The Outdoor Line Forum

I just heard you guys talking to Tobeck, in Fla, about pending legislation requiring tagging nets and reporting lost nets so they can be recovered.
Who do I contact in Olympia to push this issue? Andy at Spyro's

Moved to General Fishing Discussion forum

Hey Andy,
Thanks for your interest on this important issue but I believe that the derelict net bill has been pulled out of the legislative junk pile and is being put to a vote. The best bet is to email your State Representative and ask for his support of this no-brainer issue.

Last week, the derelict gear legislation was attached to SB 5201, dealing with a number of fish and wildlife statutes. SB 5201 now includes the derelict gear legislation and is currently before the House Rules Committee; they must take action on the bill to send it to the House floor. We need your help! If your legislative Representative is on the House Rules Committee, please call or send an email asking them to support SB 5201, which includes important language seeking to address the problem of derelict fishing gear. Ask them to do whatever they can do to pass it from the House Rules Committee to the floor of the House for a vote.

House Rules Committee members:
Frank Chopp frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7920
Richard DeBolt richard.debolt@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7896
Jan Angel jan.angel@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7964
Mike Armstrong mike.armstrong@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7832
Cathy Dahlquist cathy.dahlquist@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7846
Deb Eddy deborah.eddy@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7848
David Frockt david.frockt@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7886
Roger Goodman roger.goodman@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7878
Tami Green tami.green@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7958
Norm Johnson norm.johnson@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7810
Troy Kelley troy.kelley@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7890
Joel Kretz joel.kretz@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7988
Marcie Maxwell marcie.maxwell@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7894
Jim Moeller jim.moeller@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7972
Tina Orwell tina.orwall@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7834
Eric Pettigrew eric.pettigrew@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7838
Tim Probst tim.probst@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7994
Ann Rivers ann.rivers@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7850
Cindy Ryu cindy.ryu@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7880
Joe Schmick joe.schmick@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7844
Shelly Short shelly.short@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7908
Larry Springer larry.springer@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7822
Pat Sullivan pat.sullivan@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7858
Kevin Van De Wege kevin.vandewege@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7916
Judy Warnick judy.warnick@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7932

Thanks,

Bear

I'm assuming someone on here has read the Bill and there or no other big gotchas attached to the Bill?

Be careful what you ask for...5201 has a bunch of other stuff in it, not just derelict net registration and removal...stuff that ain't so hot.

Fish on...

Todd

Before supporting the bill that they have attached the derelict gear program to, READ IT, it's full of a bunch of crap that we want nothing to do with.

I support the derelict gear bill 1000%, but not when it's cleverly disguised to distract the supporters in order to have them support a bunch of changes that are going to just ad to the over-bloated amounts of bureaucracy that we already have in Olympia.

Just my .02 worth.

WD.

I am curious as to what you guys specifically object to in the bill. Is it the scientific review of significant decisions made by the Department and Commission?

This is the Reader's Digest version:

"EFFECT: The amended bill creates a three-member biological science review process (process) to review significant decisions of the department of fish and wildlife and the fish and wildlife commission and, if appropriate, conduct a peer review of those decisions with the appropriate scientific community. The department of fish and wildlife (WDFW) is not required to create or annotate any information for the process, and the results of the process may not be used as the basis for a cause of action, as well as specifying that the third-party review must exclude additional department interactions.

Taxidermists, fur dealers, or wildlife meat cutters are allowed to record the license number of the person delivering product as an optional alternative to recording personal information.

The fish and wildlife commission is authorized to use their rule-making authority to clear up any ambiguity created by the statutory use of common names for species and classes of species.

The WDFW is directed to prepare a one-time report to the legislature that identifies potential programs, license fees, and mechanisms by which private, nonprofit salmon enhancement organizations would be enabled to raise and control funds that can be used for the salmon enhancement goals of the organizations.

Any person who loses or abandons net fishing gear is required to report the loss to the department of fish and wildlife; language is maintained encouraging the reporting of lost shellfish pots."

Just curious,

Bear

Bear,

The points of the bill I am having trouble with are the bill gives them 20% of the account funds to help administration. The way I read it it does not require them to use it for "derelict gear" issues specifically, and assuming our politicians act as normal, they will spend it as "they" see fit.

I am going to print and read the entire bill tonight to see if I missed something and then get back in the AM.

Once again I want to say I am 1000% behind the derelict gear issue, but I am leery of the politicians using a carrot to entice us to giving them the keys to the candy store and ending up having them run amok and not do what we wanted all along.

WD.

Thanks for taking another look, I look forward to your report... happy reading!

Bear