MANSFIELD — A renewed interest in outdoor activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn more people out to their local fishing holes, according to Richland County Wildlife Officer Greg Wasilewski.
“With COVID, a lot of people have been going out fishing and taking up outdoor sports,” Wasilewski said.
Wasilewski, who has been a wildlife officer for nearly 25 years, describes his primary role in the community as that of law enforcement, enforcing hunting and fishing regulations. Additionally, Wasilewski will assist farmers and property owners in dealing with wild animals.
He also participates in educational programs at schools and instructs hunter-education courses.
Wildlife officers routinely patrol public lakes checking anglers for fishing license compliance and enforce site-specific regulations such as size and bag limits on fish.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has done its best to promote outdoor sports during the pandemic. They’ve tackled this task by posting videos on their social media teaching people how to go frog hunting and how to get involved in other outdoor activities.
Wasilewski said most people out fishing seem to be complying with state regulations and have valid fishing licenses. However, violations are still taking place with often unintended consequences.
“Probably one of the biggest violations is litter,” Wasilewski said. “If you go down fishing with your family and you take some bait and it’s a hot summer day, the worms won’t last very long in the sunlight.
“The worms are going to start to stink, they carry them in but then they don’t want to carry them out.”
Two of the most damaging types of litter are disposable drink containers and fishing line, he said.
“With geese and any waterfowl or anything wading in the water, there’s a chance of it getting mixed up in fishing line and the plastic container six packs come in,” said Gail Laux, Executive Director of the Ohio Bird Sanctuary. “We’ve had the ducks where the filament has basically sliced their legs. We’ve had owls entangled in fishing lines.
“So let’s say you go fishing and you cast your line and snag it in a tree, we have it where an owl doesn’t see it and they get hung up by their wings.”
Wasilewski is unsure if this current surge of people participating in outdoor sports will continue into hunting season. He cited the decline in the popularity of hunting which has seen a drastic decline in recent years.
In 2005 almost 426,000 hunting licenses purchased in the state while in 2019 only 376,435 were purchased according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Still, COVID-19 has changed so many aspects of life, that could change, too.
