Request for Call-in Comments on the Snake-Columbia River Salmon & Steelhead DEIS
March 20, 2020
Keith Hyde’s Mission: Bring New Faces to Fishing
April 23, 2020
 

A Unified Voice Facing COVID-19

Dear Angling Community,

As you are all aware, our communities, nation and the world face a public health emergency due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) closed recreational fishing statewide for two weeks to promote additional social distancing. Following WDFW’s announcement, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) closed salmon and steelhead fishing on the Columbia River because the two states jointly manage fisheries on the Columbia and seek to have concurrent regulations. This period may be extended if the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is still high.

It is important that we rise to the challenge and support one another as a community during this time of uncertainty. Please do your part by following social distancing and stay at home/stay safe mandates from public officials. Please also support health care workers and first responders and their families who are on the front line of this battle by donating money, masks, gloves or other requested personal protective equipment.

If you can, please consider supporting our angling community as well. The economic fallout from this pandemic will be severe. We urge you to rally around our local angling community to support guides, tackle shops, bait companies, boat dealers, etc. and their employees whose livelihoods will be impacted. If you’re able, think about booking guided trips in advance or stocking up on tackle, bait or marine equipment by ordering online.

If you do plan on fishing, please strictly adhere to social distancing and stay at home/stay safe directives: stay local and minimize travel, don’t go if you’re sick, fish only with members of your household, avoid groups and don’t crowd the banks, and stay 6 feet away from anyone not in your household at all times. Both the ODFW and WDFW websites will have the most current and correct information. Do not rely on social media to obtain this information. When fishing opens up again – and it will – we aim to hit the ground running and boost the web of industries that rely on recreational fishing: guides, hotels, motels, restaurants, diners, tackle shops, boat dealers, and the like.

We are all in this together.

This is a public message from:
Association of Northwest Steelheaders
Coastal Conservation Association Washington
Coastal Conservation Association Oregon