Williams named Principal Deputy Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service

[jryoung]

This thread needs to be an AFZ, Acronym Free Zone.

 

[MTGomer]

DMP prediction: must kill lots of deer to keep some from dying from CWD. Because killing deer stops CWD, even though we’ve been killing deer at a rate for decades that most states would consider a CWD cull.
Not sure if that’s pessimistic or just realistic.

Also insert slogan about how rifle rut hunting is a treasured pastime.

 

[JEL]

I worked with Martha a bit. She is a good and smart person. She will do well with the fed job. FWP Director is a tough assignment. As has been stated a big part of the job is dealing with what the legislature hands you. Her hands were tied on many of the issues that are important to those that are on the message board.

 

[ClearCreek]

So, if the Montana FW&P Director is leaving for Washington D.C. I would assume the job will be open??

Since several commenting on this thread seem to have the answers to solving the issues confronting the FW&P, how many of you are going to apply?

ClearCreek

 

[golfer]

So, if the Montana FW&P Director is leaving for Washington D.C. I would assume the job will be open??

Since several commenting on this thread seem to have the answers to solving the issues confronting the FW&P, how many of you are going to apply?

ClearCreek

Her position was filled by Governor Gianforte who appointed the new FWP Director.Was announced earlier this week so no one on here will be applying.

 

[NDGuy]

Her position was filled by Governor Gianforte who appointed the new FWP Director.Was announced earlier this week so no one on here will be applying.

So what's everyone's take on Hank?

 

[golfer]

So what's everyone's take on Hank?

I think Hank he is alot better than some of the other that could have gotten appointed.

 

[hank4elk]

So what's everyone's take on Hank?

He's an asshole..............Oh,that Hank,nevermind............

 

[Ben Lamb]

So what's everyone's take on Hank?

I worked with him for quite a while on legislative issues. He's a solid hand, and a good choice. I'm sure there will be disagreements on policy, but he's honest, forthright & has a good conservation ethic. I think it's a good pick.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Ben,

Some of that I agree with, some of it not so much. You are right, I probably don't give them enough credit for fixing your items 1 and 4 on your list.

We will have to agree to disagree on fisheries management and that it "shines". It shines so bright there isn't a fishery at all in Flathead lake for kokanee anymore, same with Holter and Hauser. The trout fisheries in both are a shell of their formal self.

The chain lakes in the Seeley/Swan are a joke. Used to be quality fisheries there for cutthroat, bull trout, kokanee, etc. Not anymore.

Rivers are great if you like catching trout that resemble eels more than what a healthy trout should look like. There's a price to pay for catering to the fly-fishing/fishing guides that want 2K fish a mile, catch and release, or limits so restrictive there's no use in anyone keeping a fish anymore.

I should dig out some pictures of what the rivers, lakes, and reservoirs used to produce...most wouldnt believe it.

In fairness, the east side fisheries management is much better than the West.

While its great to fix things like game wardens doing their jobs, fixing the parks,...it seems pretty short sighted to ignore the wildlife portion of FISH, WILDIFE, and parks.

That does not make sense to me...the densest population of trout in North America is a slot system (Green River in Utah).
In interior Alaska, there is a substantial difference in grayling size and density depending on catch and release regulations.

How would catch and kill produce a system with more and larger fish?

 

[HighWildFree]

How would catch and kill produce a system with more and larger fish?

If a population of fish is at their carrying capacity, meaning the maximum number of fish the habitat can hold, growth and condition suffers because competition for food is at it's highest. Increased mortality, i.e. more people keeping/killing fish, could theoretically increase growth and size in the population. As for more, bigger fish that can happen if density dependent regulation is really strong. There's a lot of studies that show that as spawners/adults decrease, juvenile survival increases which means more fish.

I would argue that most fished populations are not at carrying capacity though, so you would need to increase mortality by a lot, this also assumes that size is limited by competition and not the overall productivity of the waterbody.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

If a population of fish is at their carrying capacity, meaning the maximum number of fish the habitat can hold, growth and condition suffers because competition for food is at it's highest. Increased mortality, i.e. more people keeping/killing fish, could theoretically increase growth and size in the population. As for more, bigger fish that can happen if density dependent regulation is really strong. There's a lot of studies that show that as spawners/adults decrease, juvenile survival increases which means more fish.

I would argue that most fished populations are not at carrying capacity though, so you would need to increase mortality by a lot, this also assumes that size is limited by competition and not the overall productivity of the waterbody.

On the other hand, if fish are cropped at a medium size by anglers, large fish will become scarcer.
Look at the Green River in Utah, if I wanted to catch 30 trout in the 16-18 inch size class that is where I would go.

Look at the rivers in interior Alaska, if I wanted to catch a 16 inch grayling I would fish a catch and release system.
If I wanted to catch 50 grayling in a day, I would fish a catch and release system.
If I wanted to take someone to poor quality fishing in terms of quantity and size of grayling,
I would take them to a catch and kill system like the Chatanika River in interior AK.

 

[HighWildFree]

On the other hand, if fish are cropped at a medium size by anglers, large fish will become scarcer.
Look at the Green River in Utah, if I wanted to catch 30 trout in the 16-18 inch size class that is where I would go.

Look at the rivers in interior Alaska, if I wanted to catch a 16 inch grayling I would fish a catch and release system.
If I wanted to catch 50 grayling in a day, I would fish a catch and release system.
If I wanted to take someone to poor quality fishing in terms of quantity and size of grayling,
I would take them to a catch and kill system like the Chatanika River in interior AK.

I'm not real familiar with those systems but 8k-22k fish per mile in the Green River is insane. Super productive tailwater. If you could somehow magically reduce that down to 5-10k and keep the age structure I bet there would be some tanks in there.

You're right that catch and release waters tend to have better size structures, So if you have a system where everybody is keeping 14" fish, you aren't going to see as many over that size.

Any fished system has some level of fishing induced mortality, if I recall catch and release mortality is something like 5% so those out of those 30, 16-18", one of them probably dies. Whether or not that mortality is significant or not depends on the system.

More, Bigger fish is something that definitely happens (Look at yellow perch in Holter Lake since the big 2011 flood), but it requires some dramatic circumstances. Usually recreational fishing is not enough to make much of a difference.