Michigan’s fish are held in public trust by the State and are required to be managed sustainably for the optimal benefit of all citizens today and in the future. Predominantly, they have been managed to provide all citizens equal access to them. Those citizens purchase a recreational fishing license for this privilege, providing the funding necessary for the fisheries to be managed sustainably.
As a recreational angler, you can be proud that you have participated in an equitable and sustainable sharing of these public resources, that you have contributed to Michigan's economy in pursuit of that angling, and that your license fees have provided for the management of these fisheries and their recovery from past times when they were overfished commercially.
Today, our public trust fisheries are at risk. HB 5801 & 5802 propose granting commercial fishing businesses property rights to public resources for the purpose of profiting from the sale of these resources. The bills seek to grant a small number of businesses disproportionately high amounts of our fisheries with the explicit goal of ensuring those businesses are more economically profitable. They literally seek to remove the legal recognition that utilizing public natural resources is a privilege. Or, said differently, HB 5801 and 5802 would subsidize a commercial fishing industry with public dollars!
Additionally, the bills allow the use of a variety of harmful commercial fishing gear as well as wasteful practices like leaving nets unattended for 30-day periods and lax enforcement provisions for lost nets – which continue to kill fish in the Great Lakes. The bills criminalize (including jail time) anglers, boaters, and swimmers for using the public waters of the Great Lakes if these businesses set their nets there (despite not having a legal right to the exclusive use of those public waters). Yet, the bills choose non-criminal, civil infractions for violations by this industry, and set up the need for frequent and repeated violations before the businesses risk any significant consequences.
Commercial fishing’s niche is in bringing underutilized or hard-to-access fish species to market, adding some utility to fish that can be sustainably caught but are not currently. Recreational fishing optimizes the public trust management of fish species that are pursued. All citizens share equal access to the same allowable limits of fish; all those participating contribute equally to funding the management of these fish; and those who pursue them contribute large economic expenditures per fish harvested around the state, benefiting even more of the public. Nobody owns the fish; we all share them equally and contribute equally to their management. These house bills end that by privatizing public trust resources.
HB 5801 and 5802 take fishing opportunities away from the public in exchange for private profits. Michigan’s recreational fisheries belong in the hands of Michiganders. We encourage you to consider calling or writing to your elected legislators to voice your opposition to House Bill 5801 & 5802.