Today's IFPAG Meeting
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:10 pm
I just returned home from today's IFPAG meeting in Ellensburg and have 2 items I want to bring to your attention.
First, our club's board decided this week that we should pursue a regulation change that allows fishing for tiger muskies only with artificial lures. Under current rules, anglers can fish for tiger muskies with dead bait such as smelt or herring. The problem with bait is that fish swallow it, and a gut-hooked fish is as good as dead. The purpose of the 50-inch rule is to keep tiger muskie populations high by eliminating most angler harvest. A logical extension of this strategy is to eliminate the use of lethal fishing methods. It does no good to release a muskie if it dies from hook injuries. Artificial lures hook a muskie in the mouth, and if the fish is properly handled, the survival rate is 100%. It's simply common sense that this should be the only way muskies are caught.
The first step is to win WDFW's support for the change. I told a couple of key department staff about it at today's meeting to get that ball rolling. The next step is collecting information relevant to the issue. I intend to submit a proposed rule in 2009 for adoption by the Commission in 2010. This year is an off-year for rulemaking, and that's the soonest it can be done.
The other item involves 2009 stocking. As most of you know, WDFW imposed a moratorium on importing tiger muskie eggs in 2007, which means no stocking in 2008. This was a precautionary measure to further reduce the risk of bringing VHS fish disease into our state. WDFW used this 1-year suspension of tiger muskie stocking to beef up testing, quarantine, and hatchery procedures. We are now in a position to tell opponents of tiger muskie stocking (and there are a few people like that out there) that there's virtually no chance of VHS coming into Washington via the tiger muskie stocking program.
The good news about the 2009 stocking is that due to higher than expected hatchery survival, WDFW will have 15,000 fingerlings this winter, instead of the usual 6,000. The extra fish will be planted this fall. Because of their smaller size, survival won't be as high as the 12" fingerlings planted next spring, but the 2009 year class is going to be exceptionally large. WDFW hasn't decided yet how to divide up the fish between the lakes, and we'll probably have an opportunity to provide input on this later this summer.
First, our club's board decided this week that we should pursue a regulation change that allows fishing for tiger muskies only with artificial lures. Under current rules, anglers can fish for tiger muskies with dead bait such as smelt or herring. The problem with bait is that fish swallow it, and a gut-hooked fish is as good as dead. The purpose of the 50-inch rule is to keep tiger muskie populations high by eliminating most angler harvest. A logical extension of this strategy is to eliminate the use of lethal fishing methods. It does no good to release a muskie if it dies from hook injuries. Artificial lures hook a muskie in the mouth, and if the fish is properly handled, the survival rate is 100%. It's simply common sense that this should be the only way muskies are caught.
The first step is to win WDFW's support for the change. I told a couple of key department staff about it at today's meeting to get that ball rolling. The next step is collecting information relevant to the issue. I intend to submit a proposed rule in 2009 for adoption by the Commission in 2010. This year is an off-year for rulemaking, and that's the soonest it can be done.
The other item involves 2009 stocking. As most of you know, WDFW imposed a moratorium on importing tiger muskie eggs in 2007, which means no stocking in 2008. This was a precautionary measure to further reduce the risk of bringing VHS fish disease into our state. WDFW used this 1-year suspension of tiger muskie stocking to beef up testing, quarantine, and hatchery procedures. We are now in a position to tell opponents of tiger muskie stocking (and there are a few people like that out there) that there's virtually no chance of VHS coming into Washington via the tiger muskie stocking program.
The good news about the 2009 stocking is that due to higher than expected hatchery survival, WDFW will have 15,000 fingerlings this winter, instead of the usual 6,000. The extra fish will be planted this fall. Because of their smaller size, survival won't be as high as the 12" fingerlings planted next spring, but the 2009 year class is going to be exceptionally large. WDFW hasn't decided yet how to divide up the fish between the lakes, and we'll probably have an opportunity to provide input on this later this summer.