Jim Wells

A lawsuit challenging changes to the lower Columbia River gillnet policy was rejected Wednesday morning by the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Steve Fick, owner of Fishhawk Fisheries, and Salmon for All President Jim Wells sued the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife over the process of rule-making regarding a proposed gillnet policy.

The policy, created by former Gov. John Kitzhaber in August 2012, orders that gillnetting be phased out on the Columbia River’s main stem.

Fick said he plans to review the court’s decision with his lawyer and review his options moving forward, including possibly appealing the decision to the Oregon Supreme Court.

“The state can continue to implement their plan and we have to look at our options to either modify or stop it,” Fick said.

In addition, Fick said, he plans to reach out to newly appointed Gov. Kate Brown.

“The hope is Gov. Brown will take the time to review this and have more transparency,” Fick said. “This was essentially designed for the friends of John Kitzhaber to get special benefits of the state’s salmon resources.”

In the meantime, the policy is still in effect, slowly removing gillnetters off the lower Columbia River. In two years, Fick said, there may not be any gillnetters on the river where they have been since the mid-1880s.

Wells and Fick, a Salmon for All board member, are attempting to not let that happen.

Salmon for All, a pro-commercial fishermen association, is striving to return gillnet policies to the way they were before the former governor’s plan went into place in 2012.

Without local gillnetters, the fishing economy will shift to urban guides and out-of-state, out-of-county tackle manufacturers, Fick said.

“Those are the people who benefit at the expense of the rural community,” Fick said.