COLUMBUS, OH -- The Ohio Wildlife Council voted to move Ohio's free fishing days from the first Saturday and Sunday in June to the first Saturday and Sunday in May, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. Next years free fishing days will be May 3 and 4, 2003.
By moving free fishing days to the first weekend in May, Ohioans can take advantage of this great opportunity to enjoy fishing at an even more productive time of year, said Mike Budzik, chief of ODNR's Division of Wildlife.
The council also passed two other rules of note. The first rule prohibits anglers from selling fish they catch from any waterway in the state where an Ohio fishing license is required.
This rule is aimed at curbing the exploitation of Ohio's fisheries resources for personal gain, said Gary Isbell, executive administrator of the ODNR's Division of Wildlife fisheries program. Recent concerns with the removal of large sport fish from public waters and subsequent sale to pay-fishing lakes prompted the need for this rule.
The second rule bans the possession, import or live sale of snakehead fish (Channa spp. and Parachanna spp.) in Ohio. Snakehead fish are native to Asia and Africa and received national attention due to a population of northern snakeheads in Maryland. Voracious predators, they have the potential to disrupt sensitive fishery ecosystems.
Snakeheads can survive out of water for several days. A risk assessment of snakehead species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, notes that they feed on native fish, amphibians, crustaceans, birds, small reptiles and small mammals, compete with native species for food and are difficult to eradicate once established.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a nationwide ban on importation and interstate transportation of snakeheads by adding the family of 28 snakehead species to the federal list of injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act.