To spear...or not to spear?

[dubob]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I'm with Rocky on this one. I think the DWR needs to require that all spearfishing folks have a special tag to participate in the sport. I think the tag should be free but required. The purpose would be to accurately determine the actual number of folks participating in this activity. I would also suggest that at the end of each year (December time frame) a survey questionnaire should be sent to each and every permit holder for a report on the number of days participating and total species collected. This would go a long way towards determining if their is, or is not, a major problem with or impact on sport fishing with hook & line in Utah.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I've been fishing in Utah since I moved here in 1977. In all those years, I have never seen anyone spearfishing in Utah. From that perspective, I don't believe we have a problem with allowing it, but do feel that we currently don't have enough accurate data on the level of activity to make informed decisions on the activity.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I'm not active anymore, but started scuba diving at age 20. I've spear fished many times in salt water and found it to be a very challenging and satisfying activity. I have absolutely no problem with allowing it in Utah waters. We have absolutely billions of fish in our state waters and spearfishing is not having a measurable impact on the overall population - IMHO.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]But again, we could probably stand to collect and use more accurate data.[/#800000][/font]
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