Nov update

[tom mayher]

 

Early this year I attended a meeting to formulate a rapid response policy for invasive species. Very early into the meeting I held up a large picture of my friend in Chicago who was holding the bare electrodes for the electric barrier. Asked where is the rapid response for possibly our greatest threat to our Great Lakes fisheries. Received a lot of nothing from the managers and some of the supposedly knowledgeable experts. Was able to talk to the administrative one on one and she admitted that we have --no money--no schedule and no plans to complete the electric barrier. Nov. 2007--- the major electric barrier is still not hooked up.

New York Tom and Chicago Ed have been on top of the progress or lack of for years and this is their latest assessment of such---- progress????

--------Asian carp... we have just about lost.... they are past the barrier...which by the way is not working... Ed and I have been getting report a year of silver carp in Lake Michigan or very close to the lake. The Army Engineers wants $25 million to move the barrier closer to the lake I told them way back it needed to be closer to the lake....but it still won't work.-----------

We needed 16 million last year and couldn’t get it to complete the barrier. Wonder what chance we have of getting 25 million now? Will the proposed 25 billion include an acoustical barrier also.

[Might as well we have heard nothing but noise about the barrier for years]

The Feds don’t seem to be have much interest in America’s most popular out door sport. There are about 30 million citizens who own a fishing license and generate over 40 billion dollars in economic impact each year.

While I’m on the subject on sport fishing expenditures.---- At the proposed netters buy out, DOW stated that sport fishing generates about 116 billion dollars annually. I did not agree with that huge figure because the largest figure I encountered was 78 billion and at the same time the USFWS stated that it was about 36 billion. Representative Redfern was one of the first speakers and he said that the economic impact figure was phony. Many times I wrote about the economic impact and my figures agreed with his statement. This certainly got the train wreck off and running on the wrong track. Personally I was convinced that the issue was dead about 10 minutes into the Chief’s presentation.

Don’t know much about impact the changes in netting regulations have, other than getting complaints about too many nets in the Lorain area this season.

This season we had a lot of press about the invasion of exotic species and some hope that the Feds would pass legislation governing the dumping of ballast water into our rivers and lakes. Many years ago I wrote that the EPA said that we will have ballast water legislature in about 16 years. Than some time later they said that the legislation will be passed in 10 years. It is my understanding that Senator Voinovich said that they will pass legislation in 2012.

What’s the hurry, we knew about the invasion at least a100 years ago???

Will try to find my letter concerning 16 years, wonder if the Feds gave the shippers a free ride for 16 years. Was there a deal made?

Last year I wrote that on a Saturday morning in early June I counted 172 boats fishing for walleyes in the West Harbor area. Came to the conclusion from what I saw that we would catch about 3 million walleyes in 2007. This year I did not see a total of 172 private boats fishing for walleyes in the areas that I fish all year long. Apparently the price of gas had a huge impact on the off shore reef walleye fishing.