Your right, this can be a sticky subject. It seems like we already have a separation of fishermen and women, some fish only trout and warmwater species, some just the rivers, and the fly fishers. I personally am a bait fisher on lakes only, but I do keep the first five caught. I agree that there needs to be more education in the fishing world, this might also restrict some of the conflict between the different factions.
When I taught Hunter Ed. the department had a Fishing ed. component, but I haven't heard much of it since, is it still operating? If it is maybe some fishing classes.
I hate to see closing lakes to certain types of fishing, some people with disabilities can not flyfish, (I am one). This is a tough question to answer and be fair to everyone. On the powerbait issue, most of the people I see on the lakes I frequent seem to use common sense (most of the time), when it comes to this type of bait. It seems like we are back to the old problem of a few ruining it for the rest. One suggestion might be enforcement, I did not see one officer on any of the lakes I go to this past year, so the offenders think they can get away with catch and release when using bait. Sometimes just the presence of enforcement changes the whole picture.
Keep up the good work in region 5 and I'm glad I don't have to have the final word.