Live-bait imports threaten perch

Ban might be prudent

By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist

It started as a simple phone call and seemingly straightforward question. The possible answer, however, required a series of phone calls to government agencies, some of which didn’t want to go on record, and extensive research, and even then, I could find no easy solution. Let me explain.

A month ago, when there was still some ice left on the northern bays of Lake Champlain, an ice fisherman called me complaining that Canadians were bringing live bait in record numbers into New York from across the border — live bait that is very effective in chumming for yellow perch. But, he claimed, nobody knows what kind of bait those anglers were bringing in. He asked if I could do some investigating.

At first, I felt there might be some ulterior motive such as this: the Canadians, mostly Quebecois, are very successful using live chum, so there may be some jealousy with them exploiting our resources. On top of that, they sell the perch, and take the American dollars back across the border.

First, let’s tackle the perch issue. Three years ago, Vermont put a 75-perch or 30-pound-per-day limit on these fish on that side of Lake Champlain. New York has no limit, and no commercial fishing license is needed to catch and sell perch.

Since then, more commercial fishermen have gravitated to the New York side. On the surface, it seemed, the logical way to discourage the Canadians was to enact a perch limit similar to Vermont’s, thus making it less lucrative to commercially fish. A good perch angler can net $250 or more a day.

Such a limit, however, would be based more on social or political reasons than good fisheries biology. There are a heck of a lot of yellow perch in Lake Champlain, and I know of no study done that has shown the commercial fishery is hurting their numbers.

In fact, on the Vermont side, anglers are reporting more four-inch perch being caught than ever before. There are so many perch since the fishing pressure slowed that many are stunted. A limit on perch on the New York side would also punish local anglers.

The next question might be: How about requiring Canadian anglers to purchase a commercial fishing license? It might work, but that still does not solve the problem of live baitfish being brought across the border daily and how to prevent nuisance, non-native fish from being dumped into Lake Champlain.

Let’s examine that issue. A lot of baitfish used by Quebecois come from the Richelieu River, a water system that already has a viable tench population. Tench are fish native to Europe, similar to carp, and live on the bottom, thus churning up a lot of mud. If tench get into Lake Champlain now, it is too early to tell their potential impact on native species. Another non-native fish — the round goby — has been found in the Great Lakes; this fish is a voracious feeder that displaces bottom-spawning native species.

It is illegal to bring goby into New York to use as bait. But, considering the state of the world and our understaffed U.S. Customs, I wonder how many agents are worried about minnows when they have to deal with terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal aliens. Even if there were a heightened awareness of illegal baitfish entering the country, I don’t think many of our U.S. agents could identify a tench or goby. I know I can’t.

And, as of now, there is no U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement agent stationed in our border area. If some illegal fish were carried across the border, it would be the state’s job to enforce conservation laws. Things may be changing, particularly with renewed federal interest in the border in recent weeks.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could be one of the major players.

Bob Onda, supervising wildlife inspector for the servce at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City and also our regional supervisor, says that an agent responsible for checking the importation of fish and wildlife will be stationed adjacent to U.S. Customs in Champlain by May or June. That person will be charged with compliance and inspection of fish, like minnows, being brought down from Canada. "However," Onda says, "once anglers are in the United States, it is the state’s job to enforce its laws."

New York does have laws restricting the importation of certain fish like goby and other nuisance and endangered fish if they are to be used for bait. But the majority of the laws and regulations on the books are vague and weak, with many suggestions in the Fishery Regulations Guide, but few laws.

For example, on Page 12 of the 2000-2002 regulations under "Fish as Bait," it states, "Never release live bait from your bait bucket into any New York waters." But this is only a recommendation, not a legal restriction.

So, what is the answer? The only workable solution I could come up with is that the state should ban the importation of all live baitfish; then there would be no question if someone shows up with a five-gallon pail full of fish as he or she tries to cross the border. It will be illegal to do so.

Simply put, banning live minnows would take the pressure off Customs, the Wildlife Servce and the New York State Conservation officers who have to enforce DEC laws, and there are, as of now, only two stationed in Clinton County (and they must cover the entire county). Most importantly, it would cut down the chances of someone bringing in an unwanted species. Such a law would not hurt local anglers by putting limits on perch.

These are the only conclusions I could reach based on the biology of Lake Champlain and the current situation at the border. If anyone has a better idea, I’m sure there are a lot of Lake Champlain anglers out there who would like to hear it.