Trying to head off a ballot measure to ban gillnetting for salmon on the Oregon side of the lower Columbia River, Gov. John Kitzhaber has told state fisheries managers to come up with new regulations that would accomplish a similar goal while still keeping gillnetters on the water.

At the governor's behest, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Tuesday directed state fisheries managers to develop regulations that relegate commercial gillnetters to side bays and channels of the Columbia below Bonneville Dam. In return, state salmon hatcheries would increase production just for them.

That would take some of the harvest pressure off salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act, and leave the mainstem lower Columbia to sports anglers.