Chapter VI

FISH & WILDLIFE

Although Izaak Walton League are some of America’s most active outdoor recreationists, we have always believed that conflicts involving wildlife and fisheries should place the highest priority on protecting habitat and sustaining the resource, and give the lowest priority to accommodating the needs of the user.

• A) Principles
  • 1) Strenuous efforts should be made to prevent the extinction or local extermination of any fish, wildlife, or plant species. Where practical, fish and wildlife species—including predators—should be reestablished in areas from which they have been driven by human activity.
  • 2) The League views habitat management and improvement as the basic tool of fish and wildlife management. It does not consider artificial stocking to be a primary management technique, except in special cases. Wetlands, which provide key habitat for waterfowl and many other species of wildlife, should receive special protection.
  • 3) TheLeague believes the public should support active management and research for non-game species of fish and wildlife, as well as for game species.
  • 4) The Leaguesupports international arrangements to ensure proper management and protection of migratory species, marine fish and wildlife, polar species, and other species inhabiting areas under control of various nations.
  • 5) The League believes that conflicts about wildlife, fisheries, or other wild, living resources should be resolved using the following hierarchy: placing the highest priority on protecting the resource base (the habitat); giving second priority to sustaining the wildlife or fish resource itself; and giving lowest priority to accommodating the needs of the user. Sustainable human use depends on healthy wildlife populations, which in turn depend on productive habitats. The mission of wildlife conservation is to perpetuate natural habitats that will support abundant wildlife populations, not to preside over the allocation of a vanishing resource.
• B) Fish and Wildlife Funding
  • 1) Following the principles embodied in the Sportfish and Wildlife Restoration Act, the League supports the principle of a small user fee on outdoor recreation equipment to be distributed to state resource agencies for many unmet fish and wildlife needs, especially for non-game species. The League also supports a proposal that would provide new federal funds for fish and wildlife, as well as full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other natural resource purposes with the source of revenue being receipts from offshore oil and gas leasing and production.
  • 2) American hunters, anglers, and wildlife watchers spent $108 billion on wildlife-related recreation in 2001, which provided billions of dollars in tax revenue to state treasuries. Most state governments provide little or no general funds to support their fish and wildlife agencies. The League supports efforts at the state level to increase funding for fish and wildlife agencies through the provision of either a dedicated percentage of existing sales tax receipts or through increased general fund appropriations.
  • 3) In the United States, the states have ownership of fish and wildlife and they hold such ownership in trust for the benefit of the public. Economic damages to fish and wildlife, as from fish kills for example, are not limited to compensation for replacement of the lost fish. Agencies can incur other costs such as staff time and restoration of the damaged systems that caused the loss. The League urges state legislators to enact legislation enabling their fish and wildlife agencies to develop appropriate fines and cost-recovery schedules for all expenses where fish and wildlife are killed or otherwise harmed by the discharge of pollutants or the physical alteration of stream channels.
  • 4) The League calls on Congress to increase annual appropriations for the Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Project, to create a string of natural places along the Missouri River.
  • 5) The League calls on Congress to provide adequate funding for natural resource programs that protect important wildlife habitat such as the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, an incentivebased, non-regulatory program designed to protect migratory bird habitat.
  • 6) Sincetheir adoption in 1937 and 1950, the League has worked to support and upgrade the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson acts, under which revenues from federal excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment are used to assist states in wildlife and fish management. In 1984, the League helped pass the Wallop-Breaux bill, which greatly expanded the funding base for the fisheries pro- gram by including additional fishing equipment, import duties on pleasure boats, and part of the motorboat fuel tax.
  • 7) Pittman-Robertson or Wallop-Breaux funds should not be diverted for purposes other than wildlife restoration, hunter education, sportfish restoration, or boating safety. Such diversions are a violation of the basic user-pay principle on which these funds are founded.
  • 8) TheLeague has also supported the expansion of the Pittman- Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program by adding an excise tax on component parts used in hand-loading ammunition to be used for hunter education on shooting ranges. We support the similar Wildlife Diversity Funding Initiative (Teaming with Wildlife)—a modest levy on outdoor supplies not covered by the existing funds.
• C) Fisheries
  • 1) To protect and restore severely depleted native runs of salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, the League has called for:
    • a) Rebuilding populations of native strains through stocking and protection.
    • b) Limiting the impact of dams and irrigation withdrawals by installing ladders, screens, and other fish-passage facilities, by controlling water flows to maximize fish passage, by protecting spawning habitats, and by rejecting dams that would diminish fish runs or limit recovery.
    • c) Replacing depleted runs in their original locations using the original genetic strains.
    • d) Limiting harvests to healthy runs.
    • e) Restricting ocean harvests of chinook.
    • f) Giving sport harvest precedence over commercial take, and strictly enforcing all harvest restrictions.
    • g) Honoring all existing treaties to protect established Native American fisheries, but establishing no new treaty rights.
    • h) Regulating logging, farming, road building, mining, and pollution discharges to protect spawning and rearing habitats.
