State teleconference on possible fishing ban erupts into chaos

The California Fish and Game Commission abruptly canceled a teleconference Thursday morning amid cries of “make fishing great again!” and “fascists!” before it could consider authorizing a limited ban on sportfishing in some areas.

Earlier this week, a group of conservative politicians, sheriffs and media outlets told its followers that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration was planning to outright cancel the fishing season statewide because of COVID-19.

Some rural communities fear too many out-of-town anglers would import the new coronavirus and infect residents. About 1 million licensed anglers regularly fish California’s waterways through the year, making the state one of the country’s most active fishing states.

The intent of the state’s proposed order was more limited, however. The Fish and Game Commission’s teleconference meeting Thursday was supposed to decide whether to give emergency powers to Charlton

Bonham, Newsom’s appointee overseeing the Department of Fish and Wildlife, so he could close fishing season in certain areas at the request of local officials.

Almost immediately, the 8:30 a.m. meeting was overwhelmed by more than 500 participants on the call.

State officials and participants urged everyone on the line to mute his line amid the howls of background noise and beeping as dozens called in. One of those who didn’t mute shouted, “I have a right to speak!”

“Fascists!” another said.

“You cancel, we’re just coming back,” another said.

“Let’s make fishing great again!” said another.

“Make a stand! Join the klan!” said another as the meeting devolved into chaos.

At one point, someone broadcast what sounded like an evangelist’s sermon.

The commission stopped the meeting because members of the five-member board couldn’t get on the line and have a quorum, the majority of members needed to have a vote.

“We’re trying to work this out. This is a new system. This is a crisis,” Commission President Eric Sklar said before getting cut off by an abrupt few seconds of silence.

State officials said they were trying to figure out a way to reschedule the meeting next week while also trying to figure out a system that would allow them to better moderate public comments. When the meeting is rescheduled, it will be posted on the commission’s website, sent out via listserv.

“We also want to make it crystal clear that today’s proposed decision was not

about banning fishing statewide or locally,” Bonham and Sklar said in a joint statement emailed to reporters after the meeting. “We are not contemplating statewide closure. The decision is to help prepare us to work with counties and tribes to make those decisions based on their requests. We are working on a tailored and surgical approach based on local needs and knowledge.”

Later Thursday, the Nor-Cal Guides and Sportsmen’s Association condemned the offensive remarks on the conference call.

“We do not condone this behavior,” the group said on Facebook. “It was out of control and it even got worse after! Please join the public process and tell your friends to be part of this conversation, but this is completely inappropriate and it doesn’t help our

“Fishing is an essential part of rural life, Unlike SoCal, Northstate lakes & rivers are not crowded. Anglers respect social distancing. No need to ban fishing statewide as proposed in Thursday’s mtg.”

— State Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, said on Twitter

cause.”

Newsom responded to the meeting during his daily coronavirus news conference Thursday, after his office had been “inundated by people who are concerned that we canceled the fishing season.”

“That is not the case,” Newsom said. “We just want to delay, not deny, the season.”

Newsom said Mono and Inyo County officials had reached out with concerns that the upcoming season would bring a wave of people to their rural areas, which don’t have the health care resources to mitigate a massive COVID-19 outbreak.

“They have fishing season coming up, and they’re just worried about being overwhelmed by everybody who has a little cabin fever that wants to get out and get on those streams,” Newsom said.

Newsom, who said he’s “passionate” about fishing, explained that he’s working with local officials and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop a “county by county” protocol.

“Just know that we are not ending the season,” he said, “We just want to delay it a little bit and work with the counties to address the surge of interest and the need to keep everyone protected and everyone safe in this circumstance.”

Bonham told The Sacramento Bee on Monday that, so far, only a couple of rural counties, Inyo and Mono, had urged fisheries regulators to postpone the upcoming spring trout season in their areas to prevent thousands of out of town anglers from coming in and spreading the virus to residents.

Sierra and Alpine counties also had requested a closure.

“Instead of all at once and a mammoth (statewide) closure, we’re going to do something different,” Bonham told The Bee.

Soon after Bonham spoke to The Bee, the conservative media site the California Globe posted a story lifting sections of The Bee’s reporting and leaving out Bonham’s remarks that he wasn’t closing the season outright.

“CA Department Of Fish And Wildlife Commissioner Wants To Close Sportfishing Season Due To COVID-19,” the Globe’s headline read.

The story was shared on Facebook by Assemblyman James Gallager, R-Yuba City. “Um no. This makes no sense at all,” he wrote Tuesday.

Gallagher clarified on his official page Wednesday that he checked with officials who told him there was no statewide ban under discussion, and local counties weren’t asking for one.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, also shared the Globe story on his personal Facebook page.

“The enviros don’t really want you out there to begin with,” LaMalfa wrote. “Using this quarantine period to advance government control that would never sell otherwise is a breach of trust. It could have the effect of many deciding to become defiant and do what they want when they sense their ‘leadership’ isn’t fair or logical.”

“Fishing is an essential part of rural life, Unlike SoCal, Northstate lakes & rivers are not crowded,” state Sen. Jim Nielsen, RGerber, said Wednesday evening on Twitter. “Anglers respect social distancing. No need to ban fishing statewide as proposed in Thursday’s mtg.”

He linked to a commission meeting notice that very clearly stated the closure would only be “in specific areas within the state when necessary to protect public health from the threat posed by COVID-19.”

At least two north state sheriffs — Modoc’s and Shasta’s — also shared letters they sent the commission Wednesday with their Facebook followers urging the commission not to close the statewide fishing season, despite that not being what was under discussion.

California isn’t the only state to consider suspending fishing in some form. Late last month, Washington state closed fishing statewide. Meanwhile, some other states are taking a different approach. For instance, the governor of Texas included hunting and fishing in a list of “essential services.”

On Thursday, Oregon closed its fishing and hunting seasons to nonresidents.