Lansing, MI – Yesterday at the Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing, science prevailed thanks to many, many persons who took the time to write in, and especially those who showed up to speak before the Commission on Commissioner Walters’ amendment to close bass fishing on the Inland Waterway and Black Lake from May 1 until the third Saturday in June.
Because of the local Burt Lake lake association’s claims that smallmouth bass numbers were declining due to goby nest predation, they wanted no fishing during their idea of the bass spawn. They particularly pointed out bass tournaments being held during this time. They reached this conclusion after watching videos of gobies eating bass eggs in a nest after they say the bass was caught.
From this video they assumed there must be population harm to the smallmouth bass. Unfortunately for them, the science is not behind them. That did not stop Commissioner Walters from proposing a complete bass fishing closure on the entire Inland Waterway (Burt, Mullett, Crooked, Pickerel Lakes and the connecting river) and including Black Lake where no evidence shows gobies actually exist, from May 1 through the third Friday in June.
Seven persons spoke during the public speech part in opposition to the proposed amendment including Justin Tomei from the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC), and myself. It was very awesome to have a good turnout including a youth angler who had just graduated from high school and wants to be a fishing guide up there!
This was after multiple persons from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division testified earlier also in opposition to the amendment stating there was no science to support a need for a closure or any change to the existing bass fishing regulations. This included the DNR regulations lead Dr. Lucas Nathan, Chief Randy Claramunt and Tom Goniea of the Michigan Fishing Tournament Information System team. The Michigan DNR also went out in late October to do a quick survey of Burt Lake finding enough small bass to indicate bass recruitment is occurring.
Two persons spoke in favor of the closure, both members of the Burt Lake lake association. They also stated that all of the lake associations in the area ‘voted’ to support the closure. Not much of a surprise there.
I don’t know how many people submitted written comments before the meeting. It appears quite a few based on comments by the various NRC Commissioners. Not all of the written comments were opposed to the closure, as we all know bed fishing is a contentious social issue for some anglers (even though many of them still fish that time of year?).
Besides MUCC, I’m aware the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and the American Sportfishing Association also made phone calls and/or submitted written comments. Our own Kevin VanDam and Mark Zona also publicized the issue to their followers on their social media. All of the work done by everyone on this issue was important and necessary! I do not believe science would have won out without this huge effort. Everyone deserves a big thank you for getting involved and making a difference.
After the public speaking portion was over, the amendment was brought up for discussion and vote by the six NRC Commissioners during the business portion of the meeting (Commissioner LaPorte had to leave early due to a work emergency). I readily admit none of us knew what was going to happen though we hoped for majority vote against the amendment.
Commissioner Nyberg asked to speak and shocked many of us in a great way by explaining basically that he did not think we were there at this time to need a regulation change, and that he would be voting no. Commissioner Fewins then echoed Nyberg and stated he would also be voting no. Commissioner Eardley then spoke stating for similar reasons he was a no vote as well!! After a very brief private discussion between Commissioners Anthony and Walters, Commissioner Walters announced he was withdrawing his amendment from the table before an actual vote was held. And victory for bass anglers who want to fish all year was won!!
There’s a lot more to this considering all of the discussion before and during the meeting, and all of the people who submitted written comments, but I believe this will be good for the future of bass fishing as it demonstrated how important Michigan bass fishing is to many persons, and put more focus on things that might need to be done down the road to continue to assure we have good to excellent bass fishing for all of us and future generations.
I spoke on behalf of The Bass Federation of Michigan, The Bass Federation, Inc., West Michigan Bass, Payback Bass and the D & R Sports circuit as their conservation director. I had spoke to Commissioner Walters some time ago, but not recently. He made a point of that during the meeting. If I had not felt he was entrenched in his position, I probably would have, and maybe should have discussed this more with him before the meeting. I did ask him if he would withdraw the amendment before the meeting and he said no.
Probably some work to do there, as the seven members of the Natural Resources Commission, appointed by Governors, are given sole authority to regulate Michigan’s fish and game. We all need to keep that in mind, and it wouldn’t hurt for more of us to keep an eye on their agendas and minutes. They hold some of their meetings in Lansing but several meetings are held around the State of Michigan to give more persons direct access to this important group of people.
You can see who the Commissioners are, meeting schedules, agendas and after a time, minutes of past meetings by visiting www.michigan.gov/nrc. Generally, new regulations and changes are brought up at one meeting and then voted on at a following meeting giving the public time to give input. It’s important we stay involved and they actually do want to hear from the public. You can always email nrc@michigan.gov any time to share your views with the Commission. Some of their direct contacts are also listed at the above website.
At this meeting, Commissioner Anthony did announce he would not be seeking a new term appointment, so once his present term expires at the end of this year, the Governor will appoint a new Commissioner from his part of the state, which I believe is the Upper Peninsula.
Commissioners are generally appointed to four-year terms, and they are chosen from each part of the state so everyone is represented.
