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
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