Pacific County resident Dale Beasley traveled to Washington, D.C., recently to testify in support of a bill that he says is a top priority for the fishing communities of Ilwaco and Chinook.

Beasley, president of the Columbia River Crab Fisherman’s Association, was invited by U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., to speak on behalf of H.R. 2168, a bipartisan bill introduced by her and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that would permanently reauthorize tri-state management of the West Coast’s commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fisheries.

Washington, Oregon and California cooperatively manage these fisheries in both state and federal waters on the West Coast, but this tri-state management agreement, first reauthorized by Congress in 1996, is set to expire next year. In a phone interview July 27, Beasley said it has been a constant battle over the years to keep the fishery under state management rather than federal control.

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