Saving Gillnetters

Published 5:00 pm Sunday, August 19, 2012

Fishhawk Fisheries employees John Fick, in the white T-shirt, and Avery Petersen, in black, hoist an anti-Measure 81 sign near the top of the Bonded Warehouse on Water Street, between Third and Fourth streets, as other employees look on. Employees at the company located next door to the shuttered warehouse oppose the measure, which would ban the use of gillnets on the Columbia River. Gillnetters and others associated with the fishing industry say they’re feeling pressure on their livelihoods because of both the ballot measure and a proposal made by Gov. John Kitzhaber that would relegate gillnetting to off-channel areas of the river.