Originally Posted by
adam7456
Just because something has worked in a small scale in the past doesn't mean it will scale up nicely. That is the problem, the scale of the tournaments has increased and it is causing problems. If someone fishes one tournament a year or 100 tournaments there is no additional fishing license being purchased, which means no additional resources for Fish and Wildlife to manage the fisheries, infrastructure, and anglers. There has been a huge increase in the use of resources, wear and tear on the boat ramps/docks, and on the fish caught due to the increase in tournaments and tournament size.
It really is the organizations fault because they aren't taking responsibility for every negative impact the increased tournament scale has caused. Have you ever heard the saying "this is why we can't have nice things"? Well if they don't start managing themselves better the government will step in and increase the regulations/fees on tournaments. Like it or not that is the reality of the situation. It would be a shame if that happened as I'm all for smaller government and fewer regulations but if people don't take responsibility for the negative impact their actions have then the government will step in and do it for them.
If the tournament organizers continue to ignore the negative impacts they are causing, continue to increase the number of boats involved, and increase the frequency of tournaments then I would be fine with something like the following:
1-10 boat tournament no regulation/fees
11 - 25 boat - tournament fee to cover 4 hours of a conservation officers time to watch the launch and weigh in
26 - 50 boat - tournament fee to cover the cost of a conservation officer for the entire tournament including launch and weigh in
51+ boats - tournament fee to cover the cost of a conservation officer for the entire tournament including launch and weigh in plus the cost of an additional officer on the water watching the anglers
Or there could just be a flat $5-$10 fee for every tournament angler for every tournament and Fish and Wildlife would just show up randomly to watch people, behavior, and verify the tournament fee has been paid.
Some type of regulation like that is in the future of tournaments if the organizers don't start taking responsibility for the negative impacts they are causing. The only people who can prevent that are the tournament organizers and tournament anglers.