Hamilton Reef
06-29-2005, 04:55 PM
State lawmakers watch fishing poles instead of voter polls
http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=27886
By BRIAN MULHERIN, Daily News Staff Writer
bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com, 843-1122, ext. 348
MANISTEE — State Rep. David Palsrok, R-Manistee, understands what the health of Lake Michigan means to the 43 charter boat captains who are members of the Manistee Area Charterboats. He also knows what the health of their business and businesses like theirs mean to the economy of the lakeshore.
Thanks to his efforts, 14 other members of the Michigan Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus know it too.
Palsrok, the co-chairman of the caucus, arranged for a dozen charterboats to be available to take 13 state representatives and a state senator fishing for salmon on Monday.
Kevin Hughes of the Manistee Area Charterboats, captain of Onekama-based Sandpiper II, said the captains were happy to donate their time to draw attention to the burgeoning Lake Michigan fishery, especially given the near-salmonless state of Lake Huron. Captains answered questions about business, the forage base and their customers for the representatives, who got to feel first-hand the power of king salmon, steelhead and lake trout.
Palsrok caught his limit of kings aboard the Linedancer II captained by Mike Potts, a school principal who learned the fishing trade aboard Hughes’ boat years ago.
“This is just one event of many we have done and the idea is to expose legislators to sportsmen’s activities,” Palsrok said. “We have legislators who have experience in all different types of activities. Senator (Michelle) McManus and I wanted to find an activity that’s important to sportsmen. Kevin Hughes was really helpful in putting today together.”
Palsrok said with the crash of Lake Huron’s forage base and a subsequent lack of salmon in the lake, he thought it was important for legislators around the state to know that Lake Michigan’s fishery was still in good shape.
Department of Natural Resources Director Becky Humphries, fishing with Hughes and DNR Fisheries Biologist Tom Rozich, said the fish she saw appeared to be very healthy and surprisingly free of evidence of lamprey.
“The fish look healthy,” Humphries said. “They’re definitely not starving.”
Humphries hauled in two four-year-old kings.
“They’re beautiful fish,” she said. “The colors are absolutely gorgeous when they come out of the water. They were feisty this morning.”
At a fishboil Monday afternoon Palsrok handed Humphries what appeared to be a piece of a trap net that he found floating in the lake. The man who presided over the consent decree that allows trap net fishing on Lake Michigan, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen, announced earlier this year that he would assume senior status — a form of partial retirement — at the end of 2005. Humphries was asked if Enslen’s status could affect the state’s current court action seeking to better define the tribe’s inland fishing and hunting rights. She indicated that Enslen would likely begin to hear the case later this year and would likely see the case through to a resolution.
“I think everyone’s ready for that,” Humphries said, adding that both sides would like to “have a court decision on what the treaty language means.”
Humphries said the other major challenge to the state, highlighted by a press release documenting planned temporary DNR service cutbacks, is a lack of funds.
Humphries said without a new hunting and fishing license package, the DNR will face an eight million dollar shortfall by 2007. She said the talks are just beginning on how license structures and fees might be altered to help offset the projected shortfall.
“We try to be very frugal,” Humphries said. “We try to use sportsmen’s dollars wisely.”
Palsrok said he’s continuing to push the sale of the Great Lakes Protection Fund decals, which will help fund efforts to convince other states to pass some type of ballast-water legislation to prevent the spread of invasive species.
Palsrok made headlines recently for announcing that he would not allow a Canadian trash bill to leave his committee. He said he didn’t believe adding fees to each ton of Canadian trash imported was a viable answer because many of the contracts that the City of Toronto has with Michigan landfills state that the landfills and not Canadian municipalities are responsible for any increased fees, taxes or tariffs.
“We’re looking at inspectors at our borders who can enforce our strict laws at the border,” Palsrok said. He said it’s clear that the state can’t stem the flow of international trash alone because of free trade and commerce agreements with Canada.
Palsrok said he’s also continuing to push for liability protections for canoe liveries and is working on developing a statewide Port Authority that could be an economic development source for airports, railyards and harbors.
But on Monday, Palsrok was fishing. It wasn’t quite the flyfishing on the Pine, Pere Marquette or Manistee Rivers that he knows so well, but it was clear he was enjoying himself and making a point with his colleagues.
