Law on the Mulberry

[robkanraft]

After the last round of these stories, I have a permanently secured mesh bag in my boat. I always strap my ice chest because it has a crappy lock. I have no qualms with reasonable law enforcement because I'm not trying to get away with anything and there's lot of fools out there. However, the whole reoccurring mesh bag and trash issue makes me nervous about picking up other's trash, especially bottles which we saw on the banks last trip. If I had a mesh bag or cooler full of someone else's glass bottles and get checked, am I subject to a citation?

[magicmike]

The whole thing just reeks of "over enforcement/under education". If their real intent was to do something about the trash problem, why not have maybe only 2 guys sitting in lawn chairs looking for bikinis? And spend the taxpayers money on a stack of mesh bags, and hand them out while intelligently explaining to folks the benefits of "leave no trace"?-M-

[Yarbrough]

Nothing new. They set up there all the time. What I thought was a joke is I counted 8 of them sitting in lawn chairs with binoculars and 2 in yaks paddling out to meet/inspect boats. They were polite enough but what a waste of dollars to get paid sitting in lawn chairs on the river doing nothing.

I disagree Panicman. The 10 of them were very productive that day. Productive in creating revenue. That is the whole point. Arkansas Game and Fish have proven over the last 15 years that they are not concerned with stopping glass from getting on the river. They are concerned with generating revenue from the unknowing public.

My comments may seem harsh if this is the first time you have ever read about this tactic. It probably seems spot on when you see them let people get on the river with glass.(not stop them) Then fine them when once they are on the river with glass. They do this over and over and over.

As far as the mesh bag vs sturdy container. The change in law for a sturdy container was not their idea. They were opposed to it. Hence their on purpose lack of knowledge.

[Ryan Center]

I have a somewhat lenghlty post about this on my Facebook page. And a good friend of mine that has been boating for years stated that she never knew about the law about a floatable container for her drinks. I know this girl and her husband personally and they are like the most of us who hate litter and always pick up a little while on the water, hiking, or wherever. If she was ever checked, she would have probably been ticketed.
What can we do to inform the people who have no idea? It's one thing to be a person who doesn't give a hoot, it's another that has no idea and until they are being writen a ticket!!

I sat in the eddy below where they was writing the tickets and seen several in a 30 minute span handed out.

It made me so upset, I had to go and confront the officers while they was sitting in thier lawn chairs.
It was very obvious, they have no intention to educate other than giving you a citation for your ignorance!

Fed up!

[Deuce]

Ryan, I completely understand your position, but the floating beverage holder law is not a recent development. Your friend's FB post leads me to believe they generally only have open containers during a break, in which case the rule doesn't apply. However, ignorance of the law doesn't exempt one from the consequences of violating it.

A thread on this subject generates the same kinds of comments every time, many of them based on misinformation(that's not directed at you). It's easy to complain on line, but I ask again. Does anyone who was there plan to reach out to someone who's in a position to do something? I would, but I wasn't there. Next time I witness this kind of dumbassery I will as soon as possible call it to the appropriate person's attention, but if I'm the only one who does this I'm just some clown who thinks he's smarter than the authorities.

So, who's gonna call Major Callaway (or whoever's in charge of enforcement these days)? Anyone? Bueller?

[kru1]

Sorry I have been busy.

I don't know what I could call to complain about. They did there job, checked my stuff and let me go.

An AG&F officer paddled up to my boat, looked in and said
"you got a cooler that is strapped down, your beverage is in a coozie, you have secure dry bags strapped to your thwarts, everything looks good. Do you have glass in your cooler? (I showed him that I did not) Everything looks good have a great day"

I didn't complain about that in my OP. I was just giving people a heads up, that the law showed up on the Mulberry for the first time in my life.

I can't vouch for the people who got tickets. Most likely they were not in compliance in some form or fashion. I did not approach them or the officers.

kru

[magicmike]

From the 2015 Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing guidebook.

[Deuce]

From the 2015 Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing guidebook.

Dadgummit! It's correct on the web site but not in the most current guide book. Great job, guys!

[Tim Eubanks]

If you go back up to Luke's initial post regarding Surf N Turf. The person who got ticked for prescription drugs did not have them in his prescription bottle with his name on it therefore the ticket and seized I believe. So if you need medication with you make sure it is in your prescription bottle with your name on it. fyi Cyndy

[Canoe_Codger]

From the 2015 Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing guidebook.

Dadgummit! It's correct on the web site but not in the most current guide book. Great job, guys!

I'm not a lawyer but I play one on the internet. A law is binding and in effect when properly published by the legislature (Arkansas Code Annotated), not when some ancillary guide freely available to the public announces it. And... the fishing guide, which not everyone sees since not everyone fishes, is not intended to be the definitive guide to Arkansas law which it references and I believe that in the copies I can remember it is plainly so stated.

I could be wrong. Ask my ex-wife.

Oh, and none of this excuses law enforcement officers from not knowing the law they are charged with enforcing.

[Chicago Bob]

I don't know much about the law except what I've read on the board, but I can tell you that I do a lot of river cleaning and I find a lot of mesh bags caught in brush or branches. Most of these bags contain no trash. BOB

[magicmike]

From Arkansas Game and Fish website.

[magicmike]

Must.....May.....? Seems as if we could use a lawyer.

[Max Carruth]

If you go back up to Luke's initial post regarding Surf N Turf. The person who got ticked for prescription drugs did not have them in his prescription bottle with his name on it therefore the ticket and seized I believe. So if you need medication with you make sure it is in your prescription bottle with your name on it. fyi Cyndy

I agree with having them in their original bottle with name and dose on it, but if you don't have your ID on you to show your the name on the bottle they will take them anyways, ticket you or take you to jail for possession of a controlled substance. Which in recent years has proven to hold more penalty by law than actual illegal drugs. I'd leave them in the car and avoid the whole situation. I'm also with panicman, in the statement of which they are there quite often. You can expect to see them in this location and 100 yards below sack especially on weekends with a lot of renters on the water. Why aren't they at the putins keeping the river cleaner? Meaning the people that bring glass, but they turn over and loose all they glass trash in the bottom of the river don't get a ticket. The people that carry it out get the ticket? Are they really there to help the river or help their quotas for the month?

[Cowper]

If I had a mesh bag or cooler full of someone else's glass bottles and get checked, am I subject to a citation?

No. And Yes.

NO, the law is very clear on this point: 8-6-418, (a)(2) states: "A person engaged in removing glass previously discarded by others and found within the banks of an Arkansas navigable waterway may not be charged with a violation of this section on the basis of possession of glass, if while underway and upon a waterway, he or she transports the removed glass securely in a trash container."

YES, since some of the officers don't know what the law says, you might get cited. You will be able to get the citation cancelled by calling the right people Monday morning.

This was one of the biggest reasons the ACC went to the lawmakers and asked them to revise the law after it first came out in 2001. We explained that they had effectively made it illegal for us to do river cleanups. We couldn't get glass, we couldn't carry out anything that wouldn't fit in the mesh bags. The revision, which is still the current law to this day, addressed those concerns, and also added the ban on Styrofoam ice chests.

I'll bring a stack of laminated copies to school this weekend. The lamination was just cut at the edges, so they aren't truly waterproof, but they will last several trips, especially if kept in your drybag.