Fishermen and others interested in sport and commercial groundfish season issues for 2009-10 are invited to a public meetings this week on the South Coast.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is currently setting harvest levels and management measures for the next two years of recreational and commercial groundfish fishing. Seven West Coast groundfish species are declared overfished with five of those species affecting fisheries off Oregon.

In April the PFMC adopted preferred harvest levels for both depleted and healthy stocks, as well as a range of management measures for all groundfish fisheries. At the next PFMC meeting on June 6 through 13 in Foster City, Calif., the council will take final action and adopt management measures that will be recommended to the National Marine Fisheries Service for implementation.

“It is important that fishers attend the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife meetings so they can let Oregon’s representatives to the PFMC know what messages to give the council,” said Gway Kirchner, assistant program Manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Resources Program.

The meetings will be:

* North Bend: 7 p.m. Tuesday at North Bend Public Library, 1800 Sherman Ave.; and

* Port Orford: 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Port Orford City Hall, 555 W. 20th St.

The meetings will start with a general session to discuss harvest levels, then commercial and recreational breakout sessions to discuss specific management measures.