MERRILL - A group of fishermen from the Oregon and Northern California coast traveled to Merrill last weekend to meet with farmers, Klamath County Commissioner Bill Brown, Klamath Water Users Executive Director Greg Addington, Family Farm Alliance Executive Director Dan Keppen and other members of the farming community of the Klamath Basin.

Dick Carleton welcomed the group, who had traveled from fishing communities from Crescent City, CA to Newport, Oregon to meet with the farmers.  The group gave a power point presentation explaining the fishing cut-off and how it affected them and their communities.

The groups continued to expound on principals they agree on to help fix the problems with the Klamath River Salmon population.  Two of which are needed cold water storage (Long Lake is one example) and fixing the hatchery problems on the Klamath River.

The groups also met with Congressman Greg Walden on Saturday morning, giving him an update on the group.

 

Greg Addington, speaks to Congressman Greg Walden and representatives of the coastal fishing community, while gubernatorial hopeful Ron Saxton and State Senator Doug Whitsett look on  Pioneer Press Photo by Pat Ratliff

"As soon as I heard fishing on the coast was going to be curtailed, I thought," Greg Addington, Executive Director of the Klamath Water Users Association told the group, "This will be Klamath on the coast."

"We'd like a bottoms-up fix on the Klamath River, involving stakeholders," Rick O'shea told Congressman Walden, "we've watched top-down management for twenty years and what do we have now?  A complete and unadulterated disaster."