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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR J. Campos

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1-24-07

2-15-07 HB 189/aHFL#1

SHORT TITLE Rules for Killing Non-Game Fish

SB

ANALYST Woods

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Game and Fish (DGF)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of House Floor Amendment #1

House Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 189 seeks to amend the legislation as follows:

On page 1, line 20, after “fish" insert “necessary for the protection and conservation of game

fish".

House Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 189 adds no appropriation to the legislation.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 189 amends Section 17-3-28 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1939, Chapter 27, Section 3)

is amended to include the following language:

A. The state game commission shall adopt rules on the manner, method and devices used

for the taking, capturing or killing of nongame fish. A person violating a rule of the state

game commission pertaining to nongame fish is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be

House Bill 189/

aHFL#1 – Page

2

sentenced pursuant to Section 17-2-10 NMSA 1978.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

DGF anticipates minimal fiscal impact. Currently conservation officers are already stationed in

the field and routinely carry out patrols, apprehending and prosecuting for violations of Chapter

17 and the Commission’s rules. Any additional duties in this regard will have a minimal fiscal

impact and can be absorbed through budget management and monitoring.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DGF notes that this bill will give the State Game Commission authority to regulate the manner,

method and devices used for capturing of nongame fish like minnows and carp. Nets, pitchforks

or similar ways of capturing these fish species could be regulated by the commission. This bill

does not establish a license requirement or bag limit for nongame fish. The bill also changes the

age from 14 down to 11 years of age for the allowance of taking minnows not for resale

(personal bait use) which is also consistent with the fishing without a license allowance

established in 17-3-17 and taking minnows allowance in 17-3-26 NMSA 1978. This bill

establishes that violating the commission’s rules of taking nongame fish would be a

misdemeanor violation and sentencing would be in accordance with 17-2-10 NMSA 1978 (where

other Chapter 17 violations have their punishment schedule established).

DGF notes that the bill will give the commission the ability to regulate exactly how nongame

fish can be captured by all individuals. The Commission currently has regulatory authority over

commercial bait fishermen but does not have any regulatory authority of anyone wishing to

collect bait for their personal use or interest. Conservation officers that are stationed along the

Pecos and Rio Grande have witnessed individuals using all kinds of means to capture fish in the

river. These public waterways contain both protected game fish like catfish, bass walleye and

pan fish, and unprotected nongame fish like minnows and carp that are important to local

communities and economies. Since the commission has no authority (except commercial bait

fish collection) of what techniques may be used for catching nongame fish, people utilize gigs,

pitchforks, nets and even have drives with beaters. Officers have seen and complain that

individuals are harming game fish using these unregulated techniques. When caught with game

fish, offices can and do cite individuals for this illegal take. However, it is extremely difficult to

apprehend individuals with captured game fish as they can be released to float away or are

immediately hidden from view and are not detected. There is no data on how much the game

fish resource is being damaged by nongame fishing techniques.

BFW/mt