So if someone was intent on breaking the law they just wouldn't attach their zap strap to the fish.... same idea as not writing it down. Only thing is they could now plead that they had forgotten their tags at home rather than that they had forgotten their pen at home.
The point is; the only way you will start to deter lawbreakers is by providing more enforcement on the rivers. Of course as soon as there are more incidences of CO's checking fishermen the more complaints we'll hear of cash grabs and how unfair the CO's are.....
alwaysfishn, currently you can
appear legal by writing down your catch of steelhead, chinook, and trout from some areas of the shuswap. Then when you reach your quota you can simply reprint another licenses and star over and over, and over and over....
Therefor poachers will employ this tactic with no fear of the law as it now has no teeth. Now the majority of people they now catch will most likely be innocent(with out intent) and made nothing more than a simple mistake or in general aren't hurting the systems.
The old money paper licenses and other systems like tags would be something people can't really get around besides not recording, and therefor ticket. Today this no longer apply's and this law is really a money grab.
Remember... The law was created to prevent excess damage from being done by creating limits. As it stands now this law increases the damage and over fishing that can be done while appearing fully legal. This is a huge step backwards! Enforcing a law that now does nothing and has no merit is simply enforcing a rule just cuz it's a rule. That's not right!And really people.... How many keep more than 10 Chinook a year.... probably very few. The more one thinks about this law, it really is a cash grab as the government is not worried about this loophole being exploited, so then it would appear there is no problem and we're simply being taxed!!! BS