Bowfishing Tournament hits small snag
Complaint filed over area bowfishing tournament
By Ted Pennekamp
A bowfishing tournament on the Mississippi River seems to have caused a stir among some area residents and river users. A formal complaint was filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Aug. 27 alleging that the tournament violated compatibility rules on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge and that refuge management failed to abate those violations. The complaint also seeks that “the episode is not repeated.”
The complaint was filed by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Friends of Effigy Mounds. PEER is an environmental watchdog group based in Washington D.C.
“This tournament turned night into day and blasted our ear drums like we were on an airport runway,” said Tim Mason of Friends of Effigy Mounds who lives with his wife on a houseboat near the refuge. “To my surprise, the refuge decided not to enforce its own rules, thus allowing an activity that was clearly incompatible to dominate the entire refuge for the better part of a week.”
The tournament was held on July 26-27 in pools 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 and on the Wisconsin River up to the Highway 61 Bridge near Boscobel. The tournament was run by the Bowfishing Association of America and was called the BAA World Championship. There were 43 teams, with most using air boats with air craft-style propellers and powerful night lights. The 130 participants shot rough fish and invasive fish such as carp.
The tournament was headquartered at Cabela’s of Prairie du Chien. Tournament Director Matt Harris of the Wisconsin Bowfishing Association said that an estimated 12,000-14,000 pounds of rough fish were killed during the tournament and given as animal feed to an area farmer. Harris did not have exact figures but said that the tournament probably brought in tens of thousands of dollars into the area’s economy.
Harris noted that the World Championship is a traveling tournament and will not be in the Prairie du Chien area next year.
Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge Manager Sabrina Chandler said that the refuge received complaints about the tournament from seven individuals. Chandler said that the formal complaint filed by PEER and Friends of Effigy Mounds has several inaccuracies. The complaint, for example, says that the refuge had no law enforcement officers watching. In fact, Chandler noted that there were two refuge officers monitoring the tournament. There are a total of four refuge officers for the entire 260-mile length of the refuge. Also the Wisconsin and Iowa DNRs were aware of the tournament.
Chandler said that the tournament is considered a regional tournament and that refuge managers weren’t informed of the tournament by tournament organizers and therefore did not know about the tournament until it started. She said that the tournament is a commercial activity and the refuge is dependent on and puts responsibilities on the Iowa and Wisconsin DNRs for such commercial activities.
Chandler also said that the refuge reviews and updates its compatibility determination every 10 years in part to keep abreast of new and emerging uses for the river such as bowfishing tournaments. She said that the last update was in 2006 and that refuge officials had been gathering information for the next update long before the tournament occurred. The next update will be in 2016.
“We don’t want tournaments (all types of fishing tournaments) to fall through the cracks,” she said.
Chandler said that refuge managers talked with the Bowfishing Association of America in an effort to have a better process in the future. She also said that the refuge is considering more regulations for fishing tournaments in general.
The refuge’s rules currently require fishing tournament organizers to apply for permits from state natural resources agencies. They also call for minimizing any effects on other users, providing advance notice and prohibiting “unreasonably disturbing” use of power equipment and lights.
