Re: "All Fish in All Waters", I love that mantra, But....

[Matthew Longley]

I'm not really sure I see the injustice in this...  Is it only certain waters, and only for the steelhead run?  Even with catch and release there is an expected mortality rate for caught fish, and poaching is much easier to enforce in no-fish waters. In Maine we close down nearly every river in the state to ALL fishing from the early winter spawn through the spring.  We have a few southern rivers open year round, as well as a lot of lakes for hard water.  Sure it's an inconvenience, but it's part of respecting the fishery.



On Saturday, February 16, 2013 1:26:15 AM UTC-5, john Bu wrote:

If an endangered species happens to live in that water, watch-out!  We currently have that situation in So Calif  where that particular population of endangered steelhead which inhabits some our local coastal streams is shutting down all fishing--even catch and release-- because, according to the Federal Act, we fly-fishers, and other fishers as well, have become a "harasser of fish".   Sounds like something a PETA person would say.  Can you folks, a little closer to the Capital, try to address this unfortunate and probably unexpected consequence of the Endangered Species Act?

[Dalton Terrell]

In related news, the following story was posted on Moldy Chum this morning: http://www.moldychum.com/home-old/2013/2/19/hatchery-threatens-native-fish.html 

The gist is that an environmental group has sued the Federal and California state Fish and Wildlife Services for stocking fish that have a negative impact on species protected by the Endangered Species Act, primarily steelhead. Will be interesting to see where this goes.

Dalton