Administrators in the state fish and wildlife agencies do what they think is
best when they write and enforce regulations that will help them achieve
their mission objectives. That includes strategies like closed areas,
fishing seasons, minimum and maximum sizes, slot limits, creel limits, and,
apparently, cull/no-cull rules.

If a situation arises where granting an exception to the usual strategy
better enables the agency to achieve the mission, there are usually
provisions in law that they can follow to authorize the exception.

In some states, for instance, tournaments are perceived as beneficial to the
agenda of the wildlife resource agencies. They encourage tournament tours to
compete on their lakes. The license fees and permits paid for by
participants, and the residual increase in license purchases by additional
folks attracted to the sport by the tournaments, help fund the agencies'
habitat protection and improvement programs. Therefore, they weigh the pros
and cons of sticking with the regulation, granting a temporary exemption, or
writing the exception into the code.

For example, didn't we receive an exemptions for our Southern Classic
tournament on Okeechobee? I understood that lake normally has slot limits,
but tournaments may apply for a exception. I recall we carried a permission
slip with us as we fished.

Was that fair to anglers who had to release slot fish immediately? I think
so. "Fair" and "identical" are not synonymous. One can treat situations and
people differently and still be fair. Parents with more than one kid do it
all the time. In Wisconsin, if this rule is passed, the non-tournament
angler who wishes to cull could do so by fishing an authorized tournament.

IMHO, the issue of allowing tournaments to cull fish on lakes where other
anglers cannot isn't a matter of right and wrong. No ones rights are being
trampled. It is simply a strategy that the agency might consider as they
seek ways to best achieve their mission, i.e., to sustain an abundant,
healthy resource for the benefit of the people of the state.

Joe

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
om...
snip:
If I lived in Wisconsin I'd be livid. And vocal in my opposition
to this wrongheaded nonsense.
--
Ken Fortenberry