Batt Nominees Rejected For Fish Policy Council

Three men nominated by Gov. Phil Batt for a seat on the Pacific Fisheries Management Council have been rejected, with a top federal official saying they don’t measure up.

Rollie Schmitten, chief of the National Marine Fisheries Service, notified Batt that his nominees, Iona farmer Dale Rockwood, cattleman Jim Little of Emmett and Joseph Stegner, former owner of Stegner Grain in Lewiston, were not acceptable.

The fish council sets policy for the harvest of coastal fish including salmon and steelhead. The act creating the council requires nominees to be knowledgeable and experienced in ocean fishing issues.

Steve Bruce, chairman of Idaho Salmon and Steelhead Unlimited, said his organization protested Batt’s nominees.

“Batt keeps appointing people that’ll look out for private property rights or that’ll maintain the natural resources industries, but we need to get across to him that salmon and steelhead are important to our economy, too, and they could be a much bigger part of our economy if we’d work on saving them,” Bruce said.

It can take up to two months to process nominations, meaning Idaho’s seat may remain vacant when the fishery council sets harvest limits for groundfish in October.