Fishing regulations are ‘science-based’ or they aren’t
BY DALE BOWMAN outdoordb@sbcglobal.net November 13, 2012 8:48PM
Related Stories
Updated: December 15, 2012 6:27AM
Vic Santucci’s promotion to head the Lake Michigan Program is a smart personnel move by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
I hope that isn’t sabotaged when the first Lake Michigan informational meeting in years is held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the DNR offices, 9511 Harrison St., Des Plaines.
There’s science to support why the four Lake Michigan states are reducing salmon stocking. There’s science to explain ongoing issues with yellow perch in southern Lake Michigan.
There’s no science that establishes a causal link
between a slight decline in Lake Michigan black bass and the trophy-only regulations on them in Illinois’ Lake Michigan waters (daily bag of one, 21 inches or longer). Yet there’s a bizarre push to loosen those regulations.
It makes a mockery of the chest-thumping by IDNR director Marc Miller about ‘‘science-based’’ and ‘‘wildlife professional.’’
