Wildlife Board approves no limit and catch-and-kill rules

Salt Lake City — The war to fight illegal fish stocking took a step forward in Utah recently.

Northern pike are fun to catch. But when they're placed in waters where they don't belong, they can do a lot of damage.

Photo by Ray Schelble

On Nov. 3, members of the Utah Wildlife Board approved no limit and catch-and-kill regulations for the following waters in southern and central Utah:

No limit on the number of smallmouth bass anglers can keep

No limit. Anglers must keep and kill the fish they catch

Drew Cushing, sport fisheries coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says the agency will no longer manage fish that are placed illegally in a body of water. "Two tools we have to fight illegal fish stocking are no limit and catch-and-kill regulations," he says. "We want illegally stocked fish removed as quick as possible."

Cushing says the no limit and catch-and-kill regulations are just the first of many ideas DWR biologists are discussing to fight illegal fish stocking in Utah. "This month," he says, "we'll discuss which ideas we might want to implement next."

All of the fishing rules the board approved for the state's 2012 season will be available in the 2012 Utah Fishing Guidebook. The guidebook should be available at wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks in early December.

Stealing your fish

Cushing says illegal fish stocking hurts anglers, including you, several ways:

• Introducing a fish species that isn't already found in a body of water can affect the ecosystem of the entire water body. Good fishing can deteriorate quickly for fish that were already in the body of water before the illegal stocking happened.
• Sometimes, the only way to remove illegally stocked fish is to kill all of the fish in a body of water and start over again with new fish. Treatments to kill fish can cost hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. The money the DWR has to spend on the treatment could have been used to improve fishing at other waters in Utah and raise more fish in the DWR's hatcheries.
• After a treatment project happens, it takes a few years before fishing is good again at the water that was treated. If you enjoyed fishing at that water, you'll have to find another place to fish.
• Those who own businesses near a body of water where fish have been stocked illegally can lose revenue as fishing deteriorates and anglers leave to fish other waters.
• Illegal fish stocking can hurt threatened and endangered fish in the state.

Cushing says those who move fish illegally hurt Utah's wildlife more than those who poach deer or elk. "In terms of money and the number of people illegal fish stocking affects," he says, "those who move fish from one body of water to another do a lot more damage."