“When I get up and talk about fishing, they’ll remember the capital investment these people have,” Palsrok said.
http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=27886
By BRIAN MULHERIN, Daily News Staff Writer
bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com, 843-1122, ext. 348
MANISTEE — State Rep. David Palsrok, R-Manistee, understands what the health of Lake Michigan means to the 43 charter boat captains who are members of the Manistee Area Charterboats. He also knows what the health of their business and businesses like theirs mean to the economy of the lakeshore.
Thanks to his efforts, 14 other members of the Michigan Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus know it too.
Palsrok, the co-chairman of the caucus, arranged for a dozen charterboats to be available to take 13 state representatives and a state senator fishing for salmon on Monday.
Kevin Hughes of the Manistee Area Charterboats, captain of Onekama-based Sandpiper II, said the captains were happy to donate their time to draw attention to the burgeoning Lake Michigan fishery, especially given the near-salmonless state of Lake Huron. Captains answered questions about business, the forage base and their customers for the representatives, who got to feel first-hand the power of king salmon, steelhead and lake trout.
Palsrok caught his limit of kings aboard the Linedancer II captained by Mike Potts, a school principal who learned the fishing trade aboard Hughes’ boat years ago.
“This is just one event of many we have done and the idea is to expose legislators to sportsmen’s activities,” Palsrok said. “We have legislators who have experience in all different types of activities. Senator (Michelle) McManus and I wanted to find an activity that’s important to sportsmen. Kevin Hughes was really helpful in putting today together.”
Palsrok said with the crash of Lake Huron’s forage base and a subsequent lack of salmon in the lake, he thought it was important for legislators around the state to know that Lake Michigan’s fishery was still in good shape.
Department of Natural Resources Director Becky Humphries, fishing with Hughes and DNR Fisheries Biologist Tom Rozich, said the fish she saw appeared to be very healthy and surprisingly free of evidence of lamprey.
“The fish look healthy,” Humphries said. “They’re definitely not starving.”
Humphries hauled in two four-year-old kings.
“They’re beautiful fish,” she said. “The colors are absolutely gorgeous when they come out of the water. They were feisty this morning.”
At a fishboil Monday afternoon Palsrok handed Humphries what appeared to be a piece of a trap net that he found floating in the lake. The man who presided over the consent decree that allows trap net fishing on Lake Michigan, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen, announced earlier this year that he would assume senior status — a form of partial retirement — at the end of 2005. Humphries was asked if Enslen’s status could affect the state’s current court action seeking to better define the tribe’s inland fishing and hunting rights. She indicated that Enslen would likely begin to hear the case later this year and would likely see the case through to a resolution.
“I think everyone’s ready for that,” Humphries said, adding that both sides would like to “have a court decision on what the treaty language means.”
Humphries said the other major challenge to the state, highlighted by a press release documenting planned temporary DNR service cutbacks, is a lack of funds.
Humphries said without a new hunting and fishing license package, the DNR will face an eight million dollar shortfall by 2007. She said the talks are just beginning on how license structures and fees might be altered to help offset the projected shortfall.
“We try to be very frugal,” Humphries said. “We try to use sportsmen’s dollars wisely.”
Palsrok said he’s continuing to push the sale of the Great Lakes Protection Fund decals, which will help fund efforts to convince other states to pass some type of ballast-water legislation to prevent the spread of invasive species.
Palsrok made headlines recently for announcing that he would not allow a Canadian trash bill to leave his committee. He said he didn’t believe adding fees to each ton of Canadian trash imported was a viable answer because many of the contracts that the City of Toronto has with Michigan landfills state that the landfills and not Canadian municipalities are responsible for any increased fees, taxes or tariffs.
“We’re looking at inspectors at our borders who can enforce our strict laws at the border,” Palsrok said. He said it’s clear that the state can’t stem the flow of international trash alone because of free trade and commerce agreements with Canada.
Palsrok said he’s also continuing to push for liability protections for canoe liveries and is working on developing a statewide Port Authority that could be an economic development source for airports, railyards and harbors.
But on Monday, Palsrok was fishing. It wasn’t quite the flyfishing on the Pine, Pere Marquette or Manistee Rivers that he knows so well, but it was clear he was enjoying himself and making a point with his colleagues.
“When I get up and talk about fishing, they’ll remember the capital investment these people have,” Palsrok said.