Final analysis and county parks policy determination on spearfishing

[STEELIES/26c3]

First off....

I know many threads on this topic have been started and locked because they got ugly.

Whereas I am an ardent supporter of our constitutional rights, civil liberties, free speech, etc... I realize the importance of knowing when to shut up.

No offense meant here towards anyone.

I do think the comments suggesting violence towards spearos were way inappropriate and in fact went counter to the creed of a Libertarian like myself...

On the other hand, I am a huge fan of preserving our rights to healthy and sustainable fisheries (yes, even of the introduced species, Saxitilis morones or striped bass.

I believe in preserving populations of wild fish and managing towards that end but only on watersheds in which that is a viable option.... The native strains of salmonids on the American river are nearly, if not completely, extant so it seems logical to manage the fisheries for a balance of hatchery and native and naturalized fish.

I bring this up because it is a main focal point for spearfishermen defending their right to kill large, spawning, adult striped bass in fresh water and because the REAL enemy like; Westland water and ad-hoc committees like; the 'Coalition for a Sustainable Delta' who want to build large tunnels underground to send more water southward...

It is Jerry brown, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Stewart Resnick and other advocates of the 'Bay Delta Conservation Plan' (misnomer) whom we (hook and liners, fly guys/gals, gear guys/gals and yes EVEN SPEAROS) must unite against if we hope to keep healthy our delicate fisheries and their environs.

Having said all that (which has been said by so many for so long now over the years...) I will get to the point as indicated in my posting title.

I was refraining from posting in recent threads and from saying anything related to spearfishing on the American River in general because a local game warden had informed me that the 2 subjects whose gear was confiscated and who were fined for spearfishing in the AR Parkway, had had their citations thrown out in court thus indicating that the County of Sacramento had changed their mind about enforcing the ban on spearguns under the already-established Sacramento County Code section 9.36.060.

Of course all prior info (offered initially by me here and quickly spread to many other public forums and boards by others) indicated that the county ordinance was going to trump the new CDFW regulation.

When I heard that was not the case, I selfishly kept quiet on the topic hoping it would just be forgotten and that spearos would erroneously believe that the take of stripers in the American River via speargun was illegal.

Well, now IT AGAIN... IS UNDENIABLY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY ILLEGAL TO SPEARFISH ANYWHERE ON THE AMERICAN RIVER:

Read it yourself here in plain and simple and non-disputable legalese:

http://www.regionalparks.saccounty.n...on%20Final.pdf

I want to further state that I know many spearfisherman and all are sporting and solid conservationists. I have nothing against them at all and have a healthy respect for that method of take (on the fish's terms).

BUT, allowing spears in a clear-water migration route of large, cow striped bass, in an era when so many odds are against their survival... I could never condone it.

Allowing spearfishing in the American River would have encouraged poaching (namely, excessive and illegal bag limits) and since carrying a speargun and dive gear would be seen as more commonplace, this would make it much more difficult to ferret out the commercial-volume poachers from the legitimate, law-abiding spearos...

Unfortunately, the 'Department of Fish and Games' as we use it to call when I worked for the Dept years ago... is no longer the agency it once was. It feeds on bureaucracy and is a slave to the lobbyist and politician rather than a servant to the sportsman and sportswoman who buys its licenses...

CDFW could give a crap about stripers and without elaborating and having this thread placed on immediate lock-down... let's just say that THIS time, the stripers got lucky because human safety was at least more important than placating the politicians~;)

Thanks to all my fellow anglers and friends who take the time to speak up for the rights of fish and people~;)

Mark

[Randy Lee]

Steelies,
A beautifully written analysis of the daunting problems we face. I dought that this is the last time we see the ole " look the other way trick" when it comes to striper irradication. Money turns heads. Anybody got a couple billion they want to part with? We have a great cause!
Enlightened, Randy

[flyguy1]

well said Mark

Scott

[STEELIES/26c3]

Sadly, three 40# plus stripers were speared and killed today (Sept. 7 2013) in the American River. This coming from a law enforcement officer who was not in the field today when it happened...

