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SALEM — Commercial gillnetters said Oregon should halt its phased-in ban of their salmon fishing method in the main channel of the Columbia River.

Speaking to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlfe Commission on Friday, panelists representing gillnetters said alternative commercial fishing methods are expensive or unproven, and plans to develop salmon runs in side channels show little promise.

Astoria fisherman Jim Wells, president of Salmon for All, said only big migratory fish returns the past couple years have kept gillnetters operating. He said limiting gillnetting to the Columbia’s side-channel sloughs will cost commercial anglers two-thirds of their income.

“We’ve been lucky to have big runs,” Wells said. “Our income is coming off the mainstem. We need to be there.”

He and others asked the commission to halt implementation of the main channel gillnetting ban, which takes full effect in 2017. The commission wasn’t scheduled to take action Friday, but invited panels to speak on the issue.

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