More Smallmouth

[Wayne SW/MO]

From the MDC.

"Many state and federal fish and game agencies have expanded the smallmouth bass range across the nation through fish stocking. In Missouri, the Missouri Department of Conservation has not stocked smallmouth bass since the early 1970s, following an extensive research study that showed supplemental stocking of small, native smallmouth bass yields only a minute increase in adult numbers. Alterations to available habitat for smallmouth bass is the prime reason for decreasing populations and adding more fish into poorer habitat rarely means more fish for the angler."

Smallmouth bass White Paper, Sep. 2009 <------LINK

[fishinwrench]

That stinks ! I've worked really hard at getting one of those streams designated, so that some regulation concerning "use" could begin before it's too late. Now it looks like they are completely out of the park now.

I wonder why our Stream Team higher-ups didn't pass that memo down to us ?

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Venting Sarcasm below....

They forgot to list the streams actually shitcanned under.... criterion #9

Streams dropped from consideration under criterion 9: are cleverly listed under other criterions, but because of a few influential landowners with signifacant county "pull", and our fear of stepping on their toes regardless of the fact that they have raped enough resources from the drainage area to retire happily to any destination of their choosing.....Are nevertheless being cancelled for any further SBB MANAGEMENT AREA consideration.

Areas cancelled under criterian #9 include:

GRAVOIS CREEK

That's the kind of straightforward talk I'd prefer to hear, ya know.... the truth. DAMMIT ! (sorry phil)

[fishinwrench]

I just read through that again (with a fine toothed comb) and that is totally absurd.

Did they even get out of their truck during these "studys" ? It doesn't look like it. Would anyone care to take a short hike with me so I can show you what they consider a "habitat rating" of 1 (the lowest rating given) Are these people really trained in fisheries biology ?

They never got out of their truck. Period. That is the only explanation for that rating, that I can fathom.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Somewhere in there he says that some of the biologist may have been subjective, I suppose rather than objective. I thought some of the reasoning was questionable myself.

[Al Agnew]

Guys, I've been reading over the white paper and another document that has come out of the whole special management area studies, with the intent of summarizing some of the stuff here, and I agree, some of the evaluations of streams were jokes. I'm pretty sure that one or two of the biologists that were responsible for these evaluations entered them with a bias against the special management ideas. And while I understand the reasoning behind eliminating some streams from consideration because local prosecutors aren't taking the fish and game laws seriously (and I happen to know that's true), I think that reasoning is nevertheless flawed. Maybe if they were made special management stretches, and at least some of the people in that particular county saw that and realized the importance of the resource, it might put pressure on the prosecutors to get a little more serious about upholding the law. Sometimes the value of laws is not so much in their immediate effect, but in making people realize that doing the thing that is now against the law is probably not a good thing to do.

[Al Agnew]

I'm going to move my thoughts on the selection process to the conservation board.