PAFB Commission updates

[Acristickid]

From Pittsburgh Tribune Review-

Efforts to convince people who bought multi-year fishing licenses in the past to buy again largely appear to have worked.

Steve Kralik, chief of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's bureau of outreach, education and marketing, said the commission sent postcard reminders to 21,837 lapsed multi-year license buyers this year.

As of July 7, 70.7 percent purchased a new license. About 63 percent bought another multi-year tag, while some opted for an annual license and others a senior lifetime license.

The commission is debating whether to do another postcard mailing, executive director John Arway said.

Board member Eric Hussar of Union County, a business owner, said the effort to stay in touch with former customers makes sense.

“It's a part of business. We should do it again next year, the next five years. It's a strategy,” he said.

Overall, licenses sales through the mid-point of this year are running above the long-term average, said Bernie Matscavage, director of the commission's bureau of administration.

STEELHEAD ACCESS

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissioners acquired access to 1,160 feet of Elk Creek in Erie County for $20,000 at their recent meeting. It's located off Elk Creek Road across the stream from Girard Borough Park and will allow anglers to seek steelhead.

Bob Frye is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via @bobfryeoutdoors.

 

[Acristickid]

More PAFB updates-

FIRST PROJECT SELECTED FOR S.O.S. CAMPAIGN

Fishing License S.O.S. ButtonThrough mid-July, concerned citizens have raised more than $50,000 for the “S.O.S. – Save Our Susquehanna!” campaign, which is entering its second year. “The ‘Save Our Susquehanna’ message continues to resonate with anglers, sportsmen’s clubs, conservationists and with others who care about the river,” said PFBC Executive Director John Arway during an update at the PFBC’s quarterly business meeting July 11-12. “We’ve exceeded our goal of $50,000 and with the Commission’s $50,000 match, we now have $100,000 to start working on the first water and soil conservation project along the river.”

Arway announced that the first project will be in Limestone Run, a tributary to the Susquehanna River that runs through Montour and Northumberland counties. PFBC habitat staff will work with a local farmer to stabilize the stream banks to prevent erosion and reduce the amount of sediment and nutrients that enