FBC seeks to protect native fisheries with new rules
Area anglers and boaters should be aware of new regulations enacted, or proposed to be enacted, by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission at its meeting last month in Harrisburg.
The proposed regulation, if given final approval at the agency鈥檚 October meeting, will affect all boaters who use stand-on paddleboards.
Paddleboards are popular, and a relatively new development in aquatic recreation. Currently, paddleboards are not cited or mentioned in the Fish and Boat Commission鈥檚 regulations that require wearing of, or carrying on board, a lifejacket in certain circumstances and at certain times of year (cold water months).
The proposed regulation will list paddleboards as non-powered boats comparable with kayaks and canoes, and subject paddleboard users to the same lifejacket requirements.
Currently, children 12 and under are required to wear a lifejacket, at all times, on any boat of 20 feet or less, or on any kayak or canoe. The proposal would add paddleboats to that rule. Boaters over 12 years of age must have a lifejacket on board. For paddleboarders, there鈥檚 nowhere to carry a lifejacket on board, so paddleboarders may as well wear one.
Also, any occupant of a boat less than 16 feet, or any kayak or canoe, must wear a lifejacket between the dates of Nov. 1 and April 30 (cold water months).
The new proposal would extend that requirement to paddleboards.
The proposed regulation would also adopt U. S. Army Corps of Engineers rules for paddleboards that require all occupants of kayaks, canoes, or paddleboards to wear a lifejacket at all times when underway on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir or waterway, including Youghiogheny Reservoir. The lifejacket requirement on Army Corps waters applies to all kayak, canoe, and paddleboard boaters, at all times, regardless of age.
Anglers, members of many area sportsmen鈥檚 clubs, and sponsors of various events where fish are stocked for recreational fishing need to know about a new rule that did receive final approval from Fish and Boat commissioners.
Beginning Jan. 1, any individual, club, or entity that intends to stock fish in the waters of the Commonwealth must file a Notice of Stocking with the Fish and Boat Commission before the stocking occurs. 鈥淲aters of the Commonwealth,鈥� are defined in the regulation and embrace pretty much anywhere a person reading this is likely to fish, including most farm ponds. The only exclusions are ornamental landscape ponds, and commercial fish propagation facilities (private hatcheries) that are designed and equipped to prevent the accidental discharge of fish or fish eggs. Few farm ponds are so designed.
The Commission is still working out details. There will be a reporting form of some kind, not yet distributed, on which the stocking entity will provide the name of the individual or club doing the stocking, water to be stocked, location, date, species of fish, and source of the fish. There will most likely also be an online option for submitting the Notice to Stock. There鈥檚 no timeline yet identified for when the Notice must be filed prior to stocking.
Fish and Boat passed the new regulation because of the growing threat to native fisheries from invasive species of fish and other organisms, and the possibility of importing disease or parasites into native fish populations by stocking fish from an infected source. Invasive species, disease, and parasites are already threatening the stability of aquatic ecosystems in many parts of the state.
Fish and Boat did not impose this rule suddenly. Two years ago, the Commission originally proposed a stricter Stocking Permit, but revised the proposal to a Notice of Stocking after it considered comments from private hatcheries and sportsmen鈥檚 organizations. Thirty states require a permit or notification to stock fish in their waters, and Pennsylvania is the only state in the northeast without such a requirement.
鈥淔rom the start of this process, there was a consensus that Pennsylvania must do more to protect fish and other aquatic resources from the threat of invasive species and pathogens,鈥� said Robert B. J. Small, Fish and Boat Commission president. 鈥淭he Notice of Stocking will help us do that because we will know more about what is being stocked in our waters.鈥