[STEELIES/26c3]

Moose (http://www.kiene.com/forums/member.php?6941-Moose)
Member


Join Date Jan 2005
Posts 72



"You confuse rights with priviledges. You don't have the right to fish, it's a legislated priviledge, same goes the spear fishers. It can all be taken away and there's nothing you can do about it, aside from finding a way to change the minds of those who write the poicies. People love to talk about things they hold dearly as their rights. Look at the bill of rights, there you find the only ones allotted to you. And still, those are managed by men, even though they claim to be god given, and they've been ammended many times over.

Fish, water and open spaces are resources managed for many purposes, only a fraction of which is for sporting enjoyment. Sportsmen would be better served respecting each others desires and working together as a single large group rather than fighting amongst each other. Self important moral imperitaves won't save your dreams, only a unified front will.

The pumps kill infinitely more fish than spearfishers do, yet the pumps cannot be recruited as allies.



Where to begin...

The rights/privileges thing is an exercise in syntax but I do understand where you are coming from.

I'm not in the mood for debate right now. And truth told, we're probably more alike than different both you and I and most spearos and myself.

I know there are as many gear, hook and line guys as there are speargunners who would kill a big striper without a thought.

I know that the percentage of anglers who catch multiple stripers (over 30# and even over 40#/50#) annually in the American River with fishing rods is pretty small.

There are those of us gear guys and fly guys who release them all.

Unfortunately, most anglers who catch one of these 'AR monsters' do it only once and as, to them, it is the "the fish of a lifetime" they are inclined to kill and keep their 'trophy'.

I have seen this over and over throughout the years...

On top of that, there are skilled poachers... those who know how to effectively target cow stripers and go out with the intention of killing large and multiple female bass.

Now for the spearos... just as in the hook and line populace, there are ethical and non-ethical members of their respective sport.

The greatest threat isn't with these folks who will spear within the confines of the regulations. Furthermore, many/most of them are informed and concerned about the importance of selective harvest and not harvesting large females...

It is the fact that poachers with spear guns are suddenly now 'invisible'

15 years ago or so, on successive mornings, I witnessed a guy in a red kayak walking out of El Manto with his 'yak and a spear gun. I called him in and was informed that he was a long time striped bass poacher who had always evaded game wardens and park rangers.

That same guy can now pull his yak (hold stuffed with stripers) up to a park access after a long night of illegal striper harvest and in most cases do so without raising suspicion.

I'm convinced that the greatest problem facing striped bass and all anadromous fish species, in the SJ/Sacramento Delta, is water diversion.

And for that reason, I have repeatedly gone to Capitol Hill to speak out against proposed legislation like AB1253 and AB2336 and why I drove to Rio Vista on a week night to attend the hearing of the CDFG (at the time) Commission when it proposed increasing the bag limits and reducing the size limits on striped bass take in California. It is why I have written countless letters and signed petitions ad-infinitum and why I peek in on these and other boards to see what people like Darian and Mike McKenzie, Dick Pool, and Dan Bacher have to say.

However, I'm equally convinced that the pumps do not kill large, aged, brood-stock, resident striped bass; PEOPLE DO.

Yes, I am emotional about the loss of a once-robust fishery and I am sad, experiencing the empirical evidence of its decline. In a time when cash is king and politics govern the mandates over our natural resources and specifically, our fisheries, it is time not only to band together as citizens protective of our natural resources and future opportunities to enjoy them but also to eliminate the obvious factors which undermine their sustainability.

The permission of Spear fishing in a clear water, low-flowing urban watershed like the American River seems to run counter to the wisdom of that sustainability.

My grievance is still not with the spearos but rather with the agencies involved whose foresight was sorely missing when these regulatory changes were enacted.

