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Message Subject: Hearing In Sturtevent 11/9/06

Shep

Posted 11/9/2006 1:47 PM (#48844)
Subject: Hearing In Sturtevent 11/9/06

Member

Posts: 3899

This hearing is tonight.

Greg Meyer, John Mannerino, Mike Gofron, and the rest of you IL boys! Get off your butts, and get there. Be HEARD!

Edited by Shep 11/9/2006 1:47 PM

Jim Coon

Posted 11/9/2006 3:36 PM (#48849 - in reply to #48844)
Subject: RE: Hearing In Sturtevent 11/9/06

Member

Posts: 499

Location: Appleton

We need anglers and small busines owners to get to the remaining meetings and voice thier opinions. If you missed your local meeting e-mail Pat Schmalz at the DNR your thoughts. Now is the time to get our thoughts on record before this bill is reveiwed. We also need to mail letters to our people in government and voice our dissatisfaction with bill NR20.40

Here's a nice page to find your Representatives. http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/

Keep in mind many pages aren't updated from the recent elections. But when congress takes session, we'll have to make sure our voices are heard.

Thanks

Jim Coon

Edited by Jim Coon 11/9/2006 3:38 PM

hgmeyer

Posted 11/17/2006 5:09 PM (#49006 - in reply to #48844)
Subject: RE: Hearing In Sturtevent 11/9/06

Member

Posts: 794

Location: Elgin, Illinois

I was not able to attend any of the meetings because of work commitments. But, I did send a long, blunt, e-mail to Mr Schmalz:

Mr. Schmalz and other interested parties,

First, let me introduce myself. I am Harold "Greg" Meyer, an Illinois resident, but a lifelong visitor to Wisconsin. In any typical year I spend a few (5-10) random days of fishing on Delavan Lake, Lake Geneva, And Powers Lake since they are close to my home in Elgin, Illinois. I also try to get in a trip up to Hayward after the opener to spend a few days with my friend, John Myhre, the owner of a small resort on Moose Lake just east of Hayward. The family (my wife and I, our children, 3, and grandchildren, 3, and children's spouses and "significant others, 2) spends at least a week on the Chippewa Flowage, continuing a 35 year family tradition. At least one and hopefully two long weekend trips to Winneconne/Winnebago are squeezed into the Summer. In the Fall there are a few (2-3) trips out to the Mississippi River fishing at and around Genoa/Prairie Du Chien. In all I spend around 15-20 days/nights in motels, cabins/resorts participating in recreational fishing. And, I also fish walleye tournaments, most in Wisconsin. I fish the FLW Wisconsin League and Tour events in Wisconsin, adding another 15-20 days/nights. In the past I have fished in the WAT and The GNWC. Again, most of those tournaments are in Wisconsin. So, while I am a non-resident, I think I have a great love of the State of Wisconsin and certainly a fair familiarity and affinity for her waters. I am a computer engineer by trade so I do not profess to have any fisheries or biological expertise beyond an "ego" based belief that I am a good fisherman (By the way the fish show me no respect, so they seem to disagree). My point in this is to illustrate using the old "cliche", that I, although a non-resident, do have a dog in this fight.

Next, I want to articulate my thoughts and opinions why I am opposed to several of the major restrictions proposed by the new regulations. Severely limiting the number of tournaments is unjustified by any data and is not necessary to protect the resource in general. Requiring "catch and kill" for Summer tournaments isn't good science or resouce management. Lengthy and convoluted permitting processes will discourage or drive away most nationally based tournaments.

Perhaps I am wrong in my perception, but I believe that much of the support for restricting tournaments is generated by complaints about perceived "overcrowding" at access ramps and on the water. I hear that "locals" do not like the crowds, the big boats or the congestion, etc. Okay, so what is "local"... 10 mile radius... 100 mile radius... Now, I know I am not a local... I've been referred to as a FIB quite enough times to now be aware of my "place"... But, on Winneconne, Petenwell, Winnebago and Green Bay, I look at the hometown of the fishermen and I see a lot of what look like local addresses to me... Seems to me a lot of the congestion complained about is cause by the "neighbors" who enjoy fishing in tournaments.

Next, I have certainly tried to be a good guest, always paid my way and patronized local businesses. I park in the designated areas pay my launch fees (even when there is a higher fees for Non-Residents...LOL). I pay for my non-resident license... So, what am I doing that is unacceptable, disruptive or illegal. Nothing. What I am doing, I am fishing in a boat that has an Illinois registration at a time when others are intentionally gathered at the same spot to enjoy fishing together. They also happen to be willingly committed to catching less than the two limits allowed to them by law.... and even at that, they are committed to releasing the fish back to the water at the end of the day. Still, there are people who do not want me and the others there that day. Why?

Well, the answer to that lies in some xenophobic concept that it is a "us versus them" kind of thing. Them, being the ones not competing, but filling a cooler with fish... fish for the freezer. Certainly some of them will remove the one, two, or three limits of fish from the water that day (or would if they were good enough at fishing to do so) depending on how many are in their boat...

I am awazre that it is not politically correct to address that aspect so bluntly or directly, but it is necessary. Some of this is being driven by complex emotional responses to tournament anglers in general and has little to do with any scientific pursuit, analysis or studies of any kind.

