The Catfish WON!!!!

[Fishin Fool]

The vote is over and according the Richard the measure that would have allowed commercial fishermen to keep catfish over 34" was defeated!!

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_102082.asp

 

[WLG]

Good deal!!emoThumbsup Im glad it was voted down. It would be a shame to destroy our trophy fishery.

 

[DHaun]

I am very glad to see the vote go in the right direction. One question I have is where do commercial anglers sell the catfish that they harvest? I have heard TN river catfish are a sought after dish a bit further West but I am wondering whether they are primarily sold for fertilizer, human consumption, cat food, fish sticks? Where is the demand that wants these trophy cats enough to try to vote down the regulation and how much per pound is a big cat worth on the market?

With consumption advisories on parts of the TN river system for catfish (there's one right here on Nickajack) I would think there would be limitations in where and for what purpose they could be sold, especially the larger cats where there may be a higher concentration of contaminants.

http://www.state.tn.us/environment/wpc/publications/advisories.pdf

I am no biologist or expert on this subject by any means, but I would think there would be more repeatable value in promoting the trophy fishery for tourism, tournaments, tackle sales, injecting $$ into the local economy rather than allowing a very old fish to be harvested and sold at a fish market or wherever they eventually end up.

 

[Fishin Fool]

My thoughts exactly David. Big catfish have always tasted a good deal stronger to me and I would think that, due to age, they would pick up a lot more contamination. I sure wouldn't want to eat a 40 to 60 lb cat. I only could hear bits and pieces of the conversation this morning but it sounded like they (the people in favor of changing the law) were advocating selling the big fish to pay lakes and ponds. Apparently really big fish like that bring a lot of money when they are sold to pay lakes. From everything I heard it sounded like money was the sole motivating factor in all of this. The guy that introduced the bill kept talking about losing jobs in his district and how this would allow the commercial guys to make a lot more cash. I'm sure it would. But at some point the public good out weighs the profit motive of a few. There are PLENTY of catfish, but I think they wanted to target the big ones. Anyway, sport fishermen won. I sent a thank you letter to our local rep thanking him for his vote.

 

[foodsaver]

Thats great I am glad that our representatives voted in support of the sport.

 

[Guest]

That's great news!!!emoThumbsup

 

[DHaun]

I found this info on http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/. It summarizes what I just read in RSimms article:

HB0091 by Borchert
WILDLIFE OF CON: Recommended for passage - refer to: 2/20/2007

Ayes................................................3
Noes................................................3

Representatives voting aye were: Borchert (D), Fraley (D), Tidwell (D) -- 3.
Representatives voting no were: Baird (R), Floyd (R), McCord (R) -- 3.

The Representative from Chattanooga that helped defeat this Bill is Rep. Richard Floyd (R):

http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/house/members/h27.htm

 

[foodsaver]

I wonder why that vote followed party lines? I am curious what made that a democrat/republican issue? Any ideas?

 

[DHaun]

Foodsaver, from what I can tell, Borchert (D) sponsored the bill and our local Rep. Richard Floyd (R) is a member of the House Committee on Conservation and Environment. That may have something to do with it...

 

[Liveliner]

Do not get a feud started but three Republicans are in support of the people. Three Democritics are trying to sell us out to big business. I thought I would never see that.

I do not think that Bass fishing in Chickamauge Lake will ever be the same as it was prior to the reighn of Marilyn Lloyd. However I think that the fishery overall is improving. If we could only just keep polititian's claws away from it.