Ironically, the key agency; CDFW will also likely be the entity that thrusts the 'ESA monkey wrench' in to Governor Brown's and 'big-AG's' plan to build and employ the 23-billion dollar twin tunnels water diversion project, go figure.

Nothing is simple. Keep thinking, fishing, fighting and standing straight with your head up~;)

Respectfully,
Mark

[Moose]

I wasn't trying to start a debate or be combative, but given the way the last couple of threads went, yours seemed like an attempt to reopen that ugly fight.

Not everyone feels like we have inalienable rights to the things we desire, that's all I was trying to say. That, and the fact that as long as we're fighting amongst ourselves the real enemy is sitting there laughing because we're doing the dirty work for them, fragmenting their opposition.

[Jgoding]

I believe it's posted now that spearfishing isn't allowed at the entrances, saw a sign the other day.

[Mark Kranhold]

Still a grey area with spearing on the A. I bet next years regs it will be illegal though.

[Frank Alessio]

The link would not open for me... Is Spearfishing allowed or it a Grey area? Which is it?

[Mike O]

The link would not open for me... Is Spearfishing allowed or it a Grey area? Which is it?

Last I heard...
Can't enter the water through the park/parkway. Can enter from the Sac and go upstream.

[Darian]

Looks like the link was taken down. That might mean that further review is under way or a technical problem. More likely someone decided that the info in the code section needed some clarification and it was withdrawn. We'll see....

Until we see a final(??) version, I agree with Mike O on the access issue. :cool:

[Mark V]

I've been getting caught up on news of this issue since the nasty article in the Men's Journal promoting spearfishing. see thread on Stripers forum called "Spearfishing Writeup NFF"

Found the thread "Sacramento Regional Parks Decision" started June '13 and it's link to the Sac county decision is working:

http://www.regionalparks.saccounty.net/Documents/Spearfishing%20Impact%20Analysis%20and%20Directors %20Determination%20Final.pdf

So does this mean the current status is: issue resolved and clarified, the County WILL enforce their ban on speargun possession anywhere in the parkway? Anyone know if there's some kind of hotline to County law enforcement, like the DFW's Caltip line?

If we see ppl with spearguns on or near the river, can we call the DFW's tip hotline, and will the DFW wardens enforce the county regs?

[Tony Buzolich]

I wish to compliment Mark V and all who has written a beautifully stated comment about this subject. I wish more of us (me included) could try and not get so emotional about this, but when you see such blatant disregard for a very limited resource that I love, I get angered.

Add to this the fact that DFW is being bought out by big corporate water mongers, where are we to go?

Mark used a new term that I like "naturalized". Native to me means they've always been here. Naturalized means to me that they've been here a long time too AND have established a native status position. How long does an animal have to be in an area before it is considered "native". Striped bass have been here in California for well over 100 years. Isn't that long enough to be considered a natural part of California's wildlife?

As for the spearo's, these guys just don't get it. They are KILLING a very limited resource right in front of everyone's face. If they should do the ethical thing and EAT this decades old fish, they are doing two things. First is the extremely high mercury and toxin content of the fish's flesh. As the fish gets older it's flesh stores more and more of this mercury. And why anyone would want to knowingly eat this toxin is beside me. Are these spearo's just a bunch of ignorant uneducated people who can't read the health warnings in the DFW games rules book?

Secondly, these larger "trophy" size fish ARE the breeders that keep the population going. A 20# female has over a million eggs in her that would become the future generations if allowed to spawn. Considering that barely 1% of these eggs ever make it to survive how long can this keep going on?

So to reiterate, LARGE stripers are (1) NOT HEALTHY to eat, and,(2) KILLING them is destroying a natural spawning resource that generates beauty and income to the local economy.

Enough said, Tony

[Mark V]

Found this page for Sac Co. reg parks, with contact # for to report trail issues: (916) 875-7275

http://www.regionalparks.saccounty.net/Pages/default.aspx

Called it and a recording says press 1 to report a crime or request a ranger. Pressed 1, connected to Co Sheriff. Mentioned the June 2013 Determination letter and asked if the county is aggressively enforcing the county code 9.36.060 against speargun possession anywhere in the A.R. Parkway. She offered to have a Ranger call me back, and less than 15 mins later, a Ranger Lundquist did just that.

