In our discussions concerning ANS, it was generally believed that there are three areas with which we should be concerned: 1. The public believes the problem is all our (anglers) fault, and therefore;  2. We need to better educate the public, and;  3. New regulations are coming our way.  As you may recall, I  took on problems #1 & #2 in an article several months ago, stating unless we have been fishing in Peru or China in our boats and then brought our boats back here to fish, we didn't bring the invasive species here.  Those people/companies actually responsible for doing so should be required to foot the bill for eradication of the problems, not the fishermen.  Sure, we may have spread them around unintentionally, but we didn't cause the initial problem.  As for new regulations, some states are already seeing their imposition.  For example, Nevada is stopping and checking every boat that crosses the state line into their state, looking for any invasives that could be introduced into their waters.  Illinois certainly wouldn't be able to commit the resources to such an undertaking in its current fiscal condition, but other steps or regs could be in our future. 

To summarize, we (the conservation directors) will be attempting to develop new strategies to educate and eradicate.

Also briefly discussed was an EPA press release concerning ANS that we all need to keep an eye on.  Entitled, "EPA Seeks Public Comments to Help Develop Management Practices for Recreational Vessels", the EPA claims that it wants input from boaters and other stakeholders to help develop proposed regulations to "reduce water pollution and the spread of invasive species in the nation's rivers, lakes and other bodies of water".  As an alternative to the permits required for commercial vessels, the 2008 Clean Boating Act directs the EPA to develop management practices for recreation vessels.  The Act directs EPA to "take steps to limit the impact of pollution and the spread of invasive species associated with the discharge and deck runoff from boats."  This is just a wild guess on my part, but I'm thinking that the "management practices" and the "steps to limit the impact" will require some sort of payment by the boat owner to the EPA to acquire a permit.  Let's be vigilant on this one.

Access is a rapidly developing problem, especially when it comes to fishing in marinas that were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Each access issue presents a variable condition that makes it impossible to develop a specific strategy with which to combat the problem.  In many cases, working with a state legislator who is part of the Sportsmen's Caucus will help alleviate the issue.  In some cases, it's a homeowners association that tries to keep tournaments away.  In others, its dock renters who want an entire marina to themselves.  To name a couple of issues in Illinois, Clinton Lake and Lake Sara have been presenting access problems.  At Clinton, signs are posted all over the entrance road to the main marina, "No Fishing In Marina".  Those signs were posted to pacify dock renters who complained about fishermen crowding the marina.  What those signs don't tell anyone is that the "No Fishing" refers to fishing from the bank or from the docks.  Therefore, the dock renters and fishermen usually have some sort of confrontation. The lake was built with state funds and, although most dock renters now understand that the water is public, there are always a few who try to discourage fishermen from fishing in the marina.  So far, efforts to convince the marina owners to make the signs more specific have been in vain.  The city of Effingham owns Lake Sara, where the majority within the homeowners association would like to keep tournaments away.  Knowing that they couldn't keep the public completely away from a public lake yet still wanting to placate the Lake Sara Homeowners Association, the City raised the required lake permit from $25 to $80 for non-residents, plus a $5/day launch fee, to discourage as many bass clubs in the state as they possibly could from holding tournaments there.  When combined with the lake manager's recent practice of killing most of the weeds (also at the request of the homeowners association),  the city of Effingham has been successful in making it financially difficult to fish their deteriorating fishery.  I'm sure the motel and restaurant owners as well as the rest of the residents in Effingham are proud of the fact that their city fathers are deflecting previous business and its resultant taxes  to other communities.  Yeah, I know that the Effingham business owners' happiness is none of my concern, but I point this out simply to illustrate how the selfish desires of a few can have such an adverse result for everyone else on access issues.