DNR and City Manager Weigh in on Illegal Fishing Ban at City Marina

[XLFD]

On July 16th, I sent a complaint to the Report All Poaching (RAP) website concerning a recent policy move by the management at the Ludington Municipal Marina (LMM).  The RAP site is not only used for reporting illegal hunting when you see it happen, but also for reporting any sort of DNR enforced violation that you witness.  The problem summarized was that the marina manager had erected multiple "No Fishing" signs around the perimeter of the LMM (and even at the Harbor View Marina (HVM), leased by the city) in area that had allowed for fishing for over 40 years without any policy change to be found by the Ludington Marina Board or the city council (read more here).  This complaint read as follows:

                             The east end of the LMM, before it was cluttered with illegitimate "no fishing" signs

"Someone, thought to be the Ludington Municipal Marina (LMM) staff and manager, erected 4 signs around the east and SE perimeter of the LMM that simply said "No Fishing" and had a picture of someone fishing with a red circle and slash around it below that. The LMM was built around 1980 and has allowed fishing in that area for 45 years; it is public and navigable waters, and nothing changed about that before the erection of the signs. As such these fishing locations are protected by the Michigan Public Trust Doctrine, which mandates that the state has a duty to protect and manage these for public use and enjoyment, ergo fishing by the public is lawful there. Harassing or impeding those who want to fish there is unlawful, especially by a public agency under jurisdiction of state laws, using a power that they do not possess by erecting these signs prohibiting lawful conduct. Additionally, these unlawful signs appear to have been purchased using public money and placed by public agents in the course of their public employment. Additionally, there is no legal authority behind these signs, as the local city code has a process that wasn't followed in order to empower such signs, nor has the city council passed such regulation or policy to do so. Summarizing, this could be 1) A violation of Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL 324.40112) protecting anglers from obstruction, 2)

A breach of federal grant rules (LWCF, Waterways Fund) requiring public, nondiscriminatory shoreline access, and 3) a betrayal of public trust rights enshrined in both Michigan common law and the Constitution. City-ran, state-owned Harbor View Marina also has a similar "No Fishing" sign in its NE corner. By hearsay, it appears to be a knee-jerk reaction by the marina and city managers to appease charter boats that berth on a dock nearby. If charter slip holders or unapproved city policy is preventing fishing access without legal basis, then this is more than a sign — it’s exclusion by design."

This complainant received a phone call from a DNR conservation officer early in the afternoon of July 18th, and we discussed some of the issues involved for about 30 minutes.  While it was civil enough on both sides, with a few instances when my passion for justice and the government's duty to follow the law were voiced at a higher octave than casual conversation, the inevitable result was that the law enforcement agency for the DNR would take no action to reestablish fishing rights at the publicly-owned marina, sanction the marina manager's unlawful action, or even confer with the city's agents in order to make sure whether the actions taken were lawful. 

I knew that the overall arguments being made by the officer was specious when he refused to send me a written report of his official findings to support the words that I was hearing on the phone.  Public officials who know that they are taking a path unsupported by law and policy will always call you and try their best to obfuscate the issue, but refuse to put it down in writing or have their words recorded, because they know it's garbage.  

His arguments hinged on saying that local governments have their own powers to establish rules at their public facilities, which is inarguable, but there is always a potential problem when they violate state laws and even their own rules when doing so.   I was encouraged to address the city's council if such rules were not being followed, I informed him that I had done so four days earlier without any reply to my concerns and I had written an article in the Ludington Torch explaining the city's violations, which were mostly separate from the ones I brought to the state's attention in my RAP complaint.

 

One thing I could never figure out was that if any person without any legal authority was taking a role in actively preventing you from fishing at the city marina that would definitely be against the law, but if one replaces the word 'person' with 'sign erected by city officials', it somehow became legal.  This is a corrupt culture of elitism that runs deep in our public officials when gauging their own actions with that of members of the public.

He never had a good response for the sign at HVM, being that it was state property, rather than that of a political subdivision.  Even if the city had followed its own laws (which it didn't), that sign on state land which was supposedly public seemed to violate the rights of the people.  By the time the call was over, I had gone through a litany of issues regarding the breaking of state DNR rules by the city's marinas over the last 40 years; unfortunately, this was just a conservation officer and not someone who would be able to affect policy, so until his superiors start making public marinas follow state laws, there wasn't likely any benefit to be gained by the airing of such grievances.

