A "third way" proposed to ease coronavirus threat posed by Ohio's public boat ramps

(The following was taken from the previous blog post of April 4^th in order to develop a more comprehensive and expanded stand-alone story. It is related to a “third way” option to help ease the threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) brought about by the large influx of anglers upon the state’s public boat launches in Ottawa County, Ohio. It may be refined again, pending any input from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.)

MARBLEHEAD - Ottawa County’s chief law enforcement officer is looking for a third way to help keep the threat of coronavirus at bay without also damaging access to the state public boat landings in his jurisdiction.

And if Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen J. Levorchick gets his way, the three Ohio Department of Natural Resources popular public boat launch facilities in Ottawa County - Catawba State Park, East Harbor State Park, and the Mazurik State Access site - will remain open to both resident and non-resident anglers.

But only if the latter all ready possess an Ohio non-resident fishing license.

Levorchick recently proposed to the Director Ohio Public Safety, Tom Stickrath, that rather than closing the ramps the Natural Resources Department should cease selling all types of non-resident fishing license for a month or more and until the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis becomes a history.

And this suggestion has been kicked up the ladder of state government to at least Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz, Loverchick says.

“That makes more sense to me than closing the boat ramps entirely; my people here in Ottawa County use those ramps, too,” Levorchick said. “They’re a release for local anglers.”

A somewhat similar take on the sale of non-resident licenses has been taken in Kentucky. In that state, wildlife officials have stopped selling non-resident turkey-hunting tags until the COVID-19 threat has been beaten.

“I’m not trying to stop fishing,” Levorchick says also. “I’m an outdoorsman, and I love to fish and hunt. I try to get out bow hunting every chance I can.”

Thing is, Levorchick says, he is upset that almost certainly many of the out-of-state anglers are making pit stops coming and going for things like fuel, food, snacks, and restroom breaks where possible.

“If they just drove here, launched their boats and fished, and then went home, I could care less,” Levorchick says.

Levorchick says even this modest proposal has met with some resistance, and is being “bad-mouthed” for even this modest proposal but that he is “trying to protect my people here in Ottawa County.”

The sheriff says also he believes that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is doing a “great job” of working to contain COVID-19.

Just what is at stake is reflected in fishing license sales. As for March 31, Ohio issued 3,639 annual non-resident fishing licenses. For the same period in 2019 that figure was 5,432 such licenses for, a 32 percent drop.

To-date three-day tag sales were down also – 47 percent, in fact – from 803 such documents issued in 2019 to 430 this years as of March 30th.

Likewise, one-day fishing license sales were down, though not by nearly as much. Here, 1,546 such documents were issued to-date in 2019 and 1,333 to-date as of March 30. That drop was 16 percent.

A solicitation for a response from Natural Resources Director Mertz has been made.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com