fish monger
Let's talk a little about your reply!
You say:
"Anyway, I've been to a lot of places where snagging occurs, and I've seen the types of people these fisheries attract"
Have you ever fished in a state where snagging was legal? Have you ever fished for a species that the "snagging method" was legal to use? Since you have "seen" these types of people . . . what do they look like? Are they malformed? Are they a special color? What the devil do they look like?
Maybe in our state, snagging is frown upon, but in other states and for other species, it is not! Especially if a specie does not want to feed or bite! Does that sound like a spawning salmon that has entered fresh water to you? Hummmm!
The Bottom of the "barrel" to you may be the frosting on the cake to some other fisher. So why not let that fisher pay the big bucks that are needed to increase our enforcement?
You say;
If these people are already fishing illegally, usually blatantly, why would these people pay extra to get (not "fish for") fish this way?"
That's simple you just triple the fines for not having a "snagging license"! What judge would let someone off the "hook" for snagging when all he had to do was to buy that special snagging license?
You don't have to worry about the guys "honing their skills"! Those guys don't need any help from any of us!
You say;
"Why not just increase the fines by something like 10 times? People would still be stupid enough to do it and the state would bring in 10 times more money."
The problem with that logic is these guys are not that "stupid"! And the courts will not make "punishments" that strict for a fish!
Finally, you say;
"What kind of message would this send to the general public about fishermen? Wasn't part of the reason the net ban initiative a number of years ago failed was because the public saw fishermen as just being greedy and wanting more fish? Seems that most places where excessive snagging occurs are absolutely trashed as well"
The message it sends says; if you want to "snag" at certain terminal fishing areas, you are going to pay a price to do so! The general public will not look at snagging in special areas as bad, IF fishermen are made to pay a premium price to do so!
For many years now we have tried to stop snagers from snagging with almost no success. So why not try something different and see if the sport fishing can make a difference though trying something new and different?
Cowlitzfisherman
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