Take Back The MDC
A Gathering Point for True Sportsmen
"Not On My Wall" - The Battle for Handfishing Pt. 1
Monday February 18th, 2008
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I want to thank you for taking an interest in our fight with the MDC to legalize hand fishing for catfish in Missouri. My name is Howard Ramsey I live in Paris, Mo. I am President of an organization called Noodler's Anonymous. When NA was founded in the fall of 2000 our goal was to establish a state wide hand fishing season for catfish in Missouri. We currently have over 500 members state wide. Very few of our members actually hand fish but believe the catfish in Missouri belong to all the citizens, and noodler's should have the right to enjoy their sport like the other 664,000 catfishermen in Missouri do now with trotlines, bank poles, jugs and rod and reels. These 664,000 catfishermen are allowed 5 flatheads, 5 bluecats and 10 channel cats a day 365 days a year. The hand fishermen are asking the MDC for 5 fish per person, per season from June 1st thru July 31st. With locking tags and informational forms to be filled out at the end of the season.
The only way you can change any hunting or fishing regulation in Missouri is to send a written request to the Assistant Director, which now is Dave Erickson, asking to appear before the MDC's Regulation Committee and the subject you wish to discuss. In 2002 during the process of writing to the Regs Committee to ask for a hearing concerning hand fishing, a friend of mine brought me a copy of the Wall Street Journal which contained an article about this subject. It seems there was a catfish biologist working for Miss. State University that had just completed a four year study on grabbling (hand fishing) for catfish. The biologist was Dr. Don Jackson and as it turned out Dr. Jackson was one of the worlds leading experts on catfish. I immediately wrote Dr, Jackson and later talked several times on the phone. I explained that I was trying to legalize hand fishing in Missouri. I ask if he would be interested in helping give a presentation to the MDC’s Reg Committee on August 11, 2000. Dr. Jackson wrote back and said he would be glad too. So on August 11, 2000 Dr. Jackson and I were allowed 20 minutes to present the results of his 4 year study and try to get the Reg Committee, which was chaired at that time by John Smith, to at least look into the possibility of a regulated 2 month season.
As I recall there was little discussion after our presentation, it was as if Dr. Jackson had not even been there. Two weeks later I was having conservation with Chief of Fisheries from the MDC, Norm Stucky. I ask him what he thought about our presentation to the Reg's Committee and he said, quote "Howard, you might as well try to legalize marijuana in Missouri."
This was Noodler's Anonymous first dealing with the MDC and it only got worse from there.
My wife Karen and I asked for and was granted a meeting with Director Hoskins to discuss hand fishing. I had been in the former MDC Director Conley’s office before and had noticed several stuffed animals hanging on the wall. When Karen and I walked in Director Hoskins's office for our meeting I noticed all the mounts were gone. I made a comment to Director Hoskins where did all the mounts go and he said, quote "You will never see a dead animal hanging on my wall, Howard." As we were seated across from John Hoskins at his desk he asked, "What can I do for you Howard?" My reply was all I want is a regulated hand fishing season in Mo. Hoskins reply was, "It’s not going to happen."
In December 2000 NA made a presentation and presented a resolution to the Mo. Farm Bureau asking if they would support a regulated hand fishing season for catfish in Missouri. The Mo. Farm Bureau's committee voted to pass the resolution and the entire body voted to pass it by a unanimous vote.
After receiving this kind of support from an organization, which at that time had 92,000 members state wide, NA decided to take the next step and try to get the support of the Conservation Federation of Mo. NA had been told that the CFM was the watch dog organization for the MDC. Meaning they were keeping an eye on the MDC to make sure the Mo. sportsmen were being treated fairly. But as you are about to read this was not the case. NA was an affiliate of the CFM. In April 2002 NA attended the conference and introduced a resolution for the CFM's approval. We ask that the MDC establish a regulated hand fishing season for catfish in Missouri. It was our belief if this resolution were to pass, the CFM could help establish the regulated season.
