(OR) Bills Being Bandied

Lead can corrode in saltwater and oxygenated freshwater.  I already use only brass or tungsten to weight the flies I tie.  It won't be the most pleasant thing to have to do, but there are worse things that could happen.

As someone who spent 3 years in graduate school studying ecotoxicology this is going to happen at some point. I'd be surprised to see the bill survive as written but eventually policies will catch up with the science. Lead is toxic and has been proven so for decades to a wide array of wildlife and to humans. The smaller lead is more easily ingestible and thus more readily bioavailable. I am sure we will see laws restricting its use within the decade as many ne. WA already prohibit it to protect loons.

I still use lead but as opportunities arise I am slowly converting as much of my weights and weighted lures to tungsten, brass, steel, and other alternative non-toxic metals in preparation.
 

As someone who spent 3 years in graduate school studying ecotoxicology this is going to happen at some point. I'd be surprised to see the bill survive as written but eventually policies will catch up with the science. Lead is toxic and has been proven so for decades to a wide array of wildlife and to humans. The smaller lead is more easily ingestible and thus more readily bioavailable. I am sure we will see laws restricting its use within the decade as many ne. WA already prohibit it to protect loons.

I still use lead but as opportunities arise I am slowly converting as much of my weights and weighted lures to tungsten, brass, steel, and other alternative non-toxic metals in preparation.

I am not aware of WA's laws in relation to lead.  Is WA banning the use of lead in hunting pellets, fishing tackle, or both? 

I am not aware of WA's laws in relation to lead.  Is WA banning the use of lead in hunting pellets, fishing tackle, or both?

There regional restrictions on lead shot. Use of lead shot for upland and waterfowl hunting is restricted where I live and several lakes in the region have lead restrictions as well.

This is a shit  joke of a bill. Lead shot is already banned for waterfowl. It is a underhanded ban skeet or trap shooting. Not everyone is going to go out and by $15 or $20/box times 8 or 10 boxes of steel shot for a afternoon of rec shooting Clay's. Most people voluntarily shoot upland birds/game with steel or nontoxic as it is. Go plop some power bait with a lead sinker at a local lake with the grandkids = fine/jail or both. Troll for salmon, jail. Back bounce, jail. Troll for kokanee, jail. Fish for bass or walleye, jail. Try to feed your family or get the kids outside and enjoy the resources, that will be $6000 please and you wont see your kids for one year. You people better open your eyes. This isn't about environmental health. This is about control. Love them or hate them guides will all go out of business, Bob's and fishermen's along with the other small shops will go under. Local stores and restaurants that rely on fishermen or hunters business will suffer even more or cease to exist. There are not any sort of meaningful alternatives to this bullshit. Can you imagine buying a single $25 or $30 8oz tungsten cannonball for salmon fishing or a $8 tungsten bottom bouncer for walleye? Make your calls to legislators. Tell them we wont stand for this.

This bill does not ban lead shot for skeet/trap shooting.  The lead shot portion is only banning "hunting" with lead shot.   The fishing side in its current form is downright scary from my perspective

My bad. I was wound up

As someone who spent 3 years in graduate school studying ecotoxicology this is going to happen at some point. I'd be surprised to see the bill survive as written but eventually policies will catch up with the science. Lead is toxic and has been proven so for decades to a wide array of wildlife and to humans. The smaller lead is more easily ingestible and thus more readily bioavailable. I am sure we will see laws restricting its use within the decade as many ne. WA already prohibit it to protect loons.

I still use lead but as opportunities arise I am slowly converting as much of my weights and weighted lures to tungsten, brass, steel, and other alternative non-toxic metals in preparation.

+1. Eye opener for me - if the science indicates lead is toxic to our fisheries, then we're overdue on this action. I know I've contributed a lead jig head or two to the coastal collection and more than a few 14 oz lead cannonballs to the Columbia river basin. Doesn't seem like much individually, but in aggregate, this is one of many human impacts that's screwing runs and fisheries we all enjoy. Don't know if lead is a huge contributor in the grand scheme, but at this point not sure I care - every little bit counts and unlike many impacts, this one has some less toxic alternatives that I honestly need to invest in. Time to get after some non-toxic tires too, based on recent sobering science re: salmonid impacts here in PNW.

Seeing as the state senator who filed SB0592, Lew Frederick, represents an urban, lower income district, and appears to be heavily focused issues that affect his constituents more directly, I suspect this filing is more of a tactical ploy, to be used as trade bait in later negotiations. The initial filing has no supporting documentation, and is clearly only a skeleton of a bill at this point. It bears watching, but I don't expect much to come of it.

As someone who spent 3 years in graduate school studying ecotoxicology this is going to happen at some point. I'd be surprised to see the bill survive as written but eventually policies will catch up with the science. Lead is toxic and has been proven so for decades to a wide array of wildlife and to humans. The smaller lead is more easily ingestible and thus more readily bioavailable. I am sure we will see laws restricting its use within the decade as many ne. WA already prohibit it to protect loons.

I still use lead but as opportunities arise I am slowly converting as much of my weights and weighted lures to tungsten, brass, steel, and other alternative non-toxic metals in preparation.

+1. Eye opener for me - if the science indicates lead is toxic to our fisheries, then we're overdue on this action. I know I've contributed a lead jig head or two to the coastal collection and more than a few 14 oz lead cannonballs to the Columbia river basin. Doesn't seem like much individually, but in aggregate, this is one of many human impacts that's screwing runs and fisheries we all enjoy. Don't know if lead is a huge contributor in the grand scheme, but at this point not sure I care - every little bit counts and unlike many impacts, this one has some less toxic alternatives that I honestly need to invest in. Time to get after some non-toxic tires too, based on recent sobering science re: salmonid impacts here in PNW.

For some aquatic species the effects are being seen at the population level. Certainly for some waterfowl, especially swans and loons, a small split shot can prove fatal. Susceptibly to lead poisoning varies dramatically throughout the animal kingdom and even closely related species can have widely different responses. The classic example is California Condors that are highly sensitive whereas Turkey Vultures can consume many times the lethal dose for condors with no outward ill effects. 

That's because Turkey Vultures have battery acid for digestive enzymes. The more lead they consume the higher their cold cranking amp output becomes. :-)

That's because Turkey Vultures have battery acid for digestive enzymes. The more lead they consume the higher their cold cranking amp output becomes. :-)

It's true. I had one puke on my once. Nasty.