09-04-2014, 01:35 PM
There are a couple of reasons for this recommendation this year.
1. Anglers largely aren't keeping limits of many of the warm and cool water fish. The creel surveys that we have completed (including Willard Bay, Pelican, Jordanelle) indicate pressure and harvest is down quite a bit. The pressure doesn't bother me as much as the harvest, when you combine it with the age and growth information that our regional biologists have been gathering for the last 2-3 years. The DWR continually hears angler complaints about the smaller fish in Jordanelle, Pelican and the over harvest of fish at Willard Bay inlet. We then share the data from creel surveys and age and growth studies and the anglers either don't believe us OR choose to continue releasing fish for perceived ethical reasons. Meanwhile the fisheries continue to decline. We completed a statewide angler survey in 2011 that indicated that anglers want/desire more quality fish and that catching a lot of smaller fish isn't really appealing. How can we achieve this if anglers aren't willing to remove fish (up to the limit) so the remaining fish have a little more to eat and grow.
2. If people currently don't take a limit home then a more liberal limit won't achieve anything. The removal of the at home possession will allow folks to keep a few more fish at home and perhaps feel OK about going back out and going fishing.
3. Lastly....there are an alarming number of people who either didn't know about the current possession law or didn't care and thereby didn't adhere to it. To my knowledge the DWR has only pressed two of these violations, over the past 12 years. These were for gross violations. This means that perhaps 5 million anglers over the past twelve years did what they felt compelled to do whether this law is in place or not. It is my personal belief that this law didn't impact peoples decision in the past and won't in the future.
My hope is that a person who just returned from Lake Powell and has a good number of walleye in their possession (no limit) doesn't feel like they can't then go out to Starvation, Willard Bay or Utah Lake fish for walleye. Same thing for black bass at any water in Utah that has a more liberal limit than six fish. I personally go up to Oregon and fish Brownlee Reservoir for Crappie every spring. There is no limit on crappie on that reservoir. When I cross the border into Utah, I am technically over limit and for sure can't keep any crappie in Utah until I eat my crappie from Oregon.
To summarize, DWR hopes that if anglers don't utilize the daily limits that are set in place (creel survey data) then perhaps we can entice a few additional anglers to harvest a couple of days instead of one.
Drew Cushing
Warmwater Sportfish Coordinator
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
[signature]
1. Anglers largely aren't keeping limits of many of the warm and cool water fish. The creel surveys that we have completed (including Willard Bay, Pelican, Jordanelle) indicate pressure and harvest is down quite a bit. The pressure doesn't bother me as much as the harvest, when you combine it with the age and growth information that our regional biologists have been gathering for the last 2-3 years. The DWR continually hears angler complaints about the smaller fish in Jordanelle, Pelican and the over harvest of fish at Willard Bay inlet. We then share the data from creel surveys and age and growth studies and the anglers either don't believe us OR choose to continue releasing fish for perceived ethical reasons. Meanwhile the fisheries continue to decline. We completed a statewide angler survey in 2011 that indicated that anglers want/desire more quality fish and that catching a lot of smaller fish isn't really appealing. How can we achieve this if anglers aren't willing to remove fish (up to the limit) so the remaining fish have a little more to eat and grow.
2. If people currently don't take a limit home then a more liberal limit won't achieve anything. The removal of the at home possession will allow folks to keep a few more fish at home and perhaps feel OK about going back out and going fishing.
3. Lastly....there are an alarming number of people who either didn't know about the current possession law or didn't care and thereby didn't adhere to it. To my knowledge the DWR has only pressed two of these violations, over the past 12 years. These were for gross violations. This means that perhaps 5 million anglers over the past twelve years did what they felt compelled to do whether this law is in place or not. It is my personal belief that this law didn't impact peoples decision in the past and won't in the future.
My hope is that a person who just returned from Lake Powell and has a good number of walleye in their possession (no limit) doesn't feel like they can't then go out to Starvation, Willard Bay or Utah Lake fish for walleye. Same thing for black bass at any water in Utah that has a more liberal limit than six fish. I personally go up to Oregon and fish Brownlee Reservoir for Crappie every spring. There is no limit on crappie on that reservoir. When I cross the border into Utah, I am technically over limit and for sure can't keep any crappie in Utah until I eat my crappie from Oregon.
To summarize, DWR hopes that if anglers don't utilize the daily limits that are set in place (creel survey data) then perhaps we can entice a few additional anglers to harvest a couple of days instead of one.
Drew Cushing
Warmwater Sportfish Coordinator
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
[signature]