Salmon snagging season & bowfishing – Citizen issue paper

11/14/2011 UPDATE

The proposed regulation changes described below were approved by the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission at their November 10th/11th meeting. This regulation change will go into effect April 1st 2012. Please click here for an update.

10/3/2011 UPDATE

PLEASE take five minutes of your time and write a letter or email in your comments of support to the Colorado Wildlife Commission on the proposed regulation change (detailed below) to permit archery as an additional method of take for Kokanee Salmon only during the snagging season.  The COBF has stated our support of this regulation change as written, as well as other safety oriented ideas such as defining separate areas for snaggers/archers and/or establishing a pilot program where the practice can be observed etc. We do not currently support draw-weight limitations. (Take our poll on draw-weights)

Please email: wildlife.comm@state.co.us 

You can also mail in a letter of support to:

Colorado Wildlife Commission
6060 Broadway,
Denver, CO 80216

9/19/2011 UPDATE

A draft (see 7/27 section below) of the proposed regulation was sent to the DOW internal staff on 7/27 for review/consideration. DOW staff considered the proposed wording and added to it resulting in their following draft regulation which was presented to the Wildlife Commission at the 9/15-16 meeting.

DOW DRAFT (Fishing chapter 1, #103 (c)) (click link to actual draft document)

Archery may be used for the taking of kokanee salmon where specifically authorized during snagging seasons only, as established in #108 of these regulations. The following additional restrictions apply to archery take of kokanee salmon:

1.  Archery take of kokanee salmon is limited to hand-held bows only (no crossbows).
2.  All bows must have a reel, fishing line and arrow attached to the bow
3. All bows must have an arrow safety slide mechanism, which maintains the fishing line in front of the rest at all times.

As of the last DOW Wildlife Comission Meeting the status is as follows, per DOW staff:

……the draft language we proposed to the Commission doesn’t exactly reflect the language you have below, but incorporates the same ideas.  Also, as we discussed during that call, the result of staff’s internal discussion was that the draft we proposed didn’t contain pound restrictions as managers leaned toward your initial idea that pound restrictions, while possibly desirable, could be considered arbitrary due to lack of precedent anywhere else.

At the Commission meeting last week, the Commission approved the language going forward to final, but continued to have considerable concerns about safety when bow anglers are mixed with those snagging salmon in tight quarters.  As this proposal appears, at this time, to be breaking new ground by allowing bowfishing of salmon in those quarters, they asked staff to consider options for mitigating their safety concerns, suggesting zoning options, opening areas to one use or the other, and/or monitoring the practice as a type of pilot program.

If you have any examples of places that have opened up bowfishing of salmon during snagging season, please pass them on as that may help address the Commission’s concern.  To this point, I haven’t been able to find any.  Also, if you have suggestions to help address their safety concerns, please pass them on.

The COBF is asking for comments and ideas on how to help the DOW address safety concerns regarding snaggers and archers in close proximity when pursuing salmon should these regulations be approved. Please contact the COBF Board with your thoughts!

7/27/2011 UPDATE:

Based on feedback so far and the results of the draw-weights poll, we have submitted the following DRAFT regulation to DOW staff for consideration. They are taking our input and will be combining it with their suggestions after discussions in the next round. We have kept it fairly broad to start with and will continue to work with the DOW based on their input and other comments to further refine this as the issue paper process moves forward through the rest of 2011. As always please send the Board your thoughts/ideas as well. If you would like to be more involved with the process/DOW discussions, please let us know.

PROPOSED DRAFT:

Bowfishing (fishing with archery equipment) is a legal method of take for Kokanee Salmon during the snagging season unless specifically prohibited in individual lake listings. Arrows must be attached to the bow via a line/string. The use of crossbows is prohibited except when used in conjunction with a valid DOW Wildlife Recreation Accommodation Permit for the disabled, specifically permitting the use of a crossbow for bowfishing.

OVERVIEW:

COBF Member and Treasurer Mike Peceny presented an citizen issue paper today to the Colorado Wildlife Commission regarding adding bowfishing as an additional method of take during the salmon snagging season in Colorado. What follows is his report, please read below and we are also asking archers to take our poll on draw weights and safety in regards to this issue.

Just wanted to give everyone an overview of my presentation of a citizen’s issue paper before the Division of Wildlife Board and Colorado Wildlife Commission today in the Denver office. The Issue Paper was regarding the inclusion of bowfishing as a legal method of take for Kokanee salmon, only during the salmon snagging season.

The end of the salmon lifecycle characterizes several behaviorial changes in the fish. They stop eating, focus on breeding (also called the spawn), then naturally die off. The Division of Wildlife implemented a snagging season for salmon, in order to allow Colorado anglers the opportunity to harvest as many of these perishable and very edible fish, before they die off. The Issue Paper suggested that if the goal of the Division of Wildlife is to harvest as many salmon before they die, and snagging is an accepted form of harvest; then bowfishing should also be considered.

The regulations change would not only allow individuals who don’t snag but do bowfishing to go for salmon during the snagging season, but also allow anglers who might want to try bowfishing at different lakes that don’t offer traditional (carp, shad, sucker) bowfishing opportunities, This rule change would create a new avenue to harvest game fish in Colorado: potentially increasing participation and aiding the Division in the long term.

After the initial presentation, I was asked many questions by the Commission. Several of these questions focused on safety concerns (draw weight of bows, types of arrows, etc). Likely, the questions were generated by individuals who do not have familiarity with bowfishing or bowfishing equipment. In response to these safety concerns, several Division of Wildlife Board members and Division of Wildlife regional managers came to the podium to state that they (and their colleagues) feel there are no safety concerns. Additionally, many division officers feel that snagging is more dangerous than bowfishing; as many anglers wildly cast their treble hooks, and stuck hooks have a tendency to fly back at the angler or those around him or her when pulled back.

Additional conversations were presented by DOW Board members stating that bowfishing would likely allow for better species identification, and prevent issues like trout being snagged. I indicated that bowanglers don’t volley lobs of arrows, but rather need line of sight and target identification before any fish are shot at.

The presentation of the citizen issue paper was a success. The next step is to have the COBF board sit with the DOW regulations manager Brett Ackerman, and several other division staff to discuss safety, equipment, and timelines in details. If all goes well, the Commission will vote on a regulations change before the start of next year’s salmon snagging season.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest news (on here and on the COBF website). Thanks.

Michael

As the COBF and DOW move forward through the regulations process, we will likely be meeting with DOW officials to discuss draft regulations around this issue should it move forward. If you have any ideas on regulations for bowfishing during the salmon snagging season, with regards to safety, equipment or anything, please email the Board your regulations ideas/thoughts etc at: https://coloradobowfishing.wordpress.com/contact/

We are also asking archers to take our poll on draw weights.