BOLLES HARBOR, Mich — It was more than a little choppy out on western Lake Erie on Monday, with strong winds mass-producing waves of five to eight feet high, and a few 10-footers roiling across the open water.
But there was a tempest already churning in the state and the region long before this big blow started, and this storm’s origin was not related to the intense pressure gradient that scoured the landscape, snapped trees and power lines, and stirred up a healthy froth on the lake.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ignited this other cyclone with her executive order that went into effect at midnight Friday, banning all use of motorized boats in the state, including any fishing boat with gas or electric power.
The governor’s dictum seemed akin to putting most of the state’s more than 800,000 fishermen in solitary confinement, based on the actions of a few miscreants. She used a scattergun and took out a flotilla of law-abiding, quarantine-abiding, social-distancing abiding and sensible anglers, with the hope she just might nail a few violators, and look good in the process.
Michigan was already policing the boat ramps along the lake and those on the Detroit River, and people fishing from the same boat had to provide identification that showed they were from the same household, or face a stiff fine. That made sense, so husbands and wives, fathers and sons, moms and daughters, or solo anglers could still get out on the water, shake off the neurosis that “stuck inside these four walls” can generate, and maintain the safety guidelines associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
It is possible to have the boat launches along the lake and the river be utilized by many, but also have those fishermen practice patience and safe spacing while at the docks. The majority have done just that — they don’t want to get sick, or bring the virus home to their families.
Granted, this is serious stuff. The disease is highly contagious and people are dying. And Michigan, specifically metro Detroit, has proved to be a particularly compliant petri dish for the virus. The state had nearly 25,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Monday, while neighboring Ohio’s confirmed case count was closer to 7,000.
With a population of almost two million more people in Ohio, but roughly one-fourth the number of cases of coronavirus that Michigan has experienced — what gives? Could it be that the Michigan governor has been a few furlongs behind Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine when it comes to properly managing the crisis, issuing sensible orders, and never shooting from the hip? Could it be that her boating ban falls under the confusing heading of “too much, and too late”?
Her no-ships-ahoy edict appears to be the latest in a bureaucratic daisy chain of missteps, confusion and flinging arrows from the top floor in Lansing, hoping something gets close to the target. The conversations at the Tower of Babel construction site might have had more continuity than some of the pages in the Whitmer coronavirus playbook.
Her most recent order says sailing is OK and cites kayaking and canoeing as permissible, but with water temperatures in the low 40s on the Detroit River and barely 50 degrees in Lake Erie, this isn’t the time of year to be encouraging those two activities. Further confoundment is generated by the additional details in the governor’s order — motorized boating is prohibited, but the boat launches remain open, while the restrooms at the launches remain closed.
Speaker of the Michigan House Lee Chatfield jumped on Twitter to express his bewilderment with the Whitmer directives. "Non-essential in Michigan: Lawn care, construction, fishing if boating with a motor, realtors, buying seeds, home improvement equipment & gardening supplies. Essential in Michigan: Marijuana, lottery & alcohol. Let’s be safe & reasonable. Right now, we’re not!"
U.S. Rep. Justin Amash said Whitmer crossed a bridge too far with the boating ban and he suspected it will diminish any confidence in her ability to lead the state in a time of crisis.
"Several recent measures provide marginal benefits at best, while substantially heightening frustration and resentment," Amash wrote on Twitter. "Sensible instructions to practice social distancing, wear masks, and stay at home already do most of the work to reduce the virus’s spread. By pushing too far, the governor undermines her own authority and increases the likelihood people will not follow reasonable guidelines."
Michigan has had some very serious issues related to the wanton disregard of the coronavirus guidelines and restrictions. Detroit police have reportedly dealt with “hundreds of gatherings” taking place around the city where residents appeared to view the quarantine period as party time. Police received nearly 1,000 calls on possible violations in a single day earlier this month. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan expressed frustration with the repeated violations. "I am not going to have police officers making the same runs to the same people who refuse to comply," Duggan said at a recent news conference on the pandemic.
In response to the governor’s naval lockdown, Johnny Morris, founder of Bass Pro Shops, made an Easter Sunday appeal for a more reasonable approach in Michigan. Morris stressed that Bass Pro supports social distancing and stands 100 percent with healthcare workers, but he is convinced that anglers can go fishing and still act responsibly.
“I just think in these rough times, one of the joys we all have is to get outdoors in nature and reconnect with our families and friends,” Morris said, indicating that he had heard from fishermen in Michigan outraged by the boating ban.
“They are very alarmed, and me too, about what’s happening in the state of Michigan, and in some of the other parts of our country,” he said. “We all have to stand together for the great outdoors and the great sports of hunting and fishing.”
Mark Zona, a professional angler from Sturgis, Mich., with a prominent presence on fishing shows on cable, called Gov. Whitmer’s order “the most asinine thing I have ever heard.
“If I want to go fishing alone, or with my dog Zackers, or my wife, I can’t do that,” Zona said. “There has not been a lot of good that has come out in the last month, but I have seen fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters out on our lakes.”
Amy Trotter, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said that while her more than 40,000-member organization had voiced support for the recent closure of the fishing site at Tippy Dam where the social distancing guidelines were being disregarded by crowds of people, the open-water boating ban is a drastic overreach.
There is a huge difference between anglers stacked shoulder-to-shoulder in the river or at the dam, and a husband and wife or a father and son fishing from a boat out in Lake Erie.
“This executive order is using a hatchet where a scalpel was appropriate and necessary,” Trotter said.
First Published April 13, 2020, 6:33 p.m.
