Squabbling over tournies could spell doom for them

The squabbling over fishing tournaments that has arisen in the Fort Frances area could very well spell the beginning of the end for they types of tournaments as we know them.
Personally, I have seen many of the tournaments function and never see very many fish that do not survive the tournament. Live release tournaments, especially ones of the grandest scales like the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship and the Rainy River Walleye Tournaments, take extra care to insure that the fish are going back to the water in the best possible condition.
At both the mentioned tournies a special solution rich with nutrients that help revitalize the fish is mixed into the prerelease tanks back stage.
I was surprised when RRWT started up that there were no MNR regulatory hoops to jump through. All that the tournament had to insure was that anglers followed the laws regarding daily catch and possession limits and other regulations that all anglers must follow.
So why is there a problem if an American wants to bring twelve teams up from the States to fish a US based tournament in Canadian waters? If they practise live release and buy their proper licenses and obey all the right laws then there shouldn’t be a problem. Heck they might even come back to our great country and spend some tourist dollars after they experience it first hand. After all, we all test drive the car before we buy it.
One camp owner in that region said it is a bad time to hold a tournament as cold weather is harder on the fish, but yet his camp holds one just a couple of weeks later when the climate is even harsher.
I think the sqawking is more about pride. I don’t feel there is a problem with any of the live release tournaments in the region and one more is certainly not going to hurt. In fact it helps raise the profiles of these fine fisheries.
Unfortunately now that the sqawking has begun we may see MNR step in and make it so tough to have a tournament that many will fade away, perhaps even our own; all over 12 boats.
–Until then,
Ken