Stocking Survey

[frogge]

Hey,
I got my invitation to join Tu and also a survey from Cornell asking me about where I fished and how much money I spent fishing. Embedded in the survey was an unanswerable question. Did I favor increasing the stocking of larger fish(two yr old browns) over stocking greater number of smaller fish. The only other option for the computer read survey was no opinion. I wrote a paragraph about how I felt that stocking in general is probably a poor use of resources and that more money should be put into habitat improvement. I'm afraid that biology is not driving the resource management,but the economics of how much money is brought to a local economy by specific recreation endeavors. I don't count myself as a snob, but do have some aspirations to trying to understand the biology of our sport. The argument that pouring too many fish into a system that does not have the food to support them, thus impairing the viability of all the fish(stocked and native) rings true to me. If NYS is going to persist in this put and take fishery, why don't they just charge a fee to fish at the hatchery. They could get additional revenue by subcontracting chef's to clean and cook the catch. This survey asked me to rate the ammenities I would like in boat launches. Included in this were boat cleaning stations and pump out stations for sewage. Now I realize that this survey cover salt water as well as fresh, but I'm blown away by what the motor boat owners get compared to the lowly wader or canoe fisherman. Sorry to rant. I'm despairing that biology can drive the resource management. I may be left with only one option. MOve to Vermont.Toodles,Frogge. PS I sent in the membership to TU.