I just got a surprise call from Miranda Wecker, chair of the WDFW commission. She saw all the noise I was making about process and wanted to touch base personally. Probably to tell be to back off, in her polite manner. We talked for over an hour though, and let me tell you...that lady is awesome. She's a very thoughtful pragmatist. Exactly the kind of person we need on the commission and the exact opposite of Jennings. It's a shame she hasn't been re-appointed. I do pray that it will happen.
Long story short...there's basically no hope that they will change the Cabezon bag limit back to 2. Which I knew...the idea was to hold Jennings' feet to the fire in terms of process. Send a message that cutting the public out - even for minor changes - will not be tolerated.
The big issue is the season change (6 mos down to 45 days), which is on the table and will be discussed in their June 7-8 meeting. Mrs. Wecker was certainly very guarded about her opinion, but she did say that the department has received very little feedback on this rule change. Which is bad, bad, bad. Unless people let WDFW know that they don't want this change, the WDFW is going to make it. Please don't tell me again that you don't care because you don't fish for cabezon. the point is, they are chipping away at our fishing opportunities with unsubstantiated rule changes. If we let it happen, they will get to the fishery you care about soon enough.
IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THIS YET, DO IT NOW. GO TO THE PAGE BELOW AND TELL WDFW THAT YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THE SEASON CHANGE. DO IT NOW.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/cabezon/comments.htmlIf you need text, you can draw from my comments below.
At this point, I am planning on going to Olympia to give public testimony for the June 7-8 commission meeting (if anyone else can go to give testimony, IT REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE). I will need to have my ducks in a row because I will only have 3 min to speak.
Some possible topics to address:
- With the 18" size restriction, the bag limit reduction already in place, and the potential season change reduction how can WDFW expect to measure the impact of any one of the changes? It leaves no way to effectively measure the beneficial impact of any one of those restrictions. It's a blunt and heavy-handed rather than a scientific approach.
- Massive (75%) reduction of saltwater fishing opportunity. No more enjoying sunny, calm summer afternoons bouncing jigs around rocks. Or stopping by the reef after salmon fishing to experience the joy of a jig hitting the rocks and the powerful downward lunges of a cabezon on the line. No more peaceful structure fishing when you're tired of the din of trolling for salmon or inhaling exhaust fumes. No more fishing for cabs in the summer/fall for any of the reasons we used to!
-There is no convincing evidence to support this vast reduction in fishing opportunity. WDFW itself describes the population as "stable".
- The claim that there are only 8,000 cabezon in the san juans does not measure up to reality. There were probably that many caught as by-catch when ling fishing this season. Anyone that bottomfishes in the san juans would laugh at that statistic. The report itself even states "Our abundance estimates should be considered likely minimum estimates and treated as relative indices between any treatment types".
- Given all bottomfishing would close June 15 and salmon doesn't open until July 1 on most inside waters, there would be essentially NO saltwater fishing opportunity for ANY anglers during the two weeks of the summer that have the longest days. Are inside waters in that bad a shape that we are not allowed to fish for ANYTHING during the best 2 weeks of the summer?
- The claim that this proposal is in response to the public who suggested it (re: rule 65) is preposterous. Five people suggest both a catch limit restriction and a season that matches lingcod. Two of those five are "boilerplate" comments, meaning they were cut-and-pasted from the WFC site. Though all 5 were likely referred from the WFC site. 74 people were against making any changes to cabezon restrictions. Is it that easy for a tiny minority to introduce proposed rule changes? How does this special interest group have so much clout with the agency?
- Why is the season reduction necessary since few people target cabezon, especially in light of the two cabezon restrictions that have already been enacted? Since lingcod and rockfish are closed on inside waters, they are not likely to be encountered as by-catch. Similarly, if you're trying to further protect rockfish by closing cabezon it's not going to be effective given that very few people target cabezon.
- What else?
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