Interesting concept. However, I fail to see how the Blue catfish can be more invasive than Asian Carp or Snakeheads or Walking Catfish. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/outdoors/blog/2010/08/blue_catfish_invasive_species_1.html Since my column Sunday about the state's decision last year--but never made public--to remove blue catfish from the list of accepted Maryland fish, I've heard and read comments from a bunch of you. Almost all of your choice words question the reasoning behind, and motives of, the decision by the Department of Natural Resources and its invasive species experts. My conclusion: angler Jayson Zorda is being blue listed by DNR, which is making up the rules as it goes along. Here's a brief recap. On Aug. 6, Zorda, a New York angler fishing the Potomac River, caught what would have been the state record blue cat, a massive beast that eclipsed the standing mark of 67.1 pounds by 12 pounds. At first the state said it would reject the claim based on an unpublicized decision last year to delist blue catfish. Fisheries Service officials said they didn't want to encourage the spread of an invasive species. When it was pointed out--by me--that tackle shops were still awarding citations for blue cats over 40 pounds (a mark set by the state) and that almost a dozen anglers were qualified for the Maryland Fishing Challenge and the grand prize drawings by virtue of having caught blue cats, DNR went into a regrouping mode. Late Friday morning I was told that blue cats would be OK for this year and this Maryland Fishing Challenge, but not OK afterward. Under the revised interpretation, Zorda's application would be reviewed. Later that day, I was told Zorda's 79-pound blue cat was being disqualified because its measurements were not certified by a state fisheries biologist, as required by the rules. Rubbish. Two years ago when Ron Lewis set the state mark with a fish that now swims in the tank at Bass Pro Shops at Arundel Mills, the state biologist on the scene eyeballed the fish and accepted the measurements provided by Tim Hagan--the same man who measured and weighed Zorda's fish. I know. I was there. After Zorda caught his cat, he and Hagan raced the fish from the Fort Washington pier to the only certified scale available after midnight: the FedEx office in Silver Spring. They weighed it, took more than two dozen photos and then drove back to the Potomac River to release the fish alive. They submitted the paperwork and photos to DNR on Aug. 9, the first working day after the catch. At that time, DNR did not mention the blue cat delisting or the fact that a biologist had not seen the fish before its release. Yet somehow, four days after the fact, DNR disqualified Zorda's catch, determining that the paperwork and photos were less conclusive than a drive-by viewing by a state biologist. What was good enough for Ron Lewis should be good enough for Jayson Zorda. And there's more. State officials contend that the blue cat is an invasive species that arrived in Maryland in recent years, and they are only trying to stop its spread. When I asked how blue cats differ from largemouth bass and brown trout--two non-native fish who enjoy Maryland citizenship--I was told it had to do with length of stay. Ten years is the magic mark. Well, several sharp readers noted that outdoors writers in the late 1970s, including Bill Burton of the Evening Sun, wrote of accidental blue catfish catches in the Potomac. And others noted that anglers began targeting blue cats in the early 1980s. As far as preventing the spread of blue cats, the state acknowledges the fish have been found in the Patuxent and Nanticoke rivers and there have been unsubstantiated catches in the upper Chesapeake Bay. If the blue cat population is established, and it is, and has spread, as it apparently has, what is delisting going to accomplish? If anything, this head-in-the-sand attitude is likely to fuel misguided and angry anglers to transplant blue cats to other waterways--exactly what the state is hoping to avoid. The issue is expected to be on the agenda of the Sport Fish Advisory Commission on Sept. 13. Hagan says he'll be there to argue his case. At the very least let's hope we get the groundwork started toward a coherent policy, one anglers can have confidence in. ================================================ Fishing reduces stress and gives you a break from our modern world where everything is going a million miles per hour 73 Check & Clear 6 LOC: 38-54-14.60N / 097-14-09.07W |
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