We are Oregonians who love to fish for rainbow trout. We recently served as Commissioners for Oregon Fish and Wildlife, overseeing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, including the salmon and rainbow trout fisheries of the ‘Oregon.

Under current regulations, coastal Rogue and Southern Oregon creeks are among the last places on Earth where sport fishermen can kill wild rainbow trout. Allowing the continued capture of wild rainbow trout is deeply controversial and scientifically unsustainable. Our current Fish and Wildlife Commission has the opportunity this fall to address this issue and put conservation before consumption. If we were still on the commission, we would vote to adopt the capture and release of all wild rainbow trout. Let us tell you why.

First, wild rainbow trout are in severe decline throughout their range. Most wild rainbow trout populations are threatened, endangered or extinct. Even among the healthiest fisheries, returns this year have been so low that fisheries like North Umpqua, John Day and Deschutes have been restricted or shut down altogether.

Due to budget cuts, our fishery managers do not know how many wild rainbow trout are returning to the Rogue or Chetco rivers. They also don’t know how many of these rainbow trout are caught. In the past, not knowing always meant keeping doing what we are doing. No longer.

Where we have information it is clear that wild rainbow trout are at a tipping point in their range and it is up to our fisheries managers to make proactive and meaningful policy decisions to conserve what we stay. We are in a new era of fisheries management, where waiting for a crisis before acting is no longer acceptable.

Second, the West is in the throes of one of the most severe droughts in history. Most of southern Oregon is currently experiencing severe to exceptional drought. Herders and farmers know that less water means less crops and fewer grazing animals. For Steelhead, it’s no different. Low river levels, dry streams, and warmer water temperatures mean our rivers are already energized and producing fewer rainbow trout to begin with. Simply put, the drought has already killed enough fish. We need to ensure that our fisheries management decisions do not remove any of the wild rainbow trout that carry genes adapted enough to endure this drought and return from the ocean to spawn in the seasons to come.

Finally, waiting for a crisis before acting will only further harm our rural Oregon communities. Currently, the small towns along the Steelhead Rivers from North Umpqua to Deschutes are in a deplorable state due to the waterways falling to such low levels that all angling is prohibited. Even capture and release are not allowed. Cities in southern Oregon rely on rainbow trout, especially in winter, to attract tourists to visit, book fishing guides, rent hotel rooms, eat out, and more. By embracing the capture and release of wild rainbow trout, we give the fishery the best chance of remaining open for the long haul by protecting any wild rainbow trout that return to spawn. If you need to harvest a fish, Hatchery Rainbow Trout will continue to be available in the Rogue and Chetco Rivers. In fact, the Rogue has more hatchery rainbow trout than any other coastal river in Oregon. It is simply not wise or necessary to kill wild rainbow trout in our southern Oregon fisheries. These fish have genetics that have enabled them to survive drought episodes for thousands of years. Is it more important to protect these fish for future generations or to put them on someone’s plate? It’s like eating your seed corn!

We encourage any conservation-conscious angler to join us and submit public comments supporting the capture and release of wild rainbow trout in southwestern Oregon during the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting on Friday Oct. 15.

Michael Finley of Medford is a past chairman of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. Bruce Buckmaster of Astoria and Jim Bittle of Central Point are former Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commissioners.