  • 2) Dams that restrict the passage of anadromous fish or degrade water quality vital to fisheries should be managed or retrofitted to ensure fish passage. Water flows should be adequately maintained and properly timed. Water quality and adequate temperature should be maintained for spawning and passage.
  • 3) The League urges states to establish fish consumption advisories and make them widely available with comparative risk data that is meaningful to the public, to identify sources of contamination, and to rec- ommend cleaning and cooking methods to reduce contaminants.
  • 4) The League strongly encourages voluntary use of barbless hooks in all catch-and-release areas.
• D) Commercial Uses of Fish and Wildlife
  • 1) The League opposes commercial transport or sale of game animals or fish or the meat thereof.
  • 2) The League regards carefully regulated trapping as a valid economic use of wildlife populations, as well as a means for controlling particular wildlife populations and specific nuisance animals.
  • 3) Commercial fishing or specific fishing practices should be curtailed or prohibited where stocks of target species have been seriously depleted, impairment of recreational fishing values is greater than any commercial losses to be sustained (as in the case of commercial gill nets on the Great Lakes), or protection of other environmental values (as in national parks) is necessary. The League supports an amendment to the Columbia River Compact to ban the use of commercial gillnets in the Columbia River and its tributaries.
• E) Wildlife Diseases
  • 1) The United States needs a strong federal program to protect wildlife from diseases; therefore, the League urges that state, national, and international boundaries be controlled by adequate law, so as to protect wildlife in the United States from contamination by the importation of foreign animals, meat, and feed.
  • 2) The League urges that the risks of the spread of wildlife diseases, such as chronic wasting disease (CWD), be seriously monitored and controlled by any and all means necessary, including, but not limited to, the potential banning of private holding and farming of cervids (deer and elk).
  • 3) The League urges that:
    • a) The appropriatenatural resources agencies in each state continue to maintain, study, and promote health and welfare of game animals, whether on game preserves or free roaming.
    • b) Those states that have state-appointed committees relating to the welfare of game animals should have public health officials, natural resources personnel, wildlife biologists, veterinarians, and other trained persons other than those with merely financial interests.
    • c) The appropriate natural resources should continue to act in enforcement capacity over these game animals.
  • 4) The League will continue to work with the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance in preventing the spread of CWD, and also in urging Congress to request a study and recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences on the impact and spread of CWD.
• F) Invasive Species
  • 1) Utmostcaution should be exercised in the introduction of fish and wildlife species or invasive varieties of plants, such as purple loosestrife, into areas where they are not native.
  • 2) The League urges governments at all levels, private companies, and organizations to undertake research, develop policies and regulations, and implement programs—in a collaborative and coordinated fashion—that will reduce or eliminate the introduction of exotic invasive species into the waters and lands of the United States, control current infestations, and prevent their dispersal to uninfected areas. Government and private efforts should include, but not be limited to:
    • a) Developing national policy that addresses the ecological and economic threat of biological pollution from both terrestrial and aquatic species invasions.
    • b) Reauthorization of the National Invasive Species Act of 1996. Once the statute is enacted, federal authorities should take immediate action to implement its provisions and intent through full funding, inspections, and enforcement actions to ensure compliance with the law.
  • 3) All legislation on biological pollution should address the following concerns:
    • a) Assessing all vectors for the introduction of exotic species, including ballast tank residuals.
    • b) Developing adequate but realistic standards that must be met by treatment and control technologies based on input from the scientific and business communities.
    • c) Using best management practices as an interim measure until standards are implemented and as basis for the ultimate development of standards for controls of invasive species, including genetically modified species.
    • d) Ensuring that control treatments andtechnologies for all species are environmentally sound. Exotic species control efforts have historically been overreliant on toxic chemicals.
    • e) Where only ecologically harmful chemical controls are currently available, there is a need to develop new, environmentally sound, preferably non-chemical methods.
    • f) Developing a national capacity for the early detection, rapid response, and control of new threats (practices used by the Centers for Disease Control are a potential model).
    • g) Identifying and funding research on the economic and ecological impacts of invasives, as well as methods for exclusion and control of species invasions.
    • h) Providing federal financial and human resources support for regional coordinating bodies, development of state exclusion and management plans, and private sector incentives.
    • i) Facilitating coordination among government agencies at all levels, from multiple nations, private industry, and national and local non-governmental organizations.
  • 4) The League supports research and subsequent efforts to reduce and manage the population of invasive mute swans; furthermore, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is urged to issue as soon as possible permits to reduce by any means the mute swan population.
  • 5) The League urges Congress to promptly pass legislation requiring the use of environmentally sound treatment methods for ballast water and sediments, such as sterilization, by all ships capable of discharging ballast water, whether equipped with ballast tank systems or otherwise. Additionally, upon enactment of such legislation, the League calls on federal authorities to take immediate action to implement its provisions and intent, inspecting vessels and taking enforcement action as necessary to ensure strict compliance with the law.
