New Legislation to Protect Alaska's Fish and Wildlife

Alaska State Representative Craig Johnson is introducing a bill to protect Alaska's native fish and game. The Wildlife Violator Compact would help wildlife enforcement by keeping wildlife violators at bay through revocation of licenses. Basically, there are "member" states that participate in the Wildlife Violator Compact (WVC), and these states share a database. The database holds records for wildlife fishing and game violators. If violators don't answer charges in one state, they wouldn't be able to get a hunting or fishing license in another member state. Read the entire proposal here

Kind of like sexual violator databases, the WVC would keep tabs on those who commit crimes, at least until they answered their charges in a court of law. The idea behind it is that wildlife violators should be brought to justice like other criminals, they shouldn't be able to just skip states and escape responsibility for their violations.

Protecting Alaska's native wildlife is what allows us to continue enjoying Alaska fishing and other outdoor pursuits. The WVC keeps our interests in mind to that end. But, the question is, for those who don't know the law and commit crimes that must be answered in court, is this law fair?

Imagine if you were a tourist visiting Alaska and you kept a fish that should have been released (like a smaller rainbow trout.) You get caught. What if the penalty isn't just a fine, but a court appearance? Many are unable to fly back to Alaska for a court date due to the high cost of airfare. The WVC would ensure that the visitor might not be able to fish in their home state. Should a violation like that be punished this way?

Seems to me that this legislation would help our wildlife enforcement officers and make it easier to identify wildlife violators, keeping Alaska's fish and wildlife safe, but it needs to be done in a manner that is fair. Every state has different regulations and some are certainly more strict and better enforced than others.