05-17-2013, 12:06 PM
Thirty years ago it was accepted that it was ok to poach a deer if "the family needed the meat". Through a long process of education, the public has learned that poaching is stealing and now are willing to turn in someone who engages in that activity.
Similarly, thirty years ago it was not a societal taboo to drive drunk. Thanks to the efforts of MADD and others we are now fully aware of the potentially horrific outcome of that activity. As a society we are currently becoming educated about the consequences of other forms of impaired or distracted driving such as texting while driving.
The laws against impaired driving are enforced by thousands of highly trained officers statewide. Even with that number of law enforcement officers, they still rely on tips from an informed and ethical public to spot impaired drivers.
The illegal movement of fish and other aquatic species has far greater ecological consequences than the poaching of a single deer or elk. And, this activity is stealing our resources both aquatic and financial. The people that could not resist using live bait at Strawberry Reservoir in the past reached into the pockets of Utah sportsmen and stole 4 million dollars, not to mention the millions that have been spent since 1990 to try and keep the chubs and suckers under control. Whoever illegally transplanted yellow perch into Jordanelle Reservoir stole that resource from the anglers of this state by contributing to the decline of the forage base in the reservoir.
Unlike the laws against impaired driving, the illegal movement of fish laws are enforced by about 100 or so Conservation Officers statewide. These trained and dedicated officers cannot be everywhere at once, so are very reliant on calls from ethical anglers to report offenses. Right now, how do you know someone is breaking the law against the use of live bait? Simple, they have it. No one needs to know whether it is allowed in that water or not, what species it is, where it came from, etc. Black and white. Being in possession of live bait is illegal, period. And the person that is in possession of that live bait is threatening to steal our resource.
And while I am on the subject, the fish part of the live bait equation is bad because they may harbor parasites or disease. There is still some scientific debate as to whether all of these things are killed during the drying, freezing, or preparation process for dead bait, but the risks are deemed acceptable at the moment. However, it is the water part of the equation that is worse. The water in that bait bucket may contain quagga veligers or a single strand of milfoil, or some other nasty that will go into that water along with the fish at the end of the day when that bucket is emptied.
That illegal transplants will happen, and will be done by otherwise ethical anglers is beyond question. All we need to do is to look at the spread of whirling disease, New Zealand mudsnails, zebra and quagga mussels and a host of other invasive organisms. In the latter cases, all it would have taken is to adequately clean their equipment before moving between waters. The information was out there on how damaging that failure could be, but it was too inconvenient, or they were in a hurry, or whatever.
Finally, you implied that my belief in the legitimacy of the prohibition against live bait is a result of "following a party line" or a failure of critical thinking on my part. Nothing could be further from the truth, but what the heck; you are entitled to your opinion. If it was just me saying these things, you might be right. However, there are dozens of my peers nationwide, with hundreds of years of combined education and experience, studying thousands of waters, that all say the same thing. I would suggest those who are interested visit: http://stopstocking.cowyafs.org/?page_id=55 for a brief introduction to the issue.
I understand that I have been talking about the illegal movement of fish and that you and others are advocating use in waters where they already exist and you will claim that they are not the same thing. The fact is that one facilitates the other. I do not need to reinvent the light bulb every time I want to illuminate the darkness. In the same vein, I do not need to allow live bait use in Utah to see if it will lead to widespread illegal introductions. I only need to look at the experiences of Montana and others to see that it will.
Against my better judgment, I entered into this discussion because I feel strongly that part of my job is to educate anglers on why things are the way they are. I recognized that this thread had the opportunity to degenerate into drama but I took that risk when I first posted. Trust me; I will count to a hundred or higher before I make the effort again.
Paul Birdsey
Coldwater Sportfish Coordinator
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
[signature]
Similarly, thirty years ago it was not a societal taboo to drive drunk. Thanks to the efforts of MADD and others we are now fully aware of the potentially horrific outcome of that activity. As a society we are currently becoming educated about the consequences of other forms of impaired or distracted driving such as texting while driving.
The laws against impaired driving are enforced by thousands of highly trained officers statewide. Even with that number of law enforcement officers, they still rely on tips from an informed and ethical public to spot impaired drivers.
The illegal movement of fish and other aquatic species has far greater ecological consequences than the poaching of a single deer or elk. And, this activity is stealing our resources both aquatic and financial. The people that could not resist using live bait at Strawberry Reservoir in the past reached into the pockets of Utah sportsmen and stole 4 million dollars, not to mention the millions that have been spent since 1990 to try and keep the chubs and suckers under control. Whoever illegally transplanted yellow perch into Jordanelle Reservoir stole that resource from the anglers of this state by contributing to the decline of the forage base in the reservoir.
Unlike the laws against impaired driving, the illegal movement of fish laws are enforced by about 100 or so Conservation Officers statewide. These trained and dedicated officers cannot be everywhere at once, so are very reliant on calls from ethical anglers to report offenses. Right now, how do you know someone is breaking the law against the use of live bait? Simple, they have it. No one needs to know whether it is allowed in that water or not, what species it is, where it came from, etc. Black and white. Being in possession of live bait is illegal, period. And the person that is in possession of that live bait is threatening to steal our resource.
And while I am on the subject, the fish part of the live bait equation is bad because they may harbor parasites or disease. There is still some scientific debate as to whether all of these things are killed during the drying, freezing, or preparation process for dead bait, but the risks are deemed acceptable at the moment. However, it is the water part of the equation that is worse. The water in that bait bucket may contain quagga veligers or a single strand of milfoil, or some other nasty that will go into that water along with the fish at the end of the day when that bucket is emptied.
That illegal transplants will happen, and will be done by otherwise ethical anglers is beyond question. All we need to do is to look at the spread of whirling disease, New Zealand mudsnails, zebra and quagga mussels and a host of other invasive organisms. In the latter cases, all it would have taken is to adequately clean their equipment before moving between waters. The information was out there on how damaging that failure could be, but it was too inconvenient, or they were in a hurry, or whatever.
Finally, you implied that my belief in the legitimacy of the prohibition against live bait is a result of "following a party line" or a failure of critical thinking on my part. Nothing could be further from the truth, but what the heck; you are entitled to your opinion. If it was just me saying these things, you might be right. However, there are dozens of my peers nationwide, with hundreds of years of combined education and experience, studying thousands of waters, that all say the same thing. I would suggest those who are interested visit: http://stopstocking.cowyafs.org/?page_id=55 for a brief introduction to the issue.
I understand that I have been talking about the illegal movement of fish and that you and others are advocating use in waters where they already exist and you will claim that they are not the same thing. The fact is that one facilitates the other. I do not need to reinvent the light bulb every time I want to illuminate the darkness. In the same vein, I do not need to allow live bait use in Utah to see if it will lead to widespread illegal introductions. I only need to look at the experiences of Montana and others to see that it will.
Against my better judgment, I entered into this discussion because I feel strongly that part of my job is to educate anglers on why things are the way they are. I recognized that this thread had the opportunity to degenerate into drama but I took that risk when I first posted. Trust me; I will count to a hundred or higher before I make the effort again.
Paul Birdsey
Coldwater Sportfish Coordinator
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
[signature]