Post by beartrapper on Mar 10, 2006 7:18:22 GMT -5
I got this e-mail today. Just keeping you posted.
Hi Everyone,
A little over a week ago the Fish and Wildlife Department reported to the Legislative Fish and Wildlife Committee on the Department's review of Maine's bear harvesting methods. Accompanying the report were recommendations for improvement. The news media has attempted to inform the public about the report and the recommendations. Some of the information being circulated is accurate, and some is not. I've been getting all sorts of questions from guides and trappers about what happened and where things will go from here. Rather than try to respond to two dozen different emails containing different questions, I am sending this message to everyone on my three lists (some of you may be on more than one list and may, therefore, receive this message more than once). It is my hope to bring everyone up to date, answer as many of your questions as possible and speculate a bit about what might happen next.
As you know, I represented both the MTA and the MPGA on the Bear Working Group that the Department assembled to assist them in their review of our bear harvesting methods. The Working Group served only in an advisory capacity. We met four times and reviewed just about everything under the sun that related to the taking of bears with bait, traps and dogs. Much of what happened at those meetings was a rehash of the debate leading up to the 2004 bear referendum. Following those meetings, it was Department's responsibility (and legislative mandate) to issue a report on their review and to make any recommendations that they believed would improve upon the methods we currently use to harvest bears. Contrary to what you might have read in the newspaper, this was the Department's report (not the Working Group's report) and all recommendations came from the Department (not from the Working Group).
The Department's report to the F&W Committee reflected quite accurately, I think, the discussions that took place at the meetings of the Bear Working Group. Then the Department went on to recommended four changes. Two of the changes would be handled administratively within the Department if funds become available. Those changes include the collection of more and better information by the Department about (1) the impacts of baiting on Maine’s bear population and (2) the number of bear trappers and the types of bear traps being used. The other two recommendations involve bear trapping restrictions. These two recommendations were not initiated by the Working Group - they were presented by the Department to the Working Group for discussion at our second meeting. These two changes would limit bear trappers to the use of one trap (currently two) and prohibit the use of steel-jawed foothold traps for bear trapping. These changes would be initiated by the Department later this year through the rule-making process and, if adopted, would go into effect prior to the 2007 bear trapping season.
The Legislative F&W Committee endorsed the report, including the recommended changes, and encouraged the Department to implement the changes. As I tried to assess the Committee's response to the recommendations, two things became quite obvious to me. First, some of the committee members didn't think the Department went far enough in recommending changes in bear trapping. Second, the Committee would much prefer to have the Department handle the changes through the rule-making process than to submit a bill and have bear trapping debated by the Legislature. Although whatever happens this year, it's almost a certainty that the issue of bear trapping will be back in front of the Legislature sometime soon.
That's where things currently stand. It appears that nothing will change prior to the 2006 bear trapping season. However, sometime this coming fall the Department will probably start the rule making process to limit bear trappers to one trap and eliminate the use of steel-jawed foothold traps for taking bears. These issue will be discussed by both the MPGA and the MTA at upcoming meetings and decisions will need to be made on what strategy we'll use in dealing with these two proposals once the rule-making process gets underway.
I hope this summary has been helpful to you and that it answered more questions than it created. I'll make sure that these issues are discussed at the next Board meetings of both the MTA and the MPGA, and I know it will be a hot topic at the annual MTA spring meeting in May. That's it for now!
Skip
Hi Everyone,
A little over a week ago the Fish and Wildlife Department reported to the Legislative Fish and Wildlife Committee on the Department's review of Maine's bear harvesting methods. Accompanying the report were recommendations for improvement. The news media has attempted to inform the public about the report and the recommendations. Some of the information being circulated is accurate, and some is not. I've been getting all sorts of questions from guides and trappers about what happened and where things will go from here. Rather than try to respond to two dozen different emails containing different questions, I am sending this message to everyone on my three lists (some of you may be on more than one list and may, therefore, receive this message more than once). It is my hope to bring everyone up to date, answer as many of your questions as possible and speculate a bit about what might happen next.
As you know, I represented both the MTA and the MPGA on the Bear Working Group that the Department assembled to assist them in their review of our bear harvesting methods. The Working Group served only in an advisory capacity. We met four times and reviewed just about everything under the sun that related to the taking of bears with bait, traps and dogs. Much of what happened at those meetings was a rehash of the debate leading up to the 2004 bear referendum. Following those meetings, it was Department's responsibility (and legislative mandate) to issue a report on their review and to make any recommendations that they believed would improve upon the methods we currently use to harvest bears. Contrary to what you might have read in the newspaper, this was the Department's report (not the Working Group's report) and all recommendations came from the Department (not from the Working Group).
The Department's report to the F&W Committee reflected quite accurately, I think, the discussions that took place at the meetings of the Bear Working Group. Then the Department went on to recommended four changes. Two of the changes would be handled administratively within the Department if funds become available. Those changes include the collection of more and better information by the Department about (1) the impacts of baiting on Maine’s bear population and (2) the number of bear trappers and the types of bear traps being used. The other two recommendations involve bear trapping restrictions. These two recommendations were not initiated by the Working Group - they were presented by the Department to the Working Group for discussion at our second meeting. These two changes would limit bear trappers to the use of one trap (currently two) and prohibit the use of steel-jawed foothold traps for bear trapping. These changes would be initiated by the Department later this year through the rule-making process and, if adopted, would go into effect prior to the 2007 bear trapping season.
The Legislative F&W Committee endorsed the report, including the recommended changes, and encouraged the Department to implement the changes. As I tried to assess the Committee's response to the recommendations, two things became quite obvious to me. First, some of the committee members didn't think the Department went far enough in recommending changes in bear trapping. Second, the Committee would much prefer to have the Department handle the changes through the rule-making process than to submit a bill and have bear trapping debated by the Legislature. Although whatever happens this year, it's almost a certainty that the issue of bear trapping will be back in front of the Legislature sometime soon.
That's where things currently stand. It appears that nothing will change prior to the 2006 bear trapping season. However, sometime this coming fall the Department will probably start the rule making process to limit bear trappers to one trap and eliminate the use of steel-jawed foothold traps for taking bears. These issue will be discussed by both the MPGA and the MTA at upcoming meetings and decisions will need to be made on what strategy we'll use in dealing with these two proposals once the rule-making process gets underway.
I hope this summary has been helpful to you and that it answered more questions than it created. I'll make sure that these issues are discussed at the next Board meetings of both the MTA and the MPGA, and I know it will be a hot topic at the annual MTA spring meeting in May. That's it for now!
Skip