(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — An Indiana bill up for debate intends to crack down on what some Hoosiers called “destructive” fishing practices that wreak havoc on minnow populations in the state’s rivers and streams. Current law permits minnows to be caught with nets for the purpose of bait fishing. Senate Bill 121, authored by Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, would allow anglers to collect the small freshwater fish, but only a quantity that can be used with a fishing pole as bait. “Anything that you’re not using that day” would have to go back in water, Deery said. The measure advanced 7-1 with bipartisan support from the Senate Natural Resources Committee on Monday and now heads to the full chamber. The impetus for the bill, Deery said, is “a number of individuals … of a culture where it is appropriate” to fish minnows not for sport, but “just for consumption purposes.” The senator did not cite a specific ethnic group in his remarks, but one witness referred to overfishing in Indiana waterways by immigrants from Myanmar. “Some of our laws protecting our rivers, and particularly the aquatic life in those rivers and streams, were written at a time when it was, frankly, inconceivable that individuals may want to go put out a net, catch everything they can, and then consume everything that they can … not for fishing with line and pole purposes,” Deery told the committee. “The bill is intended to make it a little easier for our conservation officers to enforce current laws, but also to update our laws.” The measure additionally includes a special protection for Sugar Creek, a roughly 93-mile stream that flows southwest from Tipton County and into the Wabash River. The current draft of the bill stipulates that no minnows could be collected from Sugar Creek under any circumstances — not even for bait fishing. Anglers could still buy minnows from a dealer and fish with them in the waterway, however. Deery called it “an area where these abusive practices have been particularly acute.” Chad Miller, a Sugar Creek fishing guide, said net fishing for minnows has caused large amounts of fish and other marine life in the west-central Indiana waterway to be killed. “That creek is my life. It’s being destroyed — systematically destroyed. … That creek has got to be able to be healed. It’s out of control,” Miller said. He pointed to droves of dead minnows he’s witnessed along the creek shores, as well as other dead species, like logperches, darters and walleyes. “The bottom of the ecosystem has to be there for all those other species to thrive,” Miller continued. “This killing, it’s reckless — not sustainable in the least.” Provisions in the bill would put a statewide ban on using dip nets, cast nets, traps and seine fishing for collecting minnows beyond what can be used by anglers for baitfish purposes. An angler collecting minnows is also required to “possesses a pole and line needed to fish.” Only an amount of minnows that can be “reasonably used before the end of the day” would be permitted. Any unused minnows would have to be returned to the same waterway from which the minnows were caught, according to the bill. rohibitions would not apply to licensed scientists or bait dealers. Chris Smith, DNR’s deputy director, noted that state law already prohibits sport fish from being taken by net. Even so, he asked lawmakers to “tighten” enforcement language in the bill, and urged caution “when adopting rules for different bodies of water.” “People can get on a body of water that they’re used to being on, and then they make the trip over to Sugar Creek. So they’re they’re used to collecting bait, using it, putting it back, and then all of a sudden, you’re in a scenario where that isn’t allowed,” Smith said. “Having different rules for different areas is always a tricky bag.” Smith said, too, that clarification is needed to address whether both living and dead minnows should be dumped back into the water if not used. “If they’re dead, then I can see us getting called out for a fish kill if somebody’s dumped a pretty good substantial amount of dead minnows,” he said. Combating disease in Indiana deer Also up for consideration is Senate Bill 32, authored by Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, requiring Indiana’s Board of Animal Health to establish a pilot program to combat chronic wasting disease in deer. Chronic wasting disease, also known as CWD, is a deadly neurological disease that affects white-tailed deer. In August, DNR confirmed the state’s first positive case of CWD in northern Indiana’s LaGrange County. The positive case was and is adjacent to a region in Michigan where the disease has previously been detected. DNR has since defined LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb counties as a “CWD Positive Area,” where special regulatory actions are being taken to reduce spread of the disease.  Although CWD positive deer have only been detected in LaGrange County, state officials said expanded monitoring — and prohibiting white-tailed deer from being moved from those four counties — benefits containment efforts. The pilot program outlined in Glick’s proposal intends to “enhance the genetic durability of Indiana’s white-tailed deer population” by requiring DNA samples of free-range deer to be collected and tested, and creating a captive breeding program for deer that are found to be genetically resistant to CWD. A proposed amendment to the bill further establishes $500 annual permits that allow individuals to purchase white-tailed deer bred from the pilot program during certain times of year. Glick held the bill from a vote on Monday, though, saying further changes to the bill might be needed to address concerns about how and when deer from the program should be released into the wild. Helping locals combat invasive species Senate Bill 211, also authored by Glick, separately seeks to allow dollars from the state’s Clean Water Indiana Fund to be used by local soil and water conservation districts for invasive plant species management. The most recent state budget earmarked $6 million for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 for the clean water fund, which is administered by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture’s Division of Soil Conservation. On top of those appropriations, the fund receives about $2.5 million annually from the Cigarette Tax Fund, according to legislative fiscal documents. Glick said it’s often “the small streams that go into lakes and rivers” where non-native plants and vegetation cause the most damage. She said the bill would make available additional aid for combatting and eradicating invasive species. The bill unanimously passed out of the committee, sending it to the full Senate. This story has been updated to clarify provisions in Senate Bill 121.