NOTES : Lion Hunting Might Be Banned in California

Pete Bontadelli fears for the future of hunting in California.

The director of the California Department of Fish and Game expects activists opposing the hunting of mountain lions to obtain enough signatures to qualify an initiative for a statewide ballot, which he thinks will then pass with about 55% of the vote, thereby banning lion hunting forever.

“People like Robert Redford have a lot of appeal to the people of California,” Bontadelli told the Outdoor Writers Assn. of California in a meeting at Spanish Springs Ranch near Susanville.

Redford and several other celebrities have been outspoken advocates of anti-hunting and environmental movements.

But Bontadelli’s larger concern is that the anti-hunting movement could snowball to eliminate the hunting of all big game in the state--even deer and bear. To finally stage a tule elk hunt without opposition this year, the DFG had to research and assemble what Bontadelli called “one of the highest-quality documents anywhere to justify (it).”

The study required precise counts of the animals. Elk were relatively easy. Deer and bear would be difficult.

“Does anybody know how we can get precise counts on deer and bear?” Bontadelli said.

The number of licensed hunters in California has dropped from about 700,000 to 400,000 in the last seven years, but Bontadelli said: “One of my priorities is maintaining the ability to hunt in California . . . to maintain what most of you have come to consider a natural way of life. Absent the best biological and environmental data available, we cannot sustain a hunt.”

The underlying problem, according to Bontadelli, is that most people oppose hunting on an emotional basis, and he added: “A lot of our issues will always be resolved emotionally.”

On other subjects, Bontadelli said:

--One of his pet projects, the California Wildlands program of pay-to-see preserves established last year, is a flop, despite heavy promotion.

“The non-consumptive public has not shown the support for the program we would have liked. Therefore, the program will be scaled back.”

What he implied was that if some of the “non-consumptive” anti-hunters, who would rather look at animals than shoot them, had turned out, the program could have been successful.

--The DFG, which gained an additional $1.5 million from the state’s general fund two weeks ago, will add a wild-trout biologist to each of its five regions.

--The Rush Creek/Mono Lake court victory remands the issue to the State Water Quality Control Board for review on the point of public trust, and doesn’t validate that the state fish and game code is absolute--only that it can’t be ignored where fisheries are concerned.

--The DFG does not support AB-1, introduced by Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress), to buy out gillnet use within three miles of the Southern California coast, because it places too much of a burden on the department to produce data demonstrating “irreparable harm” to the sportfishery.

DFG marine patrol wardens Gene Martin and Holly Ethridge have cited two San Pedro commercial fishing vessels for violations.

According to Martin, skipper of the patrol boat Hammerhead, 87% of a 28-ton catch of bonito brought in by skipper Jim D’Amato of the purse seiner Anna Maria II was undersized.

Ethridge, a June graduate of the DFG’s new school for wardens in Vallejo, received an anonymous tip aboard the patrol boat Marlin that owner Gaspare Guarrasi of the purse seiner Nonna Maria II was offloading an illegal excess of sardines mixed with his catch of Pacific mackerel.

State law allows an excess of 35% sardines, but Guarrasi’s excess was allegedly 60%. Ethridge confiscated his fishing net. If found guilty on the misdemeanor charges, D’Amato and Guarrasi are subject to six months in jail and $1,000 fines.

Deer hunters Randy P. Salmonsen, 31, of Yorba Linda and Ronald B. Smith, 35, of Salt Lake City have been arrested in Nevada for poaching.

According to the Nevada Department of Wildlife, a 2 1/2-week joint undercover investigation by wardens from Nevada, Utah and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service brought gross misdemeanor charges of possession of deer without a proper tag and wanton waste of a mule deer against each man, and lack of a license against Salmonsen.

The evidence was a 6x6-point mule deer with a 33-inch spread. The two hunters were carrying muzzleloading rifles as well as high-powered rifles with scopes.

The investigation is continuing and may involve more than the single deer. Salmonsen is free on $2,280 bail, Smith on $2,100 bail.

Briefly

Three Southland catches are listed among new world records by the International Game Fish Assn. of Florida: an all-tackle 19-pound 3-ounce shovelnose guitarfish, by Paul David Bodtke at Oxnard July 15; a four-pound test 14-pound 12-ounce largemouth bass, by Dana Rosen at Lake Castaic March 12, and a 16-pound test 45-pound 1-ounce halibut, by Mike Rogalla at King Harbor April 1. . . . Also, the sportfisher Red Rooster III out of San Diego reported Tuesday that it is en route home with a women’s line-class world-record yellowfin tuna caught by June Pierce of Desert Hot Springs. Fishing with 80-pound test line at Clarion Island, 1,200 miles from San Diego, Pierce battled for an hour to land a 315-pound yellowfin and break the record of 270 pounds set by Caroline Layne at Roca Partida, Baja California, Mexico, in 1980. The all-tackle record for men or women is 388 pounds.

The $175,000 BASS Master Arizona Invitational starting at Lake Havasu today has drawn 300 entries. . . . The L.A. County Parks Department’s Fall Adult Fishing Derby for anglers 16 and older is scheduled at Apollo County Park, 4555 West Avenue G, Lancaster, Saturday, 7-11 a.m. . . . The first of nine pheasant hunts for juniors 17 and younger sponsored by the Department of Fish and Game is scheduled Saturday at Raahauge’s in Norco. Details: (213) 590-5126.

Fly fishing legend Ernest Schwiebert is making the rounds--tonight, 7:30, at the Fly Fishers Club of Orange County dinner ($16) at the Revere House in Santa Ana; Thursday and Friday, noon-5 p.m., at Marriott’s store in Fullerton, and Friday night, 7-9, at Greg Lilly’s store in Tustin. . . . Fly fishing author, speaker and angler Bernard (Lefty) Kreh will be featured at the Pasadena Casting Club’s Christmas dinner Dec. 1 at the University Club. . . . Steve Shidler, 40, of Balboa Island, and two crewmen are attempting to set an outboard-motor record from San Francisco to Honolulu. On the third day out Tuesday in the 40-foot trimaran Yanmar Endeavour, powered by two 27-horsepower outboard diesels, Shidler reported that he had slowed the boat in heavy seas when he discovered stress cracks in the crossarm joints, but later resumed top speed. The vessel was averaging 7.8 knots, somewhat slower than the usual Transpac sailing pace.