SUMMARY

This resolve directs the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory Council to adopt and follow a rules policy regarding inland fishing. This rules policy states that when it is necessary to give a fish population extra protection, bag-limit or length-limit restrictions must be the first method employed to protect that fish population. Except in extraordinary cases, those restrictions apply equally to open-water fishing and ice fishing. When the desired objective cannot be achieved through bag or length restrictions, gear restrictions must be the next method employed. The method employed last must be restrictions of opportunity by shortening the seasons. In cases in which the department proposes a fishing rule that does not follow this rules policy, a statement must be included with the proposed rule explaining and justifying the decision not to follow the rules policy.