Well its about freakin time, seems complaining for years is finally going to pay off, of course we still need Oregon F&W to approve it too.
#7. Fork Length Measurement for Sturgeon
Proposal: Currently, the slot limit for sturgeon harvest is based on a measurement of
the total length of the fish (including the tail). This proposal would allow managers to
use fork length rather than total length when they set the retention size for sturgeon.
Fork length would be defined as the distance from the tip of the nose to the fork in the
tail. Because of the need to coordinate this rule with Oregon on concurrent waters, we
are proposing that this rule would take effect January 1, 2009.
Explanation: Sturgeon have a cyclic tail with the top lobe being longer than the bottom.
Measuring total length requires that the tail is lying in a “normal position”. It is often
difficult for the angler to keep the fish in a “normal position” long enough to measure the
top of the tail. This is particularly a problem with fish that are near the upper and lower
ends of the slot limit. The result is an increase in handling time (waiting until the fish
quits flopping around the boat). Many anglers even hold the fish vertically by the tail
and measure from the floor of the boat to the top of the tail. All of this increases the
handling stress and impacts survival of released fish. This can be a significant problem
since large numbers of sturgeon are caught and released. In addition, there are
instances of people cutting off the top lobe of the tail and releasing the fish, presumably
to make an oversized fish legal if caught again.
Converting to fork length will reduce handling time since the angler will not have to get
the top of the tail in a “normal position”. It is much easier to measure fork length, so fish
not within the slot limit can be released more quickly. It will also take away the incentive
to cut off the top of the tail. Fork length is less ambiguous, making enforcement more
clear-cut and the rule easier for anglers to comply with.
Our sturgeon technical staff has the information to correlate total length for sturgeon to
fork length, so the actual size of sturgeon anglers may retain will not change.
Implementing this rule will be contingent on adoption by ODFW because of the joint
boundary waters on the Columbia River. We will work with ODFW staff this fall on the
potential for implementing this rule as part of our joint sturgeon management plan.
