SALEM — A state board approved a new salmon and steelhead management plan on Friday for the Oregon Coast that trims the introduction of hatchery salmon and steelhead on a few rivers to reduce the likelihood that they will interbreed with wild fish.
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously adopted the Coastal Multi-Species Management Plan at a meeting in Salem.
State fisheries chief Ed Bowles said the plan made some compromises to accommodate objections raised by anglers and county officials in the Tillamook Bay area and the southern coast.
The anglers and officials did not want to see a reduction in the number of hatchery fish put into local rivers each year because fish are important to the local economies.
Bowles added that, overall, the number of hatchery fish going into coastal rivers is increasing.
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