Do you want to see the trout fisheries in Arkansas improved? What can one individual do to help? When is the best time for you to do it? Where would you send your input? And why should you? The answers are as follows:
Go ASAP to www.agfc.com, click on "Fishing" and then click on "Draft Trout Management Plan." You;ll notice that there is also a link to send your comments by email. It has been made as easy as possible for you to comment.
Darrell Bowman, Arkansas Trout Biologist, presented this draft Trout Management Plan to the AGFC Commissioners June 26, 2003. A 90-day public comment period (ending September 30) will allow the proposal to be fine-tuned before it is presented to the Commissioners for a final vote this fall. Darrell needs YOUR input. I plead with each of you to send Darrell your response. Responses from each of us are vital to achieve the type of trout fisheries in Arkansas that we desire, and for which the potential is so great. Please don't let me down.
The draft Trout Management Plan (TMP) is, in my opinion, the most important document for anglers to voice an opinion on since the mid-90's when catch and release areas were established. We have had a Trout Program trying to manage the trout fisheries for years, but no real management plan. That is to say that with no clear goals in mind, the current regulations and stocking for trout have been event-driven, sometimes politically charged, and often created conflict among user-groups. Crappie, bass, and other species have a management plan in place. It is time to have a plan for trout.
Many members heard Dave Whitlock at our July club meeting state that of all the rivers of the world he has fished (and that's a lot, folks), the White River system (while good now) has the potential to be the very best trout fishery if managed well. The TMP, if adopted, and implemented, could, over time, achieve just that: a trophy trout fishery that surpasses any other in the world.
The goals-driven TMP would put data from angler preferences, biologic information, and habitat information, all scientifically gathered, as the raison d'etre for fishing regulations. Meanwhile, the status quo would be maintained as far as fishing regulations go, until the data gathered indicates a need for change. Also, the regs will be written more clearly. Most importantly, the current (and sometimes antagonistic or political) method of establishing fishing regulations would be history (a refreshing thought).
In my opinion, the most pressing problems facing Arkansas trout fisheries are:
The TMP addresses all three of these problems, and much more. And the advantage is that the TMP is actually plural. It calls for multiple Plans, one for each trout water. The TMP reflects correctly that each trout water would be managed individually, as each has its own needs and characteristics for which the current one-size-fits-all approach is inappropriate.
The draft TMP states goals with which no one interested in a quality trout fishery could argue. Then, objectives with strategies to achieve each goal are outlined, leaving room for additional strategies as they may occur. Then, if the TMP is adopted, implementation plans will be developed using the strategies intended to attain the objectives of the stated goals, followed by actual implementation, and then monitoring and evaluation would occur. The TMP is a well thought out, forward-thinking, sensible, and ambitious plan that can only mean good things for the Arkansas trout fisheries, if adopted.
We do not know what implementations may be required until the stakeholder data and scientific data called for in the proposed TMP are gathered. Another asset of the TMP is that it nowhere states that there should be a C&R area, a slot-limit area, or a put & take area in any specific place. The real beauty is that it is a PLAN. Darrell writes, "The overall goal is to produce a plan that addresses the wise management of trout resources while taking into consideration all stakeholders in partnership."
Darrell also explains that the TMP "is built on the premise of stakeholder participation and feedback. Input from stakeholders MUST (emphasis, mine) be considered as part of the information needed to develop specific management plans in the Implementation Plan phase for any given trout water."
If the Trout Management Plan is adopted, my job as MSFF Conservation Director will be to educate others about how to ask for what we want in our Arkansas trout fisheries. Rather than ask for more Catch and Release areas or slot-limit areas, we need to express our goal " what do we want the outcome to be? Trophy trout? Wild trout? Then let the biologists and the Commissioners do their jobs.
I urge everyone interested in the trout fisheries in Arkansas to read the draft TMP for themselves. A bonus for your effort is learning the history of the current program, including stocking data, and an explanation of various management techniques used in Arkansas: Put-and Take, Put-and Grow, and Wild Trout (self-sustaining). I also urge each one of you to send in your support of a Trout Management Plan and any comments on the draft. (My comments will include minor copy-editing and wording-for-clarity suggestions and to request that angler information be gathered more frequently than the stated five years which Darrell may have already accounted for using ongoing on-water angler surveys.)
Please, please, please send an email supporting the Trout Management Plan to Darrell Bowman(dwbowman@agfc.state.ar.us and put "Trout Management Plan" in the subject line) or send a note to him at 201 E 5th Street, Mountain Home, AR 72653. If you so desire, you may send a copy to the AGFC Commissioners at #2 Natural Resources Drive, Little Rock, AR 72205.
I thank you and you may someday thank yourselves for the future trout fisheries if the Trout Management Plan gets approved
