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December 6, 2024
SALEM, Ore.—The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meets at ODFW Headquarters, 4034 Fairview Industrial Drive SE in Salem for a roundtable discussion Thursday afternoon, Dec. 12 and a business meeting Friday, Dec. 13.
Thursday’s roundtable starts at 1 p.m. and Friday’s meeting starts at 8 a.m. See the agenda and register to testify remotely at https://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/commission/minutes/24/12_Dec/index.asp
The roundtable and Friday meeting will also be livestreamed from the Commission page, https://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/commission/minutes/
Thursday’s roundtable discussion is the culmination of a year-long focus on climate resiliency in natural and working lands. The discussion will center on how to ensure resiliency of working lands for people, fish and wildlife. Several private landowners have been invited to attend along with representatives from several counties, the forestry industry, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Oregon Department of Agriculture, other organizations and the Governor’s Senior Natural Resources Advisor, Geoff Huntington.
On Friday, the Commission will consider:
Recreational groundfish regulations: Nearshore groundfish species (approximately a dozen species of rockfish, cabezon, greenlings, and lingcod) are important components of Oregon’s nearshore ecosystem and support fisheries that are economically and culturally significant to coastal communities, businesses, and visitors. They are subject to joint state and federal management and recent (2023) stock assessment for both black rockfish and canary rockfish resulted in a reduced quota for Oregon’s fisheries.
ODFW staff are recommending a four-fish marine bag to start the year in 2025, increasing to a five-fish marine bag limit July 1 (plus a one-fish sub-bag limit of canary rockfish all year). This is expected to provide a stable fishery throughout the year, with a low risk that the bag limit will need to be reduced in-season. The bag limit increase during the popular summer months will provide the most opportunity as many visitors come to the Oregon coast to vacation and fish during summer and ocean conditions are also much better. ODFW staff are also recommending reduced bi-monthly trip limits for the commercial nearshore fishery.
ODFW is seeking to collect more data on black rockfish to increase confidence in survey data and hopefully increase the quota; the 2025 reduction in quota would have been larger but for ODFW assessment data.
Purple sea urchins: With changes in ocean conditions and the marine environment over the past decade, the purple sea urchin population has exploded to an estimated one billion coastwide, causing a decline in seaweed, kelp, abalone and other harmful effects. ODFW has been hearing interest in increasing both commercial and recreational take to reduce the population. Proposed regulations would increase the daily recreational take bag limit from 10 to 35 and authorize controlled culling of sea urchins which would apply at three priority sites to assist with conservation and recovery of kelp. The Commission will also consider commercial permit requirements to increase commercial take (though due to overabundance, most sea urchins are undernourished with little market value).
Fish Restoration and Enhancement Program: Appoint a Public Representative to the R&E Board and hear updates on the R&E and STEP programs. The R&E program distributes grants for fishery restoration and enhancement projects throughout the state.
Access and Habitat Project Funding: Approve funding to match NRCS funds and help continue the Open Fields program, which provides hunting access to more than half a million acres on private land. The grant will also help fund an expedited approval process for other landowners who want to join the program.
Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program: Approve ODFW’s acquisition of three properties adjacent to Fern Ridge Wildlife Area’s South Coyote Unit that build upon local and regional conservation efforts to protect Willamette Valley native wet prairie and riparian habitats. Funding would come from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) as part of an agreement to settle BPA wildlife habitat mitigation obligations in the Willamette Valley.
Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission: Approve a recommendation for the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board’s appointment to the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission.
Private Forest Accord Grant Approval: Approve staff recommendation to provide additional funding to the Rogue Basin Partnership to complete a project along the Bear Creek corridor in Phoenix.
Update mailing/reprinting fees: Amend rules to eliminate the standard $2 shipping fee for most documents, provide flexibility to charge fees to cover the true cost of shipping larger documents or special orders, and maintain fees for specific documents such as landowner preference and reprinted hunting and angling tags.
To testify on one of Friday’s agenda items virtually, register using the form online at least 48 hours in advance (by Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 8 a.m.). To testify in person, sign up at the meeting using the paper forms provided. Comments can also be emailed to ODFW.Commission@odfw.oregon.gov.
To testify during the public forum section about an issue that is not on the agenda of the meeting, contact the Director’s office or use the form online at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting.
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