulting from their handling in fisheries falls within limits established to en
