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Copy of email regarding Tournaments on Lake Whatcom
Here's a copy of the email I received from Bellingham Public Works regarding tournaments on Lake Whatcom. I'm assuming the same will apply to Lake Samish, since it appears the county will be following the rules set down by the city. From comments I have heard at both city and county council meetings, bass boats are perceived as a threat to the water quality of the lake, since many come from out of the area. The documentation regarding AIS decontamination requirements had little effect on the attitudes of most council members. The official statement by both the county and city is that no one is pushing an agenda to get boats off the lake; the safety of the drinking water source primary motivation. Those of us who have paid our $50 and submitted to the inspection may think otherwise. Besides inspectors, some of the higher-ups at PW will be at the boat launch Saturday. City officials have insisted that these proposed rules have been in the works for more than eighteen months. I received this email yesterday, April 24th. I am trying very hard to believe that delaying any official announcement until three days prior to the tournament is not an intentional move to throw a monkey wrench into the whole event. I hope that those of you who have come in the past and made our tournament a success will come again this year, to both compete and share your innermost feelings in a heartfelt manner to those public officials who have so carefully planned and diligently worked to further complicate our lives and reduce our fishing budgets. Here's the email:
As previously discussed and agreed to these are the conditions for ensuring boats entered in the April 27 tournament on Lake Whatcom sponsored by Borderline Bassin Contenders are in compliance with the intent of the Lake Whatcom Management Program’s Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Program.
Before the start of the tournament please provide the following information to me or my designated staff person:
· one completed copy of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Aquatic Invasive Species Decontamination Report for each boat entered in the April 27, 2013 tournament,
· one completed copy of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Aquatic Invasive Species Decontamination Statement,
· a list of all boats registered for the tournament including the state (Washington or other state) registration number, and, if applicable, the Lake Whatcom AIS Annual Permit number,
Borderline Bassin Contenders will be invoiced $5.00 for each boat participating without a Lake Whatcom AIS Annual Permit. Please provide the address for payment of the invoice.
Our program inspection staff will be onsite Saturday morning to monitor the Club’s inspection protocol in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this arrangement.
Clare Fogelsong
Natural Resources Policy Manager, Bellingham Public Works
City of Bellingham
2221 Pacific Street
Bellingham, WA., 98226
360 778 7965
cfogelsong@cob.org
My incoming and outgoing email messages are subject to public disclosure requirements per RCW 42.56
Views: 339
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jon Sessler on
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Why do I feel the urge to punch Clare Fogelsong in the neck?
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Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on
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You should have seen the original email! She didn't even spell Joe's name right. I don't know a Joe Bates...
Jon Sessler said:Why do I feel the urge to punch Clare Fogelsong in the neck?
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Permalink Reply by Bill Caldwell on
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where do I get the invasive species doc? and what is this form stating ?
Thanks Bill
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Hi Bill, I will have a stack of them at the tournament on Sat. They are on the WDFW site. This is the decontamination report, http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/fishing_contests/ais_decontamination.pdf. Don't worry about the AIS decontamination statement form. That's for me to bring and everyone else to sign. The thing I don't get is that you are only supposed to fill out the decontamination report if your boat has been out of the state in the last 30 days?? I guess we can just check the trailer, hull, livewells have been inspected part. No one has to wash their boat in hot water and bleach unless it has been out of the state in the last 30 days. If everyone checks the No box on the decontamination statement, I don't think we should have to give them any decontamination reports. I guess I will just check off the hull, motor, livewell, bilge, inspection part just in case on everyone that shows up.
Bill Caldwell said:where do I get the invasive species doc? and what is this form stating ?
Thanks Bill
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I highly doubt anyone will meet the necessary criteria to need to fill out a decontamination report which is:
"I hereby affirm that the boat, trailer, engine, or water containers I will use during this fishing contest have been in physical contact with waters outside of Washington State in the last 30 days, and that I have taken the following steps in accordance with WAC 232-12-168 (7) (a) (i) (ii) (A) (b) to decontaminate said equipment."
So again, they say we need to fill that form out but I think they might just be confused unless someone has been out of the state in the last 30 days.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Boyd on
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Remember, these people have never seen a bass boat, never been fishing, and have no idea what it is they are doing. I showed Mr. Fogelsong (he's a guy) the forms last week. He had never seen them before, and had no idea we actually had to pay to get a permit to fish the lake. They apparently have had some training by DFW, but the person who did my inspection had a line drawing of an outboard runabout on a trailer. That was his guide. He thought the livewell was something you dumped a bucket of water into to keep bait alive. This outfit is flying blind, to say the least. It's fairly obvious that their primary goal in this whole scenario is to limit or totally block access to the fishery. I contacted their office on March 11, stated my concerns regarding tournaments, and they didn't get any written communication to me until April 24th. They truly want the tournaments to fail and go away and that's why they're starting this program on opening day, and that's why they're targeting trailered boats. Oh, Joe Bates was the county's public information liaison. He died in an accident at his home in 2010.
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Make me your phone call Dana....I'll post bail!!
Dana Steiner said:Joe,
After reading your post yesterday morning, I called and spoke to Mr. Fogelsong. I actually kept him on the phone for 20 minutes expressing my disgust. I'm actually surprised this guy didn't hang up on me. The one main thing I pulled from the conversation is that they don't have a clue on what they are doing. He let me know that he along with other public officials will be at the lake Saturday morning, monitoring how the tournament is run. Even though I won't be fishing in the tournament, I will be there tomorrow morning to let these idiots know who I am. Want to bet that there is a couple of patrol cars in the area, ready to shackle me up and hall me downtown.
Joe Boyd said:Remember, these people have never seen a bass boat, never been fishing, and have no idea what it is they are doing. I showed Mr. Fogelsong (he's a guy) the forms last week. He had never seen them before, and had no idea we actually had to pay to get a permit to fish the lake. They apparently have had some training by DFW, but the person who did my inspection had a line drawing of an outboard runabout on a trailer. That was his guide. He thought the livewell was something you dumped a bucket of water into to keep bait alive. This outfit is flying blind, to say the least. It's fairly obvious that their primary goal in this whole scenario is to limit or totally block access to the fishery. I contacted their office on March 11, stated my concerns regarding tournaments, and they didn't get any written communication to me until April 24th. They truly want the tournaments to fail and go away and that's why they're starting this program on opening day, and that's why they're targeting trailered boats. Oh, Joe Bates was the county's public information liaison. He died in an accident at his home in 2010.
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