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Show Good Law Enforcement Is Vital To A Good Fisheries Program The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has one of the largest fisheries programs in the United States. Unlike most states that have an abundant amount of water with a lot of native populations of game fish, Utah relies heavily on the DWR's fish hatchery program and the honesty of the sportsmen who draw upon this resource, to maintain main-tain this program. Unfortunately, the percentage of uneducated or dishonest fishermen is high enough to force the DWR to engage in a highly skilled and active wildlife law enforcement program. The uneducated fishermen are those individuals who unknowingly destroy a good fisheries program through acts of carelessness. The dishonest fisherman is that individual individ-ual who is well aware of the regulations, realizes the consequences conse-quences of his actions, but doesn't care. A prime example of acts that an uneducated individual may be involved in-volved in that may dramatically influence in-fluence the future of fishing in Utah, is the illegal stocking of fish. In late February of 1988, Conservation Con-servation Officers, Gary McKell and Dennis Kay along with DWR Special Spe-cial Investigator Dave Hintze seized several "grass carp" from a couple of golf course owners in St. George. The grass carp also know as "white amur" are a prohibited species and are illegal to possess or import. Apparently the golf course owners brought the fish into control con-trol an abundance of aquatic vegetation. vegeta-tion. The fish are native to China and will devour any existing vegetation. "They are death on habitat and eat anything green, and they ruin fish-erics fish-erics where any other fish could live," according to McKell. Hintze stressed the point that, "if these grass carp ended up in the wrong places, they could eliminate sport fishing." Other examples of illegal transplants trans-plants include the fisherman who uses live bait, such as minnows, then upon ending his day of fishing, fish-ing, releases the unwanted minnows (fishing with live bait is illegal). Or the know-it-all that thinks an additional species of fish in his local lo-cal fishing hole would be great, so he deliberately transplants some fish into the local fishing hole. Illegal transplants typically end up costing the DWR hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat the fisheries, to eliminate the undesirable undesir-able competing fish, or they ruin the fishing, since the treatment costs arc loo high. Another type of violation thai wildlife officers continually watch Tor is the fisherman who "fishes without a valid license." At lirsl ulancc this violation docsn l appear to be very serious. Bui without hose license dollars there would be no DWR fisheries program, since license fees fund the DWR's programs. pro-grams. A small additional percentage of noncompliance in fishing license might mean the lack of funding for a couple of hatcheries like Mammoth Mam-moth Creek Hatchery and Loa Hatchery in Southern Utah, which combined will produce approximately approxi-mately 2,100,000 trout in 1988. Trout that hopefully will end up in the creel. "Failure to obey the bag limits on individual waters can also dramatically dra-matically effect the fishing," says Conservation Officer Brent Chris-lenscn. Chris-lenscn. Christcnscn's area of patrol includes both Piute and Oner Creek Reservoir, where the typical trout ranges from 1 12 to 2 12 pounds. According lo Christcnsen, if bag limits were ignored, as some fishermen fish-ermen do, the size of fish would quickly decrease and the fish per person would also be less. Since some fishermen refuse to obey the laws, the only way a "good fisheries program" like Utah's, will work, is with the help from a strong law enforcement program, pro-gram, like Utah's. |
