Hello. I recently came across some observations by a user that appear to post prohibited fish species that were caught on a fishing trip. There are two species in question, both prohibited for retention both state and federally. One species is federally listed as threatened. There’s really no way to tell whether the fish were retained or not but the pictures show the fish on a board and out of the water. I’m not sure how to approach this situation. Just wondering if anyone has run into this before and what you’ve done.
What do you think might be done? If i go fishing, I can’t control what I catch. I I catch something, I need to ID it to know if I am allaowed to keep it, and I need to remove the hook. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe that these fish were retained. What is it that you want to approach?
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Questions of illegal wildlife interactions sometimes arise on here. Unfortunately, iNat has no power intervene and stop poaching. If you see something particularly egregious, submitting a tip to whatever authority is in charge of the region is pretty much the best you can do.
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In a more perfect iNat world, the observer would leave a note saying that it was an incidental catch and that it was returned to the water.
Like you said, the angler can’t control what fish takes the bait. I also think the departments (like the DNR or Fish and Game) may monitor for these observations as part of the retention efforts, more so than for enforcement.
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