Gosar fights with officials over boating-wake rules

LAKE HAVASU CITY — A wildly unpopular effort to impose wake restrictions on Lake Havasu boaters has the local congressman ready to do battle with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including getting the agency’s regional director taken off his job.

GOP Congressman Paul Gosar wants to see Benjamin Tuggle removed or relocated, Today’s NewsHerald reported. Gosar said Tuggle did not follow proper protocol during the boating restriction proposal and failed to collect public opinion on the action.

“(Tuggle) did not follow the law, and there need to be consequences. I’m not done with Fish and Wildlife. I probably can’t get Tuggle fired, but I can get him relocated. I’m looking for a deserted island that he can have jurisdiction over. maybe someplace out near the Bahamas,” said Gosar.

Tuggle has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 38 years and has presided over the southwest region since 2005, according to the report. He manages the region’s endangered species, migratory birds, wetland and upland protection, conservation and restoration and conversation issues related to fish and wildlife resources in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. Gosar has confronted other fish and wildlife service officials in the past. Last year, he questioned then-U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe about the closures. He also led efforts cut back funding for the agency until it backed away from the proposed restrictions.