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I have noticed the decreased activity level as far as ice fishermen on strawberry res. I also noticed from my own trips up there this year and the reports of other anglers that the success rate was down this season. I was wondering if the fish and game has done any recent studies that have information cocnerning possible reasons for the decline in catch rates.
Does there seem to be a general fish poulation problem? I know the new regs will help to improve the situation but was wondering if they may have been put in place due to a notable decrease in fish population.
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I agree that something needed to be done to help Strawberry. However, I think the single biggest problem was enforcement of the laws that were currently there. With only one officer to cover that whole area (not just Strawberry) it is too easy for people to get away with taking far too many fish. I also think that a lot of people don't bother reporting violations because they can never find anyone to report it to or don't think anything will be done when they do report it.
With that said, here are my questions.
1. Is anything being done to increase the enforcement of the regulations?
2. If someone notices a violation, it is often hours before they can get to a phone to report it. When they do report it through the poaching hotline, can anything really be done? By the time someone takes that report, the persons being reported are long gone and may have eaten the evidence.
3. I have suggested this one a couple of times, but not sure where to effectively report it. With the growing popularity of the FRS radios out there, I really think it would be a good idea for the local officer to carry one of these radios set to a specific frequency. They could post this frequency at the visitors center and at the marina, letting people know they can report violations to the officer through their FRS radios. This would provide a much faster response to a report and make the job of enforcement much easier. I would even be willing to donate one of my radios for this if I could be guaranteed it would be used by the officer for this purpose.
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I'll attach both replies to this message.
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don't know if he will actually get this reply, but I will post it anyway.
The FRS radios are the small radios that have been getting more and more popular over the past couple of years. They have about a 2 mile range unless there is a big mountain between the two radios. However, If you are using them out over an open flat area, like a lake, I have had them reach over 5 miles.
Just let me know who to contact and give me some kind of guarantee that it would be actively used for the reporting of violations and I will gladly donate one. One other idea would be to have one at the visitors center where they can immediately contact the officer to report a violation.
Finally, I know the people that run the marina store use these little radios all the time. You might even consider working out some kind of deal with them where they can know the officer's cel. phone number and contact him immediately when they receive a report.
I really believe the key is to have some way to immediately report an offense and have an officer respond to it immediately.
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I will get your offer and suggestions to our law enforcement people and ask them to contact you. Thanks again.
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