Montana Felt Sole Ban proposition

[Silver Creek]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/sc...th/16felt.html

[Bamboozle]

Nothing like a good old unbiased NYT article to help you make up your mind.

FYI - I just received clarifying correspondence from Maryland DNR regarding their ban; the last public hearing was three days ago and the Maryland ban is scheduled for implementation on March 21st 2011 baring further delays.

Have fun Maryland anglers!

[ScottP]

Nothing like a good old unbiased NYT article to help you make up your mind.

FYI - I just received clarifying correspondence from Maryland DNR regarding their ban; the last public hearing was three days ago and the Maryland ban is scheduled for implementation on March 21st 2011 baring further delays.

Have fun Maryland anglers!

Thanks for the update. Looks like I'll still get to legally use my felts for at least part of the winter stonefly hatch.

Regards,
Scott

[pillcaster]

Anybody know what the penalty is? It may be worth some "civil disobedience" to avoid injury. Whats that old saw "dont do the crime unless you can do the time"?

[Bamboozle]

Hmmmm...

More to ponder: http://singlebarbed.com/2011/01/13/d...of-watersheds/

[Cold]

From the aforelinked Singlebarbed entry:

Now that the fissures in rubber shoe soles are being blamed for seed travel

I'd be interested in getting his source for that gem. If it's legit, that'd be a quick way to end the debate.

[luckie88]

Looks like you can add Oregon to this great debate as it seems there may be something in store for 2015. If the world doesn't end in 2012, that is.

http://oregonflyfishingblog.com/2011...e-legislature/

Jump on the ban wagon. Still don't agree with it. It will get a no vote from me.

[nighthawk]

Hey those fish would not die from fright they would die laughing if we all wade naked! Probably whirling around in circles from the fin slapping guffaws they will experience. Hey you guys forgot that you will have to disinfect all the ducks, geese and their fur bearing friends that move for m stream to stream.

Now you really don't want to take away a handy excuse from your DCNR, fish and game or yadda yadda to raise your license fees again do you? Not to mention your loving state and federal congress person or whatever they are will loose their handy excuse to raise taxes for increased law enforcement and showing mother nature the right way to care for a watershed.

It is YOUR Government. They work for YOU so remind them who is the boss. Vote them out of office, petition them to change the laws back, start your own organization (.org) and throw all of your felt soled gear on the steps of your capital building but don't just sit around whining without doing something! Probably won't do any good but it will give you some satisfaction that at least you tried.

[Silver Creek]

Bad news from New Zealand. Despite the banning of felt soled boots and the stringent requirments for decontamination in NZ, dydimo continues to spread.


http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/media...makariri-river

http://www.doc.govt.nz/about-doc/new...tasman-rivers/

http://www.doc.govt.nz/about-doc/new...per-rangitata/

[Silver Creek]

Here's some possible good news out of New Zealand. So far only one study in 2006 with surprising results. I wonder why this study has not been repeated in other rivers to see if this a real finding.

Dydimo effects on river invertebrates: not as bad as feared?

"The researchers found that, in the didymo-affected rivers, the invertebrate drift density and biomass was actually highest at the sites with intermediate (in autumn) and highest (in winter) levels of didymo biomass. But the survey also confirmed that the invertebrate biomass contained a higher proportion of smaller species than is usually found in non-affected rivers, an effect that was more pronounced where volumes of didymo were higher.

While this effect was observed, the researchers said that, based on bioenergetics modelling, their results did not show that didymo affected invertebrate drift enough to negatively affect growth potential of drift-feeding brown trout.

This is encouraging news for anglers, but the Cawthron Institute researchers said that their results had to be interpreted with caution, because they were based on sampling in autumn and winter only, and limited to three sites."

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/publi...ssue-78/didymo

The results of this study begs for followup.