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State not set to tackle fishing rules New regulations won�t start until February By Mark Freeman For Oregon anglers who thought the 2000 angling year was wacky, it�s not only getting wackier � it�s getting longer. Delays in getting the 2001 sport-fishing regulations booklet to print has forced state fish and wildlife managers to put off until February the start of angling rules set to become law Monday. Jim Greer, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, signed a temporary rule late Thursday extending current rules through Jan. 31. The extension ensures sport-fishermen will not face the prospects of violating new rules without being duly informed of them. "If it was a rule last January, it will be a rule for this January," ODFW information specialist Anne Pressentin said. "Delaying the changes a month is the easiest way to avoid confusion and allow for effective law enforcement." The only exceptions are two marine fishing rules: The daily rockfish catch will include just one canary rockfish; and the maximum size limit for lingcod will be lifted, creating a daily limit of one lingcod longer than 24 inches. These changes remain because they stem from federal regulations that go into effect Monday. Thursday�s ruling does not exempt fishers from buying 2001 angling licenses and tags in January, Pressentin said. The delay comes because of hefty changes to the 2000 regulations, a change in publishers and changes in the people who handle the regulation books, Pressentin said. Pressentin said 600,000 copies of the sport-fishing regulations booklet, which normally hit sporting-goods shelves in December, will be printed and readily available before the extension expires Jan. 31. Copies of new rules, which the ODFW has been publicizing since they were adopted in September by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, also will be available on the agency�s Web site (www.dfw.state.or.us) as early as next week, Pressentin said. Rules to be put on hold include one that allows anglers to keep two hatchery steelhead 16 to 20 inches long in excess of their adult steelhead catch on south coast streams like the Chetco and Elk rivers. Anglers will have to wait until February to take advantage of these changes, Pressentin said. That presents a dilemma for fish and wildlife officers charged with enforcing sport-angling regulations. They know that some anglers will have access to the 2001 rules without being privy to Thursday�s extension, said Capt. Lindsay Ball, who heads the Oregon State Police�s Fish and Wildlife Division. The OSP�s 117 fish and wildlife troopers in the field will use warnings over citations where they find anglers confused over the rules, providing they have no intent to commit a violation, Ball said. Thursday�s change came a day after ODFW managers said the new rules would be in effect beginning Monday, even though the regulations were not available. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.