Have Your Say At Salmon Season Meetings

Are you planning on fishing for salmon or steelhead this year?

Tired of not understanding the season setting process?

Good news this week as the Department of Fish and Wildlife has announced a series of meetings as a part of the North Of Falcon salmon season setting process. Area fishermen have three opportunities this week to meet with state fishery managers to talk about salmon fisheries in the Columbia River and Snake River before this year's seasons are set.

These are public meetings that anyone interested can attend and discuss pre-season salmon forecasts and upcoming spring, summer and fall fishing seasons. The meetings in our area does focus discussion on those proposed for salmon upstream from McNary Dam.

The first meeting happens in Wenatchee on March 28th at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Chelan PUD, 327 N Wenatchee Ave. The easiest meeting to attend is in Kennewick, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., March 30th at the Kennewick Irrigation District office at 2015 S. Ely St.

If you are unfamiliar with the process of season setting, these meetings are the result of years of legal battles and now a required part of the salmon season-setting process known as North of Falcon. This is not an easy process, which involves representatives from federal, state and tribal governments and recreational and commercial fishing industries.

This is a long, very detailed process done under open meetings guidelines that eventually lead to final salmon fishing season being adopted at the Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting April 7-11 in Sacramento, Calif. For more information on these meetings go here: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/northfalcon/faq.html