But maybe there was, because an hour or two after my call with a state official who indicated that he wasn't going to consult with the city in regard to the issues I complained about, I received an email from Ludington City Manager Kaitlyn Aldrich which said in full:

"I understand you have concerns regarding fishing access along the break wall in Waterfront Park. I wanted to take a moment to provide some background on the recent changes to this activity in the park.
Over the past several months, the City has experienced repeated incidents involving a specific group of individuals, primarily youth, who were fishing in the park and engaging in inappropriate and damaging behavior. This included damage to both City property and private property nearby.
Our Marina staff, the Marina Manager, police officers, and even our Police Captain personally engaged with this group on multiple occasions to address their conduct and provide opportunities to correct it. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, the problematic behavior continued. As a result, I issued trespass orders to several individuals from Waterfront Park. Even with those actions, the issues persisted, and we continued to receive complaints from condo owners, marina slip holders, visitors to the park, and others. The common thread in these complaints was that the individuals involved were coming to the park with their fishing gear.
Under Section 38-63 of the Ludington City Code, the City Manager is authorized to establish additional rules and regulations necessary to protect public property and to safeguard the safety, health, and welfare of the public. After over a month of attempts to resolve these issues through education and enforcement, I made the decision to expand the "no fishing" area within Waterfront Park, limiting fishing access to only the furthest west strip of the park.
This decision was not made lightly, nor is it intended to be permanent. I fully support the public's right to fish in our parks, which is why fishing remains permitted along the westernmost boundary of Waterfront Park. While not a perfect solution, this change has resulted in noticeable improvements in park conditions and park user experiences over the past few weeks.
We will continue to monitor the situation, and I will revisit the change at the end of the summer. Thank you."

While my FOIA request for complaints, trespass orders, police reports, and pictures of damage caused by fisherfolk is pending, I write this article; but her words don't explain away why her action was illegal in the first place, as we noted in our other article, a section from the city code that applies strictly to making rules governing the LMM and the city manager's role in such rules:

This is a marina that permanently (albeit seasonally) houses private enterprises (charter boats) immediately next to the areas being flagged illegal to fish at; this is not public parkland as the city manager wishes it to be.  Her declaration is an abuse of authority, and one hopes that it is solely based on her ignorance of the city code section that governs the city's marinas and their rules. 

The process to make temporary rules is to write them up, file a copy with the city clerk, and post it at conspicuous places in the marina to make them legit.  Putting up signs that takes away state-established rights without any authority to do so is a violation of the law and a violation of the public trust, and we shouldn't care whether these allegations against fisherfolk are true or not, the city government violated the law in a much worse way. 

[Jefferson F. Henry]

Tom’s RAP complaint and DNR’s response confirm a troubling pattern:

Public fishing rights on state-leased, federally funded waterfronts are being taken away—not through public ordinance or emergency action, but by informal signs, hearsay, and vague references to a few misbehaving youth.

➡️ No proper rulemaking occurred under Sec. 66-141 of the Ludington City Code. ➡️ No marina board approval or public notice process. ➡️ No grant compliance review, even though these areas are bound by LWCF and Waterways Fund rules requiring open, nondiscriminatory access.
➡️ And most alarmingly, the DNR enforcement officer refused to act or even issue written findings.

This isn’t just local mismanagement — it’s a violation of state law and public trust doctrine. And the pattern is clear: as commercial charter operators complain, public rights shrink. We’re witnessing exclusion by design.

We thank Tom for stepping forward. And we urge others: file your own RAP complaint, and demand written answers.

You can also view the full legal background and supporting documents at: 🌐 https://pmlake.org

[XLFD]

Depending on the results of my FOIA request, we may also find out that the unauthorized signs were justified using some unnamed youths as scapegoats-- convenient fall guys whose names they will likely and unlawfully cover-up on the FOIA response I eventually receive.  CM Aldrich's integrity is on the line here, and I think she will fail the test, that is, if she doesn't try to block a meaningful, lawful response (which will shatter her integrity even more).

[Daniel Jensen]

This particular problem seems to have migrated south, along the michigan shoreline, to whitefish bay, just as the hummingbirds do towards winter. Only problem is.. its not fall, its the height of the tourist fishing tournament season.

[XLFD]

The appearance of these signs a week or two before Ludington's major fishing tournament of the summer, the city manager's admission that they were meant to be temporary, has me thinking that there was more than coincidence here between the two.