  • 6) Establish appropriate regulations and enforcement, including educational incentives, necessary to encourage anglers and boaters and related industries to follow recommended practices to prevent and control aquatic nuisance species invasions.
• G) Threatened and Endangered Species
  • 1) Habitat critical to threatened or endangered species of fish, wildlife, or plants should not be destroyed or adversely modified.
  • 2) To preserve genetic and ecological diversity, representative examples of the full range of natural ecosystems should be protected.
  • 3) The League has supported the passage and implementation of the federal Endangered Species Act, including the listing of plant and animal species, the protection of habitat, the vigorous enforcement of regulations, and the funding required to carry out the act.
  • 4) Decisions to list a species under the Endangered Species Act should be made solely on biological, rather than economic, grounds.
  • 5) TheLeague supports a moratorium on commercial harvest of endangered whale species and a halt to the importation of fisheries products from any nation refusing to abide by international whaling accords.
  • 6) Thegray wolf was reintroduced into the Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho to restore a natural predator that had been exterminated. The League strongly supports the continued existence of the gray wolf where reintroduced and opposes the removal or killing of these wolves.
  • 7) Bats perform an array of important functions, such as: pollinating flowers, dispersing seeds, and regulating insect populations. However, bat populations are declining worldwide. Given this, the League supports educational and legislative efforts designed to promote conservation of bats.
• H) Predator Control
  • 1) The League recognizes the intrinsic value of predatory species and their important ecological roles.
  • 2) There is no justification for widespread destruction of animals classified as predators.
  • 3) Authority for predator control should reside with wildlife management agencies rather than with agricultural agencies.
  • 4) Predator control should be conducted professionally on a discriminate basis, focusing on animals shown to be undesirable in specific instances. Non-target species must be protected.
  • 5) The use of poisons to control predators should be outlawed, except for emergency use by qualified personnel. Secondary toxicants should be banned.
  • 6) The League opposes payment of bounties on predators or varmints.
  • 7) The League supports the reintroduction of predator species where appropriate to restore an ecological balance, as with the controlled reintroduction of wolves into the Yellowstone ecosystem.
• I) Native American Hunting and Fishing Rights
  • 1) The League recognizes the legitimate hunting and fishing interests of Native American tribal governments and acknowledges that the cultural uses of fish and wildlife are important to Native American tribes.
  • 2) Collaboration on issues such as the scientific management of fish and wildlife, as well as long-term natural resource protection can mutually benefit both the League and participating tribes.
  • 3) The League supports those tribes who choose to have sustainable wildlife practices, and we will work cooperatively with tribes where mutual interests overlap.
  • 4) The League believes that the laws and regulations we rely on to sustain our fish and wildlife resources must apply equally to all users.
• J) Webless Migratory Game Bird Permit
  • 1) The League supports a federal permit for hunting webless migratory birds—doves, woodcocks, snipes, and cranes—so that hunters of these species can be contacted to collect information on populations, hunting efforts, harvests, etc., needed for proper regulation of seasons and take. Permit fees should be set to cover the costs of collecting and analyzing the data collected.
• K) Waterfowl
  • 1) Protection of wetlands and acquisition of key waterfowl habitats has been a major goal of the League since the 1930s. Much progress has been made. However, the combined effect of drought and drainage of more than 400,000 acres of wetlands a year has kept the country from meeting our goal of restoring abundant populations of waterfowl. The League supports an aggressive national effort to acquire wetland habitats and conserve declining duck populations to meet the goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and restore a fall flight of 100 million ducks. The League calls for:
    • a) Accelerated acquisition of wetland habitats and upland nesting cover.
    • b) Raising the duck stamp fees paid by waterfowl hunters and wildlife refuge entrance fees to purchase more wetlands.
    • c) Restricting harvest to protect breeding duck populations and closing the season when necessary.
    • d) Controlling illegal take of waterfowl through aggressive enforcement.
    • e) Implementing hunter-education programs for all waterfowlers.
    • f) Strengthening wetlands protection provisions in all federal programs.
  • 2) The resident Canada goose population has increased tremendously in recent years, thereby increasing associated environmental and health issues. The League reaffirms its view that regulated hunting is the best wildlife management tool to control these populations. In areas with an overabundance of Canada geese and where hunting is not permitted, the League supports humane trapping and donation of the meat to food pantries or other programs.
  • 3) Enormous increases have occurred in the mid-continent lesser snow goose population, causing severe damage to their arctic breeding grounds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is developing plans to reduce the population. The League believes that any modification to the current hunting regulations should neither abandon nor diminish the principles of fair chase and ethical hunting. Specifically, we do not advocate use of electronic calls, live decoys, or bait.
  • 4) The League urges the U.S. Department of Interior to resist political pressure to unilaterally extend waterfowl hunting seasons in any section of the United States. Instead, the department should continue to support the management authority residing in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the four flyway councils, restrict harvests to protect breeding duck populations, and close seasons when necessary.