But before I continue on the 2002 conference, let me tell you what happened concerning this same resolution at the 2001 conference, and at the CFM Board of Directors meeting in 2001. Before our organization introduced this resolution to the Fisheries Committee, I had discussed the resolution with several members of the CFM including Dennis Ballard which at the time was the Executive Director for the CFM. After hearing their comments, I felt sure the resolution would pass. However what I did not know was that the MDC had planned to attend the CFM conference and bring with them enough department members to vote against our resolution. They brought MDC biologist, MDC commissioners, MDC regulation committee members and several other MDC personal. The meeting was loaded so heavily on one side by the MDC against the resolution; it failed to pass the Fisheries Committee by a 16 to 10 vote. Our organization never found out who paid the $900 registration fee for the MDC's people to register and vote against this resolution. I can't help but wonder why the CFM allows the MDC to control the out come of a resolution at their committee meetings. I always thought the CFM and the MDC were two different organizations.
Later on in 2001 after our resolution failed to pass at the CFM Annual convention NA decided to take the resolution to the CFM Board of Directors. I wrote to the CFM asking to be on the agenda at the next board meeting and was granted this opportunity. At this meeting Rick Powell, Vice President of Noodler's Annonymous gave a 20 minute power point presentation which we thought was received well. Several board members made comments in favor of hand fishing and none against it. At this time Mr. Blankenship, who was a board member, was supposed to make a motion that the CFM board members adopt the hand fishing resolution. Unexpectedly the CFM President excused himself from the meeting, saying he had to leave and that the Vice President would take over. At this time the CFM Vice President introduced the MDC Chief of Fisheries Norm Stucky, even though he was not on the agenda. This would not be the last time that Mr. Stucky would be introduced at the CFM Meetings concerning hand fishing. Mr. Stucky was allowed to address the board members for several minutes about the pitfalls of legalizing hand fishing in Missouri, of which most were not true. He certainly did not provide any scientific or biological evidence to back up his claim that hand fishing would hurt the catfish population in Missouri. It seems he had not contacted key Fisheries Biologist who have spent years researching hand fishing, noodling, grabbling ect. and the effects of this activity on this resource. At one point Mr. Stucky made the unscientific claim that, "Hand fishing is just like taking eggs out from underneath a sitting hen." NA had just given a twenty minute presentation, which did have scientific and biological proof from some of the top catfish biologist in the world whose findings indicated hand fishing has had no adverse effect on their catfish population. After all of this Mr. Blankenship did not make a motion. The Vice President suggested that NA take the resolution to the fisheries committee at their annual April meeting in Springfield, Mo. This brings me back to the 2002 CFM conference.
As a result of what had happened at the 2001 conference, there were some changes made in the voting process for the 2002 conference. All paid registered members were given a yellow voting card, and without this card you could not vote on a resolution.
Our organization decided if the CFM passes resolutions by only counting votes, and not by making their decision on the facts concerning the issue, NA would have to convince more CFM members in 2002 to vote in favor of our resolution. In spite of the opposition at the 2002 conference by the MDC, and also what I thought were some uncalled for and prejudice comments by the chairman of the 2002 Fisheries Committee, who was against our resolution, our resolution did pass 21 to 10 or 2/3rd majority. Now we had started to get our hopes up.
The next steps the CFM requires, after passing the Fisheries Committee, is to take the already passed resolution to another committee called the resolution committee. This committee is comprised of six members of the CFM. As the other proposed resolution's were discussed and approved unanimously, I was thinking, finally we are going to receive the help and support from the CFM that we have been working so hard to achieve. When our resolution was introduced, but not read aloud, and after some lengthy discussion, I could tell this CFM Resolution Committee had yet another chairman that was opposed to our resolution. In spite of this chairman’s opposition, the resolution did pass the committee by a 2/3rd majority.
Now I felt sure our organization would finely receive the CFM's help and support. Especially after passing the Fisheries Committee by 2/3rd, majority and the Resolution Committee by 2/3 majority. But wait just a minute. Now I am told that our resolution has to pass what is called a Consideration of Resolutions meeting.
