(OR) Bills Being Bandied

The upcoming Oregon State Legislature session has a few interesting bills up for consideration.

SB 592 would ban all lead fishing tackle and make hunting with lead shot illegal. A violation would catch you a Class A misdemeanor  punishable by maximum of 364 days’ imprisonment, $6,250 fine, or both.

https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Measures/Overview/SB592?


SB 320 - Authorizes issuance of group license for angling or shellfish to nonprofit organization serving veterans or certain armed forces members.

https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Measures/Overview/SB320

SB 320 would be great for groups like HOW and Project Healing Waters. Removing that financial obstacle would likely lead to increased participation. (As would an increase in the distribution of the Cov-19 vaccine.)

Anyone have any thoughts on these bills?

Thank you for pointing both of these out - much appreciated. As someone who has literally hundreds of dollars worth of lead-containing products on my fishing shelves I'll be watching SB 592.

In our state, lead is already banned for hunting waterfowl.  It's concerning that SB 592 would ban all lead fishing tackle.  My question would be is this strictly for fresh water or is the salt also part of this proposed legislation?  This would wipe out 90% of my jigging tackle.  Is this just terminal tackle or would other items like downrigger balls also be banned?  These type of bills worry me as so much of today's population never venture outside of the city limits and don't access outdoor sports.

Time for everyone to contact their Legislators and let them know your thoughts.  Silence implies consent to these people.       

Time for everyone to contact their Legislators and let them know your thoughts.  Silence implies consent to these people.   

What he said...

I understand banning the small leads like split-shot that are ingestible by waterfowl and other animals. Other states have enacted laws for that.

Maybe they'll end up amending the bill in committee to include a minimum lead size that you're permitted to use? I don't see the rationale behind banning large lead weights.

I agree that banning spit shot (not larger terminal tackle) might make sense from one perspective.  Unfortunately there are groups out there who would like nothing better than to ban fishing.  They view fishing as "cruel" and elimination of all lead from fishing makes the sport very difficult. 

I think we should all remember that there is a totally incredible amount of fishing lead that is lost every year in our rivers and lakes.  Most of those bodies of water provide drinking water or irrigation water.  If you've ever went snorkeling for lost gear during summer low-water near a hatchery you will understand the incredible amount of lead in our waterways.

I think as fisherman we should be open to reducing lead consumption.  No, I am not in favor of trashing all of my lead gear today.  Yes, I am in favor of gradually finding alternatives and phasing out slowly.  If we don't start now we'll never move the needle.

My ten cents.

I wonder if that includes leaded rope on crab gear? If I have to buy new rope I'm not going to be happy about it. 

Leadline on gillnets?

Honestly, it's hard to judge the merits of the bill when they only provide a relatively cryptic 1-sentence summary. I'll refrain from jumping to conclusions until the details come to light.

Side note: sinker-release systems are still pretty popular for salmon fishing in CA. They involve a 3-pound lead ball that falls off your gear and sinks to the ocean floor every time you hook a fish. There are literally thousands of pounds of lead balls littering the ocean floor off San Francisco. The practice remains legal to this day. Not saying that the thousands of pounds of lead doesn't have an environmental impact, but you'd figure the anti-fishing groups would've been pushing real hard to ban the use of sinker-release systems long ago if they considered them a serious issue.

Side note: sinker-release systems are still pretty popular for salmon fishing in CA. They involve a 3-pound lead ball that falls off your gear and sinks to the ocean floor every time you hook a fish. There are literally thousands of pounds of lead balls littering the ocean floor off San Francisco. The practice remains legal to this day.

Legend has it Duxbury reef is man-made, consisting entirely of lead cannon balls from salmon fishing the last 100 years.

Side note: sinker-release systems are still pretty popular for salmon fishing in CA. They involve a 3-pound lead ball that falls off your gear and sinks to the ocean floor every time you hook a fish. There are literally thousands of pounds of lead balls littering the ocean floor off San Francisco. The practice remains legal to this day.

Legend has it Duxbury reef is man-made, consisting entirely of lead cannon balls from salmon fishing the last 100 years.

Bahaha, I can believe it!

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.

Thank you Ling Bangers for the heads up.  When following the link you see that the bill has two parts.  The first part is the "plain English summary".  The second part with the numbers in the left hand column is the actual proposed bill language.  I work with my State's Legislature and this is how these bills are structured.  This proposed bill as it currently is written bans ALL lead weight in fishing for both recreational and commercial fishing.  Don't see the commercial guys using any split shot.  There is no phasing in, lead weight size categories, etc.  This is a cold turkey ban on the use of lead (split shot, wire weight, all weights, cannon balls, jigs, net weights, etc.) in all fishing.

I encourage everyone to contact their district State legislators.  Let them know your thoughts.   

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