Contact information for your fisheries biologist
On the thread titled "Cumberland 12/27" I made a comment about how to contact your local fisheries biologist. The state is broken up into regions so a biologist will cover multiple counties and various different lakes. In the link I am going to provide at the bottom of this thread all you have to do is select the county in which you have a concern and hit submit. Once you do that it will give you multiple contacts. It includes contact information to people who work with fish, hunting, education and land conservation.
I have personally spoke to the biologist who represents my county/district a few years ago. We spoke in depth about various different things. I also brought to his attention something that happened at Barren River Lake and he thanked me because he was not aware of the situation. If my memory is correct his comment was something like "we like feedback from the public because they see things first hand as it happens"
Anyways I emailed the fishery biologist for the Lake Cumberland area because of something that really concerns me...if your interested in reading what I emailed them about then the information is in the second paragraph of the reply I made on the Lake Cumberland 12/27 thread. If you agree or disagree with me that is okay. Either way I encourage people to contact their fishery biologist and voice their concern about anything you feel is important to you.
I am not one to promote more laws and regulations but fish are a natural resource that need someone to guard and look over them. It's up to KDFW to ensure they protect our natural resource. Some regulations can be influenced by large organization or $ money $ so it's regulations like this that we need to ensure that fish are priority one.
Here is the link to find a contact...[url]https://app.fw.ky.gov/WebContact/[/url]
Special Tournament (Size Limit) reply from KDFWR
[B]From:[/B] Ross, Jeff (FW)
[B]Sent:[/B] Thursday, January 02, 2020 4:10 PM
[B]To:[/B] Mark Hall
[B]Subject:[/B] RE: Special regulations at Cumberland
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your concern about tournament pressure, size limit exemptions, and the overall health of the bass populations at Lake Cumberland. Please be assured that your comments are being taken seriously and will play a part in any regulation decisions concerning black bass size limit exemptions in Kentucky.
A little background information is required to best explain the process that has occurred so far. Back in 2013, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association began the process of creating bass fishing as a sanctioned high school sport. Through discussions with the KHSAA and FLW (their partner in the endeavor), KDFWR agreed to allow black bass size limit exemptions at two of the regional tournaments and also the state KHSAA finals. The two regional tournaments take place on Lake Cumberland and Cave Run Lake. The impetus was to allow enough of the high school participants to qualify for the finals and create an interest for more high school students to participate. This agreement has continued and now also includes the Kentucky Christian Athletic Association Schools. Once again, only exempting the regional and final tournaments.
During this time, discussions also arose from other tournament groups, both big and small about the potential for expanded exemptions. This is something that is allowed in such states as Florida and Kansas. The Department did not want to jump right into the expansion, but instead asked the KDFWR Commission for an approval to conduct a three-year study looking at the impacts of exemption tournaments both from a fish mortality standpoint and also from public perception. The last thing we would want to do is harm a fish population that is already protected under special regulations.
The Fisheries Division was granted permission by our Commission to conduct 4 tournaments a year (2 spring and 2 fall) at both Lake Cumberland and Cave Run Lake for three years. These tournaments would be used to determine the amount of mortality that is occurring, especially on those fish that would normally be protected. We need to see how much mortality is occurring on the water prior to weigh-in, weigh-in mortality, and post release mortality (approximately 1 week). The tournaments are only allowed in the spring and fall when water temperatures are cool (no tournaments after May and no tournaments before October).
Tournament selection has been based on trying to sample both small and large tournaments, and their differing fish handling abilities. Many of the tournaments are selected from those that have registered on our voluntary tournament scheduling site. It may appear that the larger affiliations are being preferentially selected, but when you look at all of the exemption tournaments so far, they include several charity tournaments, local sponsored tournaments, several high school tournaments outside of the KHSAA and KCAA, and a veteran’s memorial tournament.
We are beginning the third year of the tournament exemption study next spring and it will conclude next fall. At that point all results will be presented to the KDFWR Commission. Along with the tournament results, any public input (for or against) will also be factored into the discussions. Nothing can move forward with tournament exemptions, without the Commission approving a regulation change. As a result, the public will have several opportunities to provide their input, including attending the Commission meetings and also providing public comment as you have done with your email.
KDFWR is aware of high fishing pressure occurring at many lakes across the state, but to this point has tried not to limit the fishing opportunities for any one group. KDFWR manages the resource for the health of the fishery and the enjoyment of anglers. We seek to balance the needs of various user groups both tournament anglers and non-tournament anglers despite the fact that their needs and requests can be quite different. We do not receive any extra funding in our budget based on the amount of tournaments that are on a lake.
Once again, thank you for your thoughts and concerns about this study and potential implications to the fishery. All input will be factored into the final decision after the study has concluded.
Jeff Ross
Assistant Director - Fisheries Division
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
#1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort, Ky 40601
Phone: (502) 892-4455
Fax: (502) 564-3178
[B]From:[/B] Mark Hall
[B]Sent:[/B] Monday, December 30, 2019 9:29 AM
[B]To:[/B] FW Webmaster <[EMAIL="FWWebmaster@ky.gov"]FWWebmaster@ky.gov[/EMAIL]>
[B]Subject:[/B] Special regulations at Cumberland
Why is the KDFWR allowing special regulations for tournaments at Lake Cumberland. Allowing under sized smallmouth to be kept and weighed is endangering more of our resources than it should be especially in the Spring when female fish are already stressed making babies. If the FLW, high school tournaments, college and what not can’t catch 18 inch smallmouth like the rest of us maybe they should find another lake to fish.
Now I see where B.AS.S. are going to start up down there in the Spring of 2020 and I’m sure they too have already been promised special regulation provisions. Well I call foul and this is nothing more than the almighty dollar speaking. Tournament pressure on Cumberland has became ‘’RIDICULOUS’’ in the last several years. Hundreds of boats every weekend with KVD wannabe’s running all over the lake like mad men with rude behavior and then dead floaters all over the ramps after they leave. I know they are there I see them. When will some moderation be even considered for the insane amount of pressure these fish are receiving all over the state. I fish Michigan every Spring and they have a system that does NOT allow catch and keep until June 1[SUP]st[/SUP] on all bass. This stops the tournaments other than the catch photo and release formats. Well guess what they have bass fisheries that DESTROY ours maybe there is something to that deal…ya think.
Back to the subject at hand. Myself and others plan to send emails and what ever we can to you guys to tell you how poorly we feel about you allowing special regulations for these tournaments. Maybe just maybe you should listen and consider our concerns as they are very valid.
Thank you
Sincerly
Mark Hall
Somewhat related thread:
[URL]http://www.fishin.com/forums2/showthread.php/120704-Lake-Cumberland-12-27[/URL]