On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:46:10 +0000, Karl Pollak wrote:

x-no-archive: yes
Lloyd Sumpter wrote:

We're having a fish-in in April targeting the (illegally-stocked)
largemouth bass in the Vancouver area.

Where?

Fraser Valley:
Okanagan:
Kootenays:

Lloyd, I am a bit confused here. The list that you posted looks more like
infestation than just a case of illegal stocking. Surely if the species are
in so many places, the government would have noticed this before and doen
something about it?


Ok, I'll try to explain what's going on here.

There's an organized group of individuals who are lobbying to introduce
bass as a sport fish in BC. They have illegally stocked many lakes and
sloughs and have successfully lobbies the DFO to have bass mentioned as a
"sport fish" in the regs. (so yes, we need a license. We'd need one
anyway, because you can't FISH without one. You can't say "Oh, but
Officer, I was fishing for pikeminnows, so I don't need a license...")

BTW: there are so many places mentioned because, well, they're all kinda
connected together. Introduce them in one lake, and soon they migrate to
any other lakes or streams in the area. I suspect there aren't many bass
in the Fraser itself because first, the water stays pretty cold, and
second, there are some BIG fish there that would probably eat bass.

Another BTW: It's illegal in BC for ANYONE except the Govt to transport
live fish from one body of water to another. In fact, livewells are
illegal in freshwater - you must either kill or release any fish you catch.

Now, there's also a semi-organized group of individuals who do NOT want
bass in BC. We're happy with the sport fish we have here already, and have
seen the results of introducing non-native species in an ecology,
especially without proper studies.

So, the "fish-in" is mainly an opportunity just to have some fun, but also
to bring "our side" of the story to the attention of others. I doubt that
4 fish each will do any damage to the bass population...

Lloyd