04-19-2007, 02:17 PM
[cool][#0000ff]We had our April meeting of the Utah Anglers Coalition yesterday. In putting together the minutes of the meeting, I see a few items on the agenda that might be of interest to BFTers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]1. Strawberry Anglers Assn. will be having a 10 year celebration party on June 5. Free food and door prizes. Should be a great gathering of both government and non government folks who are Strawberry fans. I will post more details after receiving the writeup from Jim Carter, head of SAA.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]2. There will be a Utah Lake Fishing Festival, June 9 (free fishing day) at the Provo Boat Harbor. Again, I will make a separate post with more details when they are available.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]3. The results of PCB testing on other species of Utah Lake fish (besides carp) should be available within a month or so. Extensive sampling of many fish, of different ages and sizes, were done mainly on the most often consumed species....like walleyes, white bass and channel cats. The tests have been done at Texas A&M University.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]4. More info on Mercury testing and advisories. The baseline safe levels of mercury, in "angled fish" has been set at 0.3 ppm. That is when advisories for consumption levels are issued. Once the level reaches 1.0 ppm, there is a ban on consumption and commercial fish are removed from sale. Interesting that there is a threefold difference. That is mostly to protect tuna and other high mercury industries from the high baseline levels of mercury present in their products.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]5. The carp removal program for Utah Lake is moving forward. The plan is to remove an average of almost 50,000 pounds of carp per day. There will be several different kinds of netting and trapping operations used. The two big issues will be (1) what to do with the "bycatch"...walleyes, white bass, catfish and other game species taken in the traps. (2) what to do with 50,000 pounds of dead carp every day. That's gonna take a lot of hungry cats or a BIG garbage disposal.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]6. Strawberry Reservoir. In spite of quite a few anglers wanting the rainbows to be included in the slot limit, that will likely not happen. There are no plans to make Strawberry a trophy fishery for rainbows. The rainbows are in there for anglers who want to be able to harvest a few fish, while observing the slot limit on cutts. And, even without the 'bows being in the slot limit, plenty of them get to trophy size in the lake. No need to fix something that ain't broke.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]7. Yuba Reservoir. Plans are to open Yuba to perch harvest in January '08. However, the initial limit is proposed to be only 10 perch. That is an issue to be further discussed at upcoming RAC meetings.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]8. May is RAC meeting month. This is the time to bring your proposals and grievances before the RAC group that represents the area or waters (species) you want to cover. If whatever you want to see changed is not introduced during the May meetings, it will not be reviewed for consideration at the September voting meetings.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings/pdf/07_rac_schedule.pdf"]HERE IS A LINK TO THE SCHEDULE[/url][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We are in the central zone. The meeting for our area is in Springville, on May 22. Maybe we can carpool if a few of us want to show up, either to voice issues or just to observe the process.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
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[#0000ff]1. Strawberry Anglers Assn. will be having a 10 year celebration party on June 5. Free food and door prizes. Should be a great gathering of both government and non government folks who are Strawberry fans. I will post more details after receiving the writeup from Jim Carter, head of SAA.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]2. There will be a Utah Lake Fishing Festival, June 9 (free fishing day) at the Provo Boat Harbor. Again, I will make a separate post with more details when they are available.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]3. The results of PCB testing on other species of Utah Lake fish (besides carp) should be available within a month or so. Extensive sampling of many fish, of different ages and sizes, were done mainly on the most often consumed species....like walleyes, white bass and channel cats. The tests have been done at Texas A&M University.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]4. More info on Mercury testing and advisories. The baseline safe levels of mercury, in "angled fish" has been set at 0.3 ppm. That is when advisories for consumption levels are issued. Once the level reaches 1.0 ppm, there is a ban on consumption and commercial fish are removed from sale. Interesting that there is a threefold difference. That is mostly to protect tuna and other high mercury industries from the high baseline levels of mercury present in their products.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]5. The carp removal program for Utah Lake is moving forward. The plan is to remove an average of almost 50,000 pounds of carp per day. There will be several different kinds of netting and trapping operations used. The two big issues will be (1) what to do with the "bycatch"...walleyes, white bass, catfish and other game species taken in the traps. (2) what to do with 50,000 pounds of dead carp every day. That's gonna take a lot of hungry cats or a BIG garbage disposal.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]6. Strawberry Reservoir. In spite of quite a few anglers wanting the rainbows to be included in the slot limit, that will likely not happen. There are no plans to make Strawberry a trophy fishery for rainbows. The rainbows are in there for anglers who want to be able to harvest a few fish, while observing the slot limit on cutts. And, even without the 'bows being in the slot limit, plenty of them get to trophy size in the lake. No need to fix something that ain't broke.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]7. Yuba Reservoir. Plans are to open Yuba to perch harvest in January '08. However, the initial limit is proposed to be only 10 perch. That is an issue to be further discussed at upcoming RAC meetings.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]8. May is RAC meeting month. This is the time to bring your proposals and grievances before the RAC group that represents the area or waters (species) you want to cover. If whatever you want to see changed is not introduced during the May meetings, it will not be reviewed for consideration at the September voting meetings.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][url "http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings/pdf/07_rac_schedule.pdf"]HERE IS A LINK TO THE SCHEDULE[/url][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We are in the central zone. The meeting for our area is in Springville, on May 22. Maybe we can carpool if a few of us want to show up, either to voice issues or just to observe the process.[/#0000ff]
[signature]