Fish Or Fowl? A Tough Call For Sportsmen

Sportsmen have had their hands full fighting threats to their heritage inflicted by bulldozers and animal-rights crusades.

But as fish and wildlife are crowded into smaller habitats, anglers and hunters are chagrined to find battles among themselves.

The Columbia National Wildlife Refuge near Othello, Wash., recently proposed reductions in spring fishing opportunity on the Pillar-Wigeon lakes in an effort to produce more waterfowl.

Fish or ducks? Sportsmen don’t really want to make this choice.

Duck hunters know that the lower 48 states have lost half of their original wetlands to development. Virtually every remaining wetland is critical to waterfowl.

No one doubts that anglers crowding the banks of small desert lakes in the spring are a deterrent to a mallard hen looking for a nest site.

On the other hand, Washington trout anglers have seen their fishing opportunities go from supreme to slim in just 15 years.

“It’s getting to the point that we can’t afford to lose another trout fishery,” said Rod Meseberg of Mar Don Resort on Potholes Reservoir.

At issue is the fishery in the Pillar-Wigeon area - 10 walk-in lakes totaling 65 surface acres south of Potholes Reservoir.

The refuge has about 200 wetlands, 75 percent of which hold fish, according to an estimate by Randy Hill, refuge biologist.

“Size-wise, the Pillar-Wigeon lakes are a fraction of the fishery in the refuge,” Hill said. “But they traditionally have been some of the best trout waters.”

Refuge officials say federal law requires them to give waterfowl top management priority.

Washington wildlife officials say state law requires them to protect fish and wildlife while providing recreation.

Waterfowl advocates can rest assured that the feds have looked after their interests. Refuge biologists initially suggested a closure to fishing in the Pillar-Wigeon group.

State biologists looked after recreation by hammering out a compromise that sacrifices some spring fishing, but gains additional fall fishing opportunity.

Meseberg said he’s skeptical, noting that the compromise proposal has the caveat that further study is required.

“We don’t know where they plan to go with this,” he said. “They seem to be ignoring that the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge was created as a resting place for waterfowl, not for raising waterfowl.”

Greg Hughes, assistant refuge manager, said he agrees. “No one’s trying to hide that,” he said.

On the other hand, the 1944 law that created the refuge also says it should be managed as an “inviolate sanctuary for migratory birds.”

“We’ve never enforced that language literally, either,” Hughes said. “In the past 10 years, the refuge has developed 17 parking lots, seven boat ramps, and a campground to support fishing recreation.”

Meseberg and Doug Fletcher, state fisheries biologist, are concerned with opposition refuge officials have posed toward increasing trout plants in the Pillar-Wigeon lakes.

“Studies in the Dakotas indicate that snails and midge larva important to trout also are very important to ducks,” Hill said. “Hens need the protein source to recover from nesting, and the ducklings feed heavily on them.”

However, there’s been no study to prove that trout deplete these food sources to the detriment of ducks, Hill said.

“They’re making a lot of assumptions by observation with no in-depth studies,” Meseberg said

Hughes agreed. “We don’t have the staff or the funding do document everything,” he said.

Meanwhile, the proposed compromise appears to be reasonable, as far as it goes.

The season at Pillar-Wigeon lakes in recent years has run March 1-July 31. Typically, most of the fish are caught in the first month of the season, Fletcher said.

The compromise would allow fishing in March and September, with the area around the lakes closed to all access from April through August.

State officials bargained with the Fish and Wildlife Service to extend the fishing season into the fall for spiny-ray waters farther south in the refuge, including Hutchinson and Shiner lakes.

Hill is anxious to get the draft plan approved so energy can be diverted from negotiating to putting more ducks in the air and fish in the water.

Even without refuge intervention, trout fishing success has declined throughout the refuge waters, Hill noted.

“It could be cormorants and other predators, influence from bullfrogs, a delayed effect of Mount St. Helens ash or simply normal aging of the lakes,” he said. “But nobody knows.”

Much is left to learn about the seep lakes, he said, noting that he can’t even be sure the plan will yield more ducks.

“It’s hard to say how much more waterfowl production we can get,” Hill said. “We’ve never had a season when fishermen weren’t running all over the area.”

Feb. 9 is the deadline for comments on Recreational Fishing Environmental Assessment for the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. Info: (509) 488-2668.

You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

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