URGENT CPW NEWS
Potential ban of the sale of minnows in Colorado
Yesterday, it was brought to my attention that there has been a citizen petition filed with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.
This petition is pushing a prohibition of the sale of all cultured baitfish (which is how Colorado bait shops get all their minnows). It’s not a small petition, with 87 pages including the petition and supporting documents. On my first quick read through, there are several things within their supporting documents that I would take issue with.
The fact they say it will have minimal economic impact on tackle stores. The actual money from direct minnow sales might not be a huge amount, but when people come in to buy minnows, they buy additional items. Removing that total would have a large impact on NoCo bait shops.
Their public opinion statement that “most anglers are in support or neutral”. This is not at all what I’ve heard from talking to people in the last 24 hrs. Minnows are something many, if not most, traditional anglers have used and will use again. Minnows are a great way to catch just about every game fish species in NoCo.
In the cover letter they state Minnesota has successfully implemented a similar program. I talked with several people in the MN fishing community and bait shop owners. They have stated it has been nothing but a disaster and actually MN has more invasive species than any surrounding states and importing baitfish has been illegal for decades in MN. So the data from MN does not support the statement in the petition.
The angling groups that have signed on to this petition are almost entirely fly fishing groups, who mainly fish in the mountains where use of live minnows is already illegal.
It has been brought to my attention that one of the lead groups funding this effort is an animal rights group out based in either Europe or the UK, and they have tried pushing a similar proposal in several other states.
I’d ask that you take the time to read at least the first few pages of the petition, share this with fellow anglers, and if this concerns you, take the time to write emails to the CPW Commissioners, I have included their email addresses at the end of this newsletter.
CLICK THIS LINK TO READ THE PETITION
A citizen petition is a way to get an issue directly in front of the commission. The citizen, or in this case a group, files the petition through a long-standing process. Once received CPW staff reviews the petition and gives it support or dissension of the proposal, and the petition moves forward to be scheduled for a hearing at a Commission meeting. Historically, if staff does not support a petition, the Commission places it on the consent agenda for denial, but all it takes is 1 commissioner to vote for it to be removed from the consent agenda, and the petition is heard in whole by the Commission. Based on the current makeup of the Parks and Wildlife Commission, I would expect this petition will get pushed to a full hearing. If this gets to a full hearing, I would say this would have a 50/50 chance of passing if the anglers who support fishing with minnows don’t make their voices heard.
In talking with people at CPW it is recommended to send an email to the general commission email, which will be compiled and distributed to Commissioners prior to the meeting this petition is on the agenda, and send emails to the individual Commissioners as well.
CPW COMMISSIONER EMAIL ADDRESSES
The general commission email address is:
dnr_cpwcommission@state.co.us
Specific commissioner’s emails:
Chair:
Dallas.May@state.co.us
Vice Chair:
richard.reading@state.co.us
Remaining commissioners:
karen.bailey@state.co.us
jess.beaulieu@state.co.us
marie.haskett@state.co.us
tai.jacober@state.co.us
jack.murphy@state.co.us
gabriel.otero@state.co.us
murphy.robinson@state.co.us
james.tutchton@state.co.us
eden.vardy@state.co.us
I am not able to create email links here. If you would like to read more about the commissioners, where each bio has an email link. CLICK HERE
I will work to keep subscribers updated on when the public hearing for this issue will be taking place.