no shad for sturgeon fishing on columbia

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/rule_proposals/sportfishing_rule_proposals_2010-12.pdf

#30. Shad as Sturgeon Bait
Proposal: This proposal would make it unlawful to use shad as bait while fishing for sturgeon.
Explanation: The intent of this proposal is to provide additional protection for adult broodstock white
sturgeon. The key to sustaining a healthy lower Columbia River white sturgeon population is to
protect and maintain an adequate broodstock population to ensure continued productivity for longterm
sustainability of the entire population. Harvest management is focused on maintaining and
protecting the broodstock population through a number of regulatory measures, including harvestable
size limits and fishing sanctuaries. Adult white sturgeon congregate in the Columbia River
downstream from most of the dams, especially from late spring through the summer. Many of these
fish are broodstock sized adults that move to these areas to spawn. The timing of these
concentrations coincides with the American shad run. Sturgeon feed on shad and anglers have
learned to use whole shad as bait in targeting over legal-size fish to catch and release. Large adult
sturgeon inhale whole shade and often end up getting hooked so far down the throat that the hook
cannot be removed. Staff conducting weekly surveys for dead sturgeon found that up to 40% of
oversize sturgeon carcasses contained hooks in the gut.
Previously enacted conservation measures, including the 2006 expansion of the May-July nosturgeon-
fishing spawning sanctuary downstream from Bonneville Dam 6 miles to Navigation Marker
85, have contributed to an apparent decline in mortality, as borne out by a reduction in the number of
carcasses observed during surveys since 2006. However, over 25% of carcasses continue to contain
hooks.
Incidental handle of broodstock sized sturgeon does occur in fisheries targeting legal-sized fish
through-out the year. However, the use of whole shad is a method that is specifically targeting
broodstock sized fish during a biological sensitive time period and is not associated with fishing aimed
at the harvestable component of the population. This method of exclusively targeting large broodstock
sized sturgeon is especially popular with guides that widely advertise over-sized target fishing trips in
late spring and early summer.
The lower Columbia white sturgeon population has likely experienced reduced productivity in recent
years due to significant loss of sturgeon (including large adults) to predation by Steller and California
sea lions. The magnitude of this additional impact to the broodstock population is unknown.
However, it would be prudent to err on the side of caution in managing for sustainability of a viable
broodstock population. A prohibition on shad as bait would reduce impacts to broodstock by
eliminating a fishing method that is exclusively focused on handling over-sized sturgeon. Sport
fishery opportunity can be maintained as focused on legal-sized fish with over-sized as incidental
handle as opposed to an advertised exploitable resource.

What's the hell next!

Smaller sand shrimp? :61: ...Little worms?:61:

Where does the madness stop