Yes tournament anglers, a majority of whom are very skilled anglers, do catch more fish... They also pay the same fees for licenses, boat registration and launch fees that any one else pays. So, now because they are good or better than the average Joe, they should pay more or be restrictedc from enjoying the waters in a manner desired by them. They should be singled out for restrictions and higher fees, more than the local bucket/cooler fillers. Most of the tournament anglers I know harvest fewer walleyes in a year than the average weekend angler does in a couple of good days. Folks, we call that glitter envy... You don't like me because on any given day I can approach a body of water and be successful at my targeted specie... Years ago, the successful fisherman was respected.

Tell me something, why do the non-tournament fishermen get to be any more special because they are not in a tournament than the guy who is..? They and I pay the same for our license, based on residency, we pay the same registration fee for the boat and trailer and pay the same launch and parking fee. Why is either one of us entitled to special treatment or deserving of stricter regulation? Mr. Schmalz, I understand that you have admitted that tournament fishing has not, in any provable or suspected way, negatively impacted any fishery in any real sense of causing damage long term. All of the studies indicate natural mortality takes up to 40-50% of all of the fish and there is no lasting impact. And, where fishing pressure from overharvesting has had an impact, lowered bag limits effectively manage the situation in individual lakes (spearing comes to mind...) But, no where has any scientific study shown that tournaments have caused any problem.

In fact some of the information out there is pretty telling to the contrary. I will refer you to the referenced below Wisc. DNR report on walleyes in Winnebago. Note some facts... populations fluctuate widely because of natural conditions... Sometime one year class of fish can be 5-6-7 time larger or smaller based on natural factors. Also note that 28-30% "exploitation rate" is acceptable and has no impact on populations. Next, look at another DNR report on Winnebago ( ) . All of it is interesting, but look at page 18. Between 1993 and 2005 (NOW REMEMBER THIS IS ALL NATURAL SPAWNING AND NO STOCKED FISH) 15" and up fish populations fluctuated between 200,000 and 1,400,000 annually with one year "swings" as large as from 600,000 to 1,200,000 the next year. Now in that lake system a naturally healthy walleye population can fluctuate by as much as 600,000 15 inch plus fish in one year from all causes, including fishing.

Now, lets look at tournaments and their potential impact. I don't know, but let's post a pretty high assumption... 60 "Big" tournaments (this is way over the pale of reality) at 75 boats each (again way over) and 10 of those are two day tournaments so 60+10= 70 X 75 and every one of them brings in 5 fish (I wish) so we have 70X75X5= 26,250 fish are brought in and 25% of them die that is 6500 dead fish... And now compare that to the 600,000 possible population swing.. or the small ones of 200,000 from year to year. Spawning factors and spawning factors alone account for the population swings... read your own report.

Three, four, six thousand potential dead fish from tournaments in a year do not affect populations. The objectionable floaters (and I don't like seeing them either) please no one but the Seagulls and Cormorants, but they do not evidence a raping of the resource or a danger to the vitality of a population of healthy fish.

Tournaments themselves have changed their handling of the fish. Have you seen an FLW Walleye weigh-in with the "water weigh-in" system. The fish are brought up in weigh bags from the boat... in bags that have water in them. The fish are transferred to plastic tubs that are submerged in a trough and held there in oxygenated and recirculated water. Then the fish are checked for minimum size while "swimming" in a small bath tub of recirculating oxygenated water. The fish are put back into the plastic bin (the bin has big holes to let water out and water in) and carried to the stage. On the stage the fish are placed in a tank full of water and the fish and the water are weighed together (it does work... Archimedes Principle applies to fish as well as submarines). The fish are then released (after being placed in big plastic tubs of oxygenated water on board a pontoon boat and sent out for release). None of that existed before... And, all of that is known to drastically reduce mortality.

Science... well I don't know. But, math tells me that requiring catch and kill tournaments in the summer is contrary to common sense. See, if even 75% of the fish die in those months... currently, twenty five percent will live. Unless you enact your rule of 100% mortality. That one is a "no brainer", unless you succumb to some theory that tournaments won't take the bad press, etc... so, thereby you get to ban tournmaments without banning them. What kind of scientific regulation is that? Please do not embarass the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources by turning to "PC" emotion to effect regulation. If you feel justified in banning tournaments based on some scientific data do so, otherwise leave emotional appeals to the PETA crowd... I have more respect for a professional department than they do.

Finally, discouraging tournaments is economically a bad idea. I do n ot know where the statement came from that these regulations will have no adverse impact. If you effectively drive the FLW and other circuits out of Wisconsin, yes . I'll still buy a non-resident license. And I may still make the odd trip or two. But, rest assured that I won't be spending 5-6-7 or whatever "thousands" of dollars that I spend in Wisconsin for my hobby. And, neither will hundreds of other guys. It won't be an immediate precipitous drop but there wikll be a drop. A few less Mercury Motors, Lund and Tuffy Boats, a few less motel rooms occupied... a couple of guys laid off here and there... I do not know the number, but I would hazard a guess that eventually millions and millions of dollars will fall out of the local economies of communities like OshKosh where maybe it won't be felt much... or Winneconne and Necedah where it will be felt. Just ask the communities that have hosted us tournament guys over the years. They will tell you we spend significant money. Money you will drive out of the State of Wisconsin.

In summary. Most if not all of this new set of regulations is bad; bad for fishermen and bad for Wisconsin. Please retool the concept, get input from tournament anglers on what common ground exists to make it a better experience for everyone. Everyone does still include tournament fishermen, does it not?

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