November Re-cap

The New Mexico State game commission hosted a meeting in Los Alamos on Friday, November 7. The meeting was rather short, and the agenda was so routine that we considered not publishing a recap at. However, the Fisheries Rule and the Upland Game Rule were both finalized and the intra-commission drama seemed interesting enough to warrant a summary.

FINAL APPROVAL OF THE FISHERIES RULE
The department provided their final presentation regarding the next 4-year cycle of the Fisheries Rule. NMCOG is extremely frustrated and saddened to report that none of our proposed changes to the San Juan River fishery were accepted in the final rule. Outfitters on the San Juan will no doubt read this and correctly say “I told you so”. And it’s true, the changes proposed by NMCOG (which we thought made perfectly logical sense and would be so easily accepted by the department) were shot down in the end. With the worst part being the way the Department led NMCOG to believe our proposal would be incorporated into the final. Surprise, it wasn’t. Which is a setback but not the end of the fight. We will continue to encourage the Dept. to make management changes on the San Juan River (which do not require Commission approval). And we will continue working with NM State Parks. The silver lining in this story is that NMCOG learned a very valuable lesson. Trust will no longer be afforded to the Department as it relates to any Rule development going forward. 

The commission voted unanimously to approve the following amendments to the rule:

• Clarify the definition of Barbless Lure or Fly to make consistent with the Manner and Method definition 
• Add a definition of “Special Trout Water” 
• Add Jack’s Creek (Pecos), Rio San Antonio (near Lagunitas Lakes), and the  upper Rio Chiquito to the list of Catch and Release, Artificial Fly or Lure Only, and unlimited non-native trout harvest to support the resident Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout populations 
• Remove the reference to Santa Cruz Lake, Bonito Lake, Monastery, and Springer Lake as closed to ice fishing and refers to signage by the specific landowner 
• Clarify the definition of Barbless Lure or Fly to make consistent with the  Fisheries definition described above 
• Remove the reference to Santa Cruz Lake, Bonito Lake and Springer Lake as closed to ice fishing and refer to signage by the specific landowner 
• Clarify language in 19.31.10.14(F) regarding where trotlines can be used by  anglers in the state  
• Prohibiting the use of bait fish in the Bureau of Land Management Overflow  Wetlands to protect Pecos Pupfish from potential introduction of Sheepshead  Minnow 
• Expand Director’s authority to suspend angling limits, methods, and size limits or to close a water due to water shortage, eradication needs, or other management needs. The duration of Director’s authority is proposed to be limited to six months during which the Department could propose an emergency or permanent rule 
• Add Jackson Lake to the list of lakes where electric motors are permitted 
• Make it unlawful to fish from the Texas Hole and Crusher Hole boat ramps located on the San Juan River

FINAL APPROVAL OF THE UPLAND GAME RULE
​The Dept. provided their final presentation regarding possible changes to the next 4-year cycle of the Upland Game Rule. The Commission approved the Rule unanimously. 

• Adjust hunt dates according to calendar shift
• No changes to bag limits for Quail
•  Changes to the Bernardo Youth Pheasant Hunt. See below.
• Add additional special youth pheasant hunt on Jackson Lake WMA
• Open Bluebird and Pine River WMAs for upland hunting during squirrel/grouse season
• Open Double E, L Bar, Navajo, and River Ranch WMAs for upland hunting during Quail season
• Divide Dusky Grouse into North and South zone and set possession limits. North/South divided by Interstate-40
• North - 3 birds/day, 6 in possession
• South - 1 bird/day, 2 in possession
• Pheasant dates as follows:

ODDS, ENDS, AND ENDLESS DRAMA
The Commission also approved the annual depredation report, the annual equipment disposal list, and the addition of a 25% discount on license purchases to NM residents who qualify for SNAP benefits (this was a requirement of Senate Bill 5, which passed in January). However, a vote to increase the vendor fee (also a requirement of SB5) from $1 to $2 was sidelined by Commissioner Lopez who voted against the increase claiming it was his “line in the sand”. Head shaking moments such as this continue to plague the Commission and really have for the entirety of Governor MLG’s term. While nobody got canned before Friday meeting, the Commission continues to be more theatrical than informative.
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Commissioner Fulfer was, as usual, nowhere to be found. Commissioner Lopez, in addition to his anti-vendor fee rant, railed against outfitters during the discussion of the Fisheries Rule, ridiculously sympathizing with people illegally fishing from the boat ramps because “we all know how much it cost to fish the San Juan”. Commissioner Lopez has become progressively more hateful towards non-resident hunters/anglers or basically anyone with the wealth to hire outfitters. Commissioner Salazar Hickey gave a 15-minute dissertation on her hatred for poachers (specifically nonresident poachers). While we agreed with the sentiment, the rant seemed a bit like preaching to the choir and totally came from left field. After all, the department reviews bad hunter behavior and revocations at literally every meeting. In general, it continues to be unclear which commissioners are allies, and which aren’t. Honestly, they really all seem to dislike each other equally.