Ranger L (young sounding gal) referenced that same letter of Determination dated June 3, 2013 and said yes, they will enforce it, and that phone # above should be fine to use to report violators and ask for a Ranger to take 'em in. She said if they possess the spear in the river and a boat solely, they wouldn't be in violation.

I asked, if I see a guy spearfishing who apparently violated the law (e.g. no boat that could've brought him up the river from beyond the Parkway) and he's there slaughtering big stripers, will they enforce on them? She said yes, and said it will be helpful to give them all info, like if you know where they parked.

So that's something, we'll have to see. I like Hatch's post in the other thread about, if he comes across them while he's in his sled, he'll take steps to limit their chance to kill.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Good Luck with that

I've already been through it multiple times... whereby the spearos absolutely launched from within the park and definitely transported their 'weapons' from WITHIN the county park LAND boundaries and in to the water...

Rangers reported that it wasn't worth their time to pursue it in or out of court.

That said, if enough of us put pressure on the county to enforce their ordinance, perhaps they WILL enforce it THIS YEAR.

I'll continue to sore-lip and release every monster striper I can... to burn in their memory... that people are BAD for their business (of survival) ;)

[Mark V]

Sorry, don't remember reading a report where Rangers were called and declined to enforce. Guess it's naive to think all the Sheriffs would change their behavior based on a phone call with one Ranger.

An even bigger buzzkill, I've been thinking lately that if we don't get some more winter weather & snowpack before full summer onset, this year there may not be enough water in the American to bring up the cows or many stripers at all. Only imagine being in Tony's back yard on the Feather and running into some spearF'ers, and knowing there's not even a County ordinance on our side... infuriating!

However, if I ever come across spear killers on the American (would be a first for me) I will ask the Rangers to get them, and will also give 'em a hard time. Is there such thing as a super loud and piercing airhorn for underwater?

My thanks to ppl like STEELIES Mark, Tony and Hatch for starting and staying on these threads.

[Mark V]

This morning I had a good long talk with Sargent Kemp, a Sac Co Park Ranger. He said they had flip flopped in the past, but they are after it now, and they WILL enforce Ordinance 9.36.060.

I explained an encounter on the river last week, chat with a guy spearfishing. The Sgt had the ordinance with him:

9.36.060 Firearms, Air Guns, and Other Weapons.
No person other than peace officers in the discharge of their duties shall use, maintain, possess, fire, or discharge any firearm, air gun, spring gun, bow and arrow, slingshot, or any other weapon potentially dangerous to wildlife or human safety, except in areas, at times, and under conditions designated by the director for such use. A violation of the provisions of this section is a misdemeanor. (SCC 576 § 15, 1983.)

So that language is pretty clear and obviously any type of SF spear is designed to be dangerous to wildlife.
They only have a handful of Rangers on duty any given day, so keep calling until you get through.
He said among other things, it is just as illegal to possess disassembled spearfishing gear, and that if someone is in possession of a disassembled handgun, he will give them the same ticket.

Talked with him about the question of is it legal fishing if the guy calculatingly broke the law transporting the spear to the water and had an interesting discussion. Forgot to ask what the fine amount is, and if it's an additional violation if he's caught on the bank with killed wildlife. Will call him back, and post full details.

Anyone can call that main #, and press "1" to report a crime or request a Ranger. That switches you to Sac County Sheriff, who does the dispatching of the Park Rangers. That's 24/7. So that's several times now I got through to that number, and the Sheriffs have been very good about calling back, and candid about their job.

He said the June 4, 2013 Final Determination is still the policy. If I had kept calling last friday until I got through, a Ranger prob would've came and cited them. He recommended a good description of divers, equipment, cars if known, etc.