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MEETINGS CONTINUE ON PROPOSED
FISH REGULATION CHANGES
Three meetings left, including Topeka,
Kansas City, and Junction City
May 4, 2006 - PRATT Kansas Department
of Wildlife and Parks staff has been conducting a series of public
meetings around the state this spring to describe and hear comments
on several fishing regulation changes under consideration. The
meetings will also include discussion of several fishing-related
issues that have been proposed by the public but are not yet
assembled in draft recommendation form.
Public participation is encouraged to help refine
recommendations and guide development of future regulations.
Draft recommendations to be discussed focus on changes in regulations
governing fishing tournaments, trout permitting, paddlefish snagging,
and bait fish.
As of May 4, three meeting dates remain at the
following locations:
May 8, Topeka, KDWP Region 2 office, 7 9
p.m.
May 9, Kansas City, Cabela's Meeting Room, 6:30 9 p.m.
May 10, Junction City, Convention Center at Courtyard by Marriott,
310 Hammons, 7 9 p.m.
Recommendations could also affect creel limits
on smallmouth bass and largemouth bass, clarification of black
bass special regulations and individual black bass species regulations,
crappie creel limits, wipers/stripers limits, scuba diving, spear
fishing, gigging, and hand fishing.
For more information, phone 620-672-5911.
MEETINGS PLANNED ON PROPOSED
FISHING REGULATION CHANGES
KDWP sets eight meeting locations set
for public discussion of proposals
April 14, 2006 - PRATT Kansas Department
of Wildlife and Parks staff will conduct a series of public meetings
around the state this spring to describe and hear comments on
several fishing regulation changes under consideration. The meetings
will also include discussion of several fishing-related issues
that have been proposed by the public but are not yet assembled
in draft recommendation.
Public participation is encouraged because it will
help refine recommendations and guide development of future regulations.
Draft recommendations to be discussed include changes in regulations
governing fishing tournaments, trout permitting, paddlefish snagging,
and bait fish.
Meeting dates and locations include the following:
* April 25, Iola, Allen County Community College
auditorium, 7 - 9 p.m.;
* May 1, Salina, Kansas Highway Patrol Training
Center, 2019 East Iron Ave., 7 - 9 p.m.;
* May 2, Hays, Fort Hays State University, Black
and Gold Room, 7 9 p.m.;
* May 3, Wichita, Great Plains Nature Center auditorium,
7 9 p.m.;
* May 4, Dodge City, Dodge City Community College,
Student Union Santa Fe Room, 7 9 p.m.;
* May 8, Topeka, KDWP Region 2 office, 7
9 p.m.;
* May 9, Kansas City, Cabela's Meeting Room, 6:30
9 p.m.; and
* May 10, Junction City, Convention Center at Courtyard
by Marriott, 310 Hammons, 7 9 p.m.
Background information and draft recommendations
are summarized below.
FISHING TOURNAMENTS
Length limits over 15 inches on largemouth and smallmouth bass
have made it difficult for tournament organizers to hold weigh-in
tournaments. Current regulations prohibit possession of any fish
shorter than the minimum length, allowing a tournament participant
who catches one large fish an advantage over a participant who
catches several smaller fish (which may not be kept) under the
length limit. As a result, tournament organizers often feel compelled
to conduct their tournaments at lakes that have shorter length
limits, placing excessive pressure on those lakes.
To protect the fisheries resource, as well accommodate
tournament anglers, the committee is proposing the following
guidelines and requirements:
* allow tournament anglers to possess two bass
over 15 inches, on waters with length limits longer than 15 inches,
during a registered tournament;
* implement a tournament registration process that
makes available a "Tournament Bass Pass" (proposed
fee of $10) purchased by individual participants for use only
during registered events, and valid for the calendar year in
which it is purchased;
* registered tournaments could only occur September
1 through June 15 (no registered events during the heat of summer,
to minimize fish mortality);
* catch information must be reported by Dec. 31
to retain registration eligibility for the next year; and
* Tournament Bass Pass is only valid for tournament
participants during registered tournaments.
PADDLEFISH
Paddlefish are caught by snagging, primarily during spawning
season at a few designated locations in eastern Kansas. Snagging
areas in Kansas are located below the Chetopa dam on the Neosho
River, below the Osawatomie dam on the Marais des Cygnes River,
and in the Browning Oxbow Lake in Brown County.
Paddlefish do not reach sexual maturity until eight
years of age, when they travel upriver to spawn, making them
available to anglers at low-water dams along those rivers. At
that age, a paddlefish typically has attained a weight of about
40 pounds, providing a unique opportunity for anglers.
To protect the paddlefish resource, reduce crowding
at snagging areas, and provide equitable opportunity for anglers,
the committee is recommending limiting the number of paddlefish
an individual anglers could harvest per year by requiring a $10
permit that includes five carcass tags. The current check station
requirement would no longer be in effect, and all locations would
conform to a creel limit of 2 and a length limit of 34 inches.
TROUT PERMITS
The department began the trout program in Kansas in 1994, stocking
trout in designated waters around the state for the Oct. 15 through
April 15 trout fishing season. Current regulations allow anglers
to catch and release trout without purchasing a trout permit.
That regulation was established to allow non-trout
anglers to forego purchasing that permit to fish trout-stocked
waters, some of which provide significant winter fishing opportunities
for other fish species. However, catch and release anglers still
have an effect on the mortality of trout, since not all fish
caught and released survive. Since 1999, when almost 11,000 trout
permits were purchased, permits sales have declined to the current
level of about 7,000 permits sold annually. Increasing energy
costs are increasing the cost of acquiring and delivering stocked
trout, and other fisheries programs in the state are competing
for limited federal aid revenues.
To accommodate those considerations, the committee
is recommending development of two types of designated trout
waters. "Type 1" waters, which comprise the majority
of trout fishing locations in Kansas, would require anglers during
the trout season to have a trout permit in their possession whether
they were fishing for trout or some other species. In "Type
2" waters, which contain significant winter fishing opportunities
for species other than trout, anglers would need a permit to
fish for and possess trout.
BAITFISH
Current regulations allow for some confusion on legal collection
and use of baitfish. Some fish species, for example, fall under
legal definitions of both "baitfish" and "non-sportfish."
There also is some confusion among anglers in determining the
difference between "department managed" and "department
owned" waters, as currently defined in regulation.
To clarify and better define these terms, the draft
recommendations would include each fish species in one of three
categories: "sportfish," "non-sportfish,"
or "aquatic nuisance species." Only species listed
as non-sportfish could be used as bait; sportfish could not be
used as bait. "Department managed" or "department
owned" distinctions would be replaced with "public
waters."
Draft recommendations are eventually presented
at public meetings of the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission
for further public comment and final public hearing action.
OTHER ISSUES
In addition to the draft recommendations summarized above, department
staff at the upcoming public meetings will lead preliminary discussion
of a variety of other issues which may be developed as draft
regulations in the future. Among those issues, which include
public requests for changes to existing regulations, are the
following:
* length and creel limits changes on smallmouth
bass and largemouth bass, and clarification of black bass special
regulations and individual black bass species regulations;
* crappie creel limits;
* wipers/stripers limits;
* scuba diving;
* spear fishing;
* gigging; and
* hand fishing.
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