The Westport Chapter of the Washington Trollers Association will meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23, at McCausland Hall in Westport. All salmon trollers are invited to the meeting.
Season setting options
The season setting process for the 2016 Washington ocean salmon troll fishery has already started and the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) has released a three-option package of regulations that will be used to manage the 2016 ocean salmon harvest season.
The Chinook harvest allowance for the Washington Coast is slightly down from 2015. However, the Coho harvest allowance for the Washington Coast is down so far that there will be very little or zero retention of Coho in 2015.
At the meeting, the board will receive ideas and work on forming a position that our representatives can take to the PFMC on how to best regulate the ocean salmon harvest in 2016 to ensure that sufficient salmon get back to the native streams, while still allowing a viable commercial salmon troll fishery off the Washington Coast.
PFMC hearing
All interested ocean salmon fishermen are also encouraged to attend the PFMC hearing at the Westport Chateau on March 28 to voice how you would like to see the 2016 ocean salmon season regulated. The PFMC hearing starts at 7 p.m.
