Batt Names Fisheries Nominees Three Agree Salmon Hurt By Overharvesting

Idaho Gov. Phil Batt, who believes overharvest is a big reason for the decline of his state’s salmon, has nominated three like-minded men to help set ocean fishing regulations.

One of the three will be chosen to serve on the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The federal board decides the number of fish that can be legally harvested up to 200 miles from the Northwest coast. Those species include the steelhead trout and endangered salmon that return to Idaho to spawn.

Batt’s nominees are Idaho Falls farmer Dale Rockwood, Emmett rancher Jim Little, and Lewiston businessman Joe Stegner.

Until recently, Stegner owned a grain-storage company. Like Batt, he opposes reservoir drawdowns that would interrupt barging of commodities on the Snake River. The drawdowns, and release of more water from upstream reservoirs, are being proposed as a means of flushing young endangered salmon to the ocean.

“The governor wants water advocates on the council that are going to at least advise that emphasis should be put on areas other than the taking of Idaho’s water,” Stegner said. “I’ll be the first to admit that I have very, very little experience in ocean harvest regulations … I don’t think any of the nominees do.”

At first, the National Marine Fisheries Service rejected Batt’s nominees on the grounds that they did not have adequate fishery backgrounds.

Batt fired back with a three-page letter justifying his choices. He pointed out that federal rules give governors wide latitude in making nominations.

Rollie Schmitten, chief of the fisheries service, relented. He will name one of the three men to the council, which has 18 members representing Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California.

The vacant position was filled by Barry Ross, a sport fisherman affiliated with Trout Unlimited. Idaho is also represented by an Idaho Department of Fish and Game official.

The council meets four times a year in Portland to set harvest rules for many different fish.

This year, it did all it could to protect the endangered Snake River species, according to Paul Engelmayer, a conservationist who advises the group on salmon issues.

“This year, there was basically no fishing at all; you can’t restrict it any more. The fisherman on the Washington coast couldn’t catch a chinook,” Engelmayer said.

Engelmayer credits the council for doing well protecting some salmon stocks, in some years, but not others. A frequent complaint is that the group is too lax in restricting harvest because many of its members have ties to the commercial fishing industry.

Tim Stearns, coordinator for the Save Our Wild Salmon campaign, said the new Idaho member might provide balance on the council.

“If they add to a broader discussion by intelligent, solution-oriented people, that’s fine. If it’s just someone to come in and assert a special interest - ‘You guys are the problem’ - then you’re back to square one,” he said.

Unlike Batt, environmental activists think problems related to river habitat, especially those cause by dams, deserve more attention, not less. The fishery council has begun dealing with those issues, although only in an advisory capacity.

According to Batt, his nominees are qualified to serve on the council because:

Rockwood is a recreational angler and a member of the Committee of Nine, Idaho’s largest water district, and is a member of the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation’s water committee, which concerns itself with fish issues. He also has received awards for good stewardship.

Little is a recreational angler and has worked with the Fisheries Service and U.S. Forest Service on salmon habitat issues in the Bear Valley area, where he runs cattle each summer.

Stegner has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on matters related to the barging of young salmon around dams and is a sport fisherman. He is also a former director of the Pacific Northwest Grain and Feed Association, which has been involved in river-related issues.

, DataTimes