Disregarding if it is legal or not, do you feel that it is ethical to clean fish at a public access point and leaving the waste

[ozarkghost]

Disregarding if it is legal or not, do you feel that it is ethical to clean fish at a public access point and leaving the waste in the water on the edge of the river/lake?

[FirstBubba]

The COE has provided cleaning tables on docks. Yeah, I'd say okay. Just be sure everything goes into the water and leave the table clean whether you found it that way or not. Leaving offal is offensive to fellow fisher "people" and disrespects the game, be it fish, fowl or beast.

[DEER30]

Fish remains are biodegradeable and replace nutrients to the water/soil as well as feed the ecosystem. I do not have a problem with the remains being left behind so that none of the animal is truly wasted.

However, the foul odor that may result and the unsightliness of having rotting fish guts and carcuses around is a problem around a public boat ramp. So I would say, that specific location is not appropriate but somewhere nearby would do.

[bayouwoof]

Here, it is murder on dawgz.

Mostady fish around here are salmonids and they're loaded with the parasites that case salmon poisoning.

One time when Ah took The Gypsy(rest her soul) down by the launching ramp to git a drink after work, she spied a large pile of salmon guts next to the water and sucked it all up, much to the dismay of onlookers.

They thought she wuz dead for sure.

Butt she had already had salmon poisoning, and it stimulates "a profound immune response."

[Sarge01]

In WV it will get you a citation for stream littering. That being said I don't think that it should be left for others to have to deal with as they launch their boats or wade in the water.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Give em a blindfold and cigarette!

[Gary Devine]

What litter?
If you put fish guts by a stream or creek the bears, coons and possums would clean it up before sunrise.

[jhjimbo]

Leaving the guts in a suitable place on land is ok, or putting them in the garbage to go to the landfill, but I do not put the guts back in the water. My thinking is the breakdown of the guts uses oxygen from the water for the aerobic bacteria to utilize in the process that causes the breakdown of the guts. I think the oxygen is better used by the remaining fish as a lot of water that is monitored seems to be oxygen deficient.
This is just my opinion and I do not know if science agrees with my opinion. Maybe Bioguy can shed some light on the question.

[Carl Huber]

Not Ethical in the least. Yes it is Biodegradable but while it's degrading it can drift into or onto a public beach. Just inconsiderate and bad manners. Maybe it's a character flaw with me. But my earliest memories were of people washing their halls and stoops with soap and water.

[MR AWESOME]

I definetley wouldnt leave guts/waste at a public place but in the woods sure. Give the coons a treat.

[Charlie earl]

for me it depends on how many people visit the area. if it is a common lake for families to go boating and camping at, no. but if it is a less traveled backwoods lake or stream, yes. I try to leave a good impression for future fisher people.

[ozarkghost]

Let me clarify a little. The situation arose at a public access on a slow moving trout stream where there is only a boat ramp and no other facilities. The current is not strong enough to disperse the offal down stream so it just sits by the shore until it decays or is eaten by snakes, turtles, or other scavengers.

To me this is equal to dragging a deer out of the woods to a parking spot others would use and then gutting/dressing it there and just leaving. Not to mention the smell, it would attract scavengers to a common use area where conflicts with humans could result in tragedy.

[WA Mtnhunter]

Uncouth to say the least.

[tleichty1989]

The bad part about it is that hunters and fishermen are supposed to be preserving nature and are the best conservationists. People that don't know our "way" see a bloodied deer out the back of a pickup truck or salmons guts strewn down the side of a park stream really get turned off to our way of life. They don't understand how we could enjoy such a thing. If no one is going to see it then live like we were made to.
(heard this in hunters education when I was a kid and it really resonated with me!).