Spokane Tribe to kill walleye on Spokane River during general spring closure

[teal101]

Why place a limit on Mergansers? Or at least a seperate limit like coots. There is no danger of having too many cornmerants here on the coast... they eat lots of fish...

All migratory birds are ultimately managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. USFWS essentially tells WDFW (and other states) how long their seasons and limits should be, as well as some other federal laws such as 3 shell limit and no baiting. States can be even more restrictive then what USFWS says but they can't be less restrictive. So in order for a seperate limit to be applied to mergansers it would have to come from USFWS.

It is already in place with the USFWS.  The Eastern Flyway has a separate 5 bird Merganser limit in many states.  At this point it is the state of Washington that is causing the restriction issue.

[Curly]

Cormorants are a huge problem too.  It is a shame that they are federally protected.  I would think WDFW would want to try to eliminate a bunch of them because they really put a hurt to the trout they stock in some lakes.

[Special T]

Teal101 So who should we be putting the pressure/support to? This seems like such a no brainer to me. Everyone is worried about salmon, and many hunters pass on mergansers cause they don't taste good.  Since i'm thinking of limiting my hunting to bird hunting i would love to get more shooting in. Hell i'd paint some decoys and pound them on the river evey chance i got!

[bigtex]

Why place a limit on Mergansers? Or at least a seperate limit like coots. There is no danger of having too many cornmerants here on the coast... they eat lots of fish...

All migratory birds are ultimately managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. USFWS essentially tells WDFW (and other states) how long their seasons and limits should be, as well as some other federal laws such as 3 shell limit and no baiting. States can be even more restrictive then what USFWS says but they can't be less restrictive. So in order for a seperate limit to be applied to mergansers it would have to come from USFWS.

It is already in place with the USFWS.  The Eastern Flyway has a separate 5 bird Merganser limit in many states.  At this point it is the state of Washington that is causing the restriction issue.

If WDFW wanted to end this restriction the final approval would still have to come from USFWS. The USFWS manages seasons by flyways, the Pacific Flyway (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and portions of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming) does not have a separate merganser limit. For the 2011 season only the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways had a seperate merganser limit.

http://www.fws.gov/pacific/news/news.cfm?id=2144374848

[bigtex]

So Tex you are saying that i should be talking with my Reps and Sen about this not my state reps?

Best answer would be both. The final approval would be from USFWS. However it would likely take WDFW petitioning USFWS for it to get any attention. WDFW couldn't simply make a season on their own.

[teal101]

"I hope so. Chessieman was going to call WDFW to see if it was on the agenda. I know that it was still in the works in the Pacific FW Study Committee although there is not wide spread support for it at that level. There are enough members interested in it to keep it alive so far I hear. In July the Study Committee will meet again to discuss it and at that time will make a recommendation to the Pacific Flyway Council. The Pacific FW Council will also meet in July and among all the other business they conduct will then have to vote positive (considering the Study Comm. recommendation but could over rule that recommendation either way) to have it included in the Pacific FW request (called framework) for the current season (hopefully). Losts of hurdles.

Anyway, if the WAG would go on record as supporting the proposal and ask the WDFW to also support the proposal that would help a lot.

The main draw backs seem to still be #1. making already complex regs more complex, #2 wastage of the birds after they are put in the bag and the lack of an apparent need to separate the Mergs as our limits right now are very liberal.

I counter that
#1 the regs are not simple anyway and having to ID ducks is paramount to being a waterfowler. We have to know the difference between a hen Pintail and a hen Widgeon, etc...... so ID is a non factor in the complexity of the regs to me anyway. If you can't read another paragraph in the regs and figure out what you can and can't shoot then maybe you shouldn't be out there hunting?

#2 wastage is an ethics problem. Despite that BS that is spread all the time Mergs are an edible bird and if you don't think so don't shoot one, simple as that!

#3 The lack of need for a separate merg limit is arbitrary I believe. This Regulation was changed in 1980. The request was written by the USFW. The purpose was to "simplify the regulations and lessen the POTENTIAL (emphasis added by me) for wanton waste of mergansers" But in the 7 page proposal it stated that harvest numbers were low. From 1966 through1975 the average bag of Mergansers in the Pacific FW was 8,172 per year which was 0.2 percent of the total duck harvest. I don't have anything more current as to harvest numbers but we were told that the mergansers are "one of the success stories of all the North American Waterfowl" by a member of the Study Committee last July so I think that the population status is a non factor.

The bottom line is that all the other Flyways still have their separate Merg limit, I believe. Ours was taken away at the request of the USFW not at the request of the hunters, I believe. Having a separate limit adds hunter opportunity for the waterfowler if he seeks to add them to his bag.

So if anyone wants to speak out on this the meeting is tomorrow in North Bend I believe. I'm sure it's open to the public but I don't know if they allow comments from the floor? Maybe a WAG member can comment on the process of their meetings?"

Pulled from another duck forum.  This was in 2007, I'm not sure how much the issue has been pushed since then.

Heres another thread with info:

http://www.refugeforums.com/refuge/showthread.php?t=455226&highlight=merganser+limit

[Special T]

Good info, wish i could be there tomorrow!

[teal101]

Good info, wish i could be there tomorrow!

That info was from 2007.  It was shot down and really hasnt been fought for since to my knowledge.