04-03-2014, 12:15 AM
Ok, I'm done chuckling about some of the responses. Against my better judgment, some serious comments about the survey results.
1. [quote AmyC]
A few things really stood out to us as we went through the responses. First of all, we haven't done a good job of educating the public about the impacts of predatory fish on our native fish populations in the Green River.
[/quote]
I sure hope you are right, but based on many of the responses, I don't know how much educating the responding crowd of walleye enthusiasts will help. The gist of most of the responses was basically "screw the endangered native species, let them die off and tell the USFWS to pound sand". I'm sure the Center for Biological Diversity, PETA, and other anti fishing groups are licking their chops when they read excrement like this. Considering that the ESA has wide popular support nationwide, flaunting this type of attitude in support of an illegally introduced sport fish available elsewhere sounds like a great way to alienate a large segment of the public against anglers. Also, as has been discussed ad nauseum in regards to June suckers, IMO, about the only way to force the Feds to shut down or curtail fishing opportunity and local management is to do as these clowns suggest and tell the Feds to "take a hike". They sure will, supported by legions of animal rights fanatics, enviros and the general public right to court and would come down on you hard. Good grief.
2. The second gist of the survey besides "screw the endangered species" was "screw the trout". Ok, you guys hate trout. Fine. However, the last time I checked, trout were doing great in Starvation (Starvation steelhead anyone?) and Deer Creek. If planted large enough, they coexist with walleyes just fine. However, walleyes tend to cause problems by messing up other warmwater species, not trout. Thousands of folks used to pack onto Deer Creek 25 years ago to catch perch through the ice. Not anymore, since the eyes were dumped in. The issue at Red fleet won't be trout related but what happens when the bluegills are gone. Probably skinny and slow growing Largemouths. I keep hearing about putting eyes in Pineview. Great for a few walleye enthusiasts, but awful for the thousands of perch fans and bassers.
3. The programs the DWR is trying to do with saugeyes, sterile walleyes and the like would have wide popular support. They should be commended and supported in this. (I like bass, not walleyes, and I'm hoping they can pull it off too).
4. Hardcore specialty fishermen like walleye guys are far more likely to participate in surveys than Joe six pack out there slinging some powerbait for finless freddie trout. (even if they lose their credibility when the surveys are released to the public)
5. Lastly, was the sentiment that if you don't give us what we want, we'll bucket biology our preferred species everywhere anyway. I have a hard time supporting an extortive sentiment like that and would favor the DWR coming down hard on such bucket biology events.
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1. [quote AmyC]
A few things really stood out to us as we went through the responses. First of all, we haven't done a good job of educating the public about the impacts of predatory fish on our native fish populations in the Green River.
[/quote]
I sure hope you are right, but based on many of the responses, I don't know how much educating the responding crowd of walleye enthusiasts will help. The gist of most of the responses was basically "screw the endangered native species, let them die off and tell the USFWS to pound sand". I'm sure the Center for Biological Diversity, PETA, and other anti fishing groups are licking their chops when they read excrement like this. Considering that the ESA has wide popular support nationwide, flaunting this type of attitude in support of an illegally introduced sport fish available elsewhere sounds like a great way to alienate a large segment of the public against anglers. Also, as has been discussed ad nauseum in regards to June suckers, IMO, about the only way to force the Feds to shut down or curtail fishing opportunity and local management is to do as these clowns suggest and tell the Feds to "take a hike". They sure will, supported by legions of animal rights fanatics, enviros and the general public right to court and would come down on you hard. Good grief.
2. The second gist of the survey besides "screw the endangered species" was "screw the trout". Ok, you guys hate trout. Fine. However, the last time I checked, trout were doing great in Starvation (Starvation steelhead anyone?) and Deer Creek. If planted large enough, they coexist with walleyes just fine. However, walleyes tend to cause problems by messing up other warmwater species, not trout. Thousands of folks used to pack onto Deer Creek 25 years ago to catch perch through the ice. Not anymore, since the eyes were dumped in. The issue at Red fleet won't be trout related but what happens when the bluegills are gone. Probably skinny and slow growing Largemouths. I keep hearing about putting eyes in Pineview. Great for a few walleye enthusiasts, but awful for the thousands of perch fans and bassers.
3. The programs the DWR is trying to do with saugeyes, sterile walleyes and the like would have wide popular support. They should be commended and supported in this. (I like bass, not walleyes, and I'm hoping they can pull it off too).
4. Hardcore specialty fishermen like walleye guys are far more likely to participate in surveys than Joe six pack out there slinging some powerbait for finless freddie trout. (even if they lose their credibility when the surveys are released to the public)
5. Lastly, was the sentiment that if you don't give us what we want, we'll bucket biology our preferred species everywhere anyway. I have a hard time supporting an extortive sentiment like that and would favor the DWR coming down hard on such bucket biology events.
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