Support Iceshanty... Get some great gear and forum goodies... Join The Iceshanty Hardwater Militia
Great info Mudchuck. I dug somewhat but not enough. I stand corrected! But I still don't have a problem with them using the launches
No I think it is all related. The issue remains that the current administration has proposed closing one of our few operating fish hatcheries in order to meet their budget. I guess the Department doesn't have enough revenue from the sale of licenses, to offset expenses. Their remedy is a loss for sportsmen whether it is to close the hatchery, raise license rates or both. Perhaps it is time for the State to treat the F&W Department like other entities in then state and give general funds which were already paid for by tax payers, to offset budget shortfalls. Once that hatchery is closed it will be both difficult and expensive to re-open it. My only comment about the bass tournaments was to show that the fishing industry doesn't appear to be something that is a high priority for the state.
And just to clarify, I'm not one of those share the wealth, socialist mindset people.Freeloaders do need to pay in & stop the free milk from the teet...
I agree but as time goes on Vermont is going so far left that the center of the road isn't even within sight. Bernie and his socialist agenda seems to be the most popular lifestyle for a vast majority of the people who now call VT home. I am not a Phil Scott fan after his flip flopping on gun control but can see that his time as the top dawg in the state is numbered. Losing his veto power kind of makes this term an embarrassment. He can only accomplish what the liberal Legislature allows. I shudder to think how our second amendment rights will degrade. Buy em while you can.
Let’s unite to stop this, not divide ourselves for now reason as that is how these things end up passing.
https://governor.vermont.gov/contact-us/messagehttps://legislature.vermont.gov/people/
Trout Unlimited is not your friend in this issue. They are the organization that wanted that hatchery closed. Just so no one states that I am taking it out of context, here is the paragraph in whole.VII. Management of Cultured Trout (link to entire 117 page doc https://www.vttucouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Trout-Plan-2018-final.pdf) Artificially reared, i.e. “cultured” trout provide an effective management tool for maintaining recreational fisheries where adequate wild populations cannot be sustained due to physical or environmental habitat limitations, particularly when these populations are subject to high fishing pressure. In Vermont, many popular trout fisheries in ponds, lakes and large rivers are dependent on the stocking of cultured trout. While an important component of many state fisheries agencies, the large expense of cultured trout programs has raised questions of their economic, social and ecological cost/benefit (Johnson et al. 1995, White et al. 1995, Loomis and Fix 1997, Ham and Pearsons 2001). As fish culture comprises the majority of the fisheries management budget in Vermont, this program must be managed effectively to meet fisheries management objectives and ensure the greatest benefit to the angling community while avoiding or minimizing impacts to wild trout and other aquatic populations. The use of cultured trout should not be considered an alternative to the protection or restoration of suitable trout habitat. As with wild trout populations, only when optimal habitat conditions are available for cultured trout, will their benefits be fully realized. Vermont fishermen need to read the entire report. They already banned bait, reduced catch limits and before you even realize they will ban everything but fly fishing and only a native trout species, brook, will be allowed in waters of Vermont. They want every dam removed, all land brought back to it's original habit as it was before Europeans settle America.Trout Unlimited is extreme liberal environmental group set on destroying anything and everything not natural which is why TU are in a blitz here in Montana and Washington State. More info on TU https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/trout-unlimited/Tu site with more docs https://www.vttucouncil.org/?page_id=18The plan to reduce catch limits by TU http://www.vpr.org/post/call-reduce-catch-limits-vermonts-native-trout
It needs to be pointed out that the Vermont Trout Management Plan is not a TU document. That report was written by several, but not all, Vermont state fisheries biologists. This plan can't used to determine if TU is a "friend" on the hatchery issue! They merely have a link to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife report on their website.
Look at Lee Simard, spawning behavior of invasive lake trout in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park. still removing 400,000 lake trout a year from Yellowstone Lake.Look at Pete McHugh He has worked professionally on issues ranging from non-native fish impacts in the Intermountain West and New Zealand to Chinook salmon fishery and stock assessments in the Pacific Northwest. I won't list special deeds of everyone of them. Just to give you a clue of what your Meet the Staff assembly may be up to. https://vtfishandwildlife.com/about-us/department-divisions/meet-the-staffDo your own background on them and find out the close ties and interest with TU. Then get a roster of TU in Vermont and see how many of the staff are members. Notices that a few of the ones you listed aren't on staff?
Here, read this stuff.https://www.tu.org/sites/default/files/offline/science/Eastern%20Brook%20Trout%20Conservation%20Portfolio,%20Range-wide,%20and%20Focal%20Area%20Assessment%20v1_0.pdf
In Vermont they want pure Brook Trout, no other trout species. They work their way there. Little by little. First make bait illegal, then reduce catch limits, then close hatcheries that bred other than Brook.We didn't see it coming here in Montana. We all thought they were here to help. Surprise. Now, Vermont has roughly 60,000 fishermen, TU has 300,000 and more since every State employs them without the fishermen knowing. All your fishermen could stand and object which would matter none.It happened here, the consensus and majority of the forum were against removal of Lake Trout. We were heard. They did it anyway.I bid you fellows well. Thank You for your time and I won't take anymore of it.
Whatever man. We keep a pretty close leash on our state government over here, if this thread hasn't already been indicative of that to you... I personally know many of the state fisheries biologists well, and can tell you that TU is NOT in control of our waterways, and if even if they were, we'd know about it, even if they had a hidden agenda. Many of the folks on here are members of TU, adding further layers of transparency. You carry a pretty heavy burden of proof on your shoulders there bud, when you make your incoherent accusations against Trout Unlimited.
Accusations are made via documents. Don't know what else I could provide. I certainly do not have voice or vid recordings. So most of the members on the Vermont threads are TU. That's Ok. You know some of the employees personally. That's OK. You keep a tight leash on the Government. OK.With all that power you wield, they are still shutting it down. Way to control the tight leash there friend.
This is typical. Immediately start by trying to insult the messenger. TU tactics.
Dude, not really sure what point you're trying to make, other than Trout Unlimited = Bad, but I think you should stick to your local Montana gripes about them, and let us Vermonters handle things in our own backyard. Pretty sure if there was some TU connected cabal bent on ruining all things YOU cherish, we'd know about it...
YET....not one person on here that I can see has mentioned TU’s desire to have the creel limit on brook trout reduced from 12 to 6. MAYBE this guy from Montana is just trying to open our eyes to the fact that TU may not always have traditional core values of Vermonters in mind. Example being there is no scientific data showing the need to reduce brook trout creel limits and that biologists in Vermont do not recommend the change...yet they charge along...just an issue we’ll be facing soon enough.
I spoke with my representative Leland Morgan on Friday. He informed me that It would cost $7M for a filtering system that is required to keep the hatchery open after its permit expires shortly. It currently cost $250,000 a year to run the hatchery. Between those two things it has been decided to close the hatchery. It is going to happen. The plan is to distribute what was being raised in Salsbury to other hatcheries by making the other hatcheries more efficient. Leland said we should not see much of a change across the state with our current stocking program. Let's hope this is the case.