This final meeting and vote comes on Sunday morning, the last day of a three-day conference. My wife and I would be the only registered members of NA able to attend this Sunday meeting. Still we felt confident. But again, what our club did not know, and being a fairly new affiliate, had no way of knowing, was that the majority of the CFM members attending the Sunday meeting would be voting on a resolution without ever hearing the facts concerning the resolution. The CFM members had also never been given a copy of the resolution to read until this Sunday meeting. I was concerned that the CFM members voting today would not be given the opportunity to here all the facts concerning this resolution that the other two committees had previously been given on Saturday. I ask myself, how can this be? Still I had faith.
As this meeting, called Consideration of Resolution's begins, the chairmen is the same chairman that has already voiced his opinion and voted against our resolution at a committee meeting on Saturday. Once the meeting began there were 15 resolutions to be read and voted on. Ours was No. 4. The chairman read each resolution summary and in each case asked the author, or someone that had helped concerning the resolution, to stand and tell a little about the resolution. When it was time to read the No. 4 resolution the chairman skipped to No. 5. After approving the other 14 resolutions we came back to No. 4.
The chairman made the statement that the No. 4 resolution barely passed in our Resolution Committee meeting on Saturday. I certainly would not call a 2/3rd majority vote barely passing, but the chairman did. After making this statement the chairman read the summary of the No. 4 resolution. At that time I was prepared to stand and give an explanation of the resolution to the CFM members that had not been able to attend the two Saturday meetings. But I was not given the opportunity. Instead the chairman, after looking straight at me, asked the Fisheries Chief from the MDC, Norm Stucky, who just happened to be seated on the front row, to share with the CFM members the MDC’s policy on hand fishing, already knowing the MDC was not in favor of this resolution. Now instead of explaining the resolution I am put in the position of defending this resolution.
I said to myself, is this the way the CFM has always conducted their meetings? Now here are the majority of the CFM members, who have never heard any of the facts concerning my resolution, and only in the last few minutes been given a copy to read. Listening to the Chief of Fisheries form the MDC, telling why we should not allow hand fishing in Missouri. We also heard from one of the CFM members, who was a Commissioner for the MDC, Howard Wood, voicing his opinion against our resolution. Then a past President of the CFM stands and says, if the MDC feels so strongly against hand fishing, I don’t think the CFM should approve this resolution. I guess what I am trying to say is, if I was a CFM member that Sunday April 7, 2002, and had never been given the opportunity to hear the facts concerning this resolution, but had been given the opportunity to here from the MDC’s Fisheries Chief, a MDC Commissioner, and a past President of CFM, I would probably have voted against this resolution myself. When the resolution finely came to a vote, it was defeated by a 2/3rd majority. Not bad considering what the CFM members had just heard, and my wife and I were the only members present from the Noodler’s Anonymous Club.
I still believe if the CFM members are ever given the opportunity to hear all the facts concerning the subject of hand fishing in the state of Missouri, this resolution will pass. I also believe, since the other methods, and limits of catching catfish in Missouri are so liberal, we will someday be allowed to legally hand fish, and have a regulated season like other fishermen are allowed to do now in our neighboring states of Illinois, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Kansas.
I believe if the legalization of hand fishing encourages just some of our children to enjoy our Missouri outdoors, the risk we think we are now taking, will eventually prove to have been worth it.
Pt. Two coming soon!
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Sen. Dan Clemens Remarks
Just last month State Senator Dan Clemens made remarks on the Missouri Senate Floor expressing his concerns with the current leadership at the MDC. Please read his remarks and forward them on to others who may wish to read them. Click Here
Report to Elected Officials
Please download and pass on the Take Back The MDC report to elected officials concerning the current state of the Missouri Department of Conservation. Please call your state elected representatives and senators and tell them that you are concerned with the Leadership at the MDC. Tell them you want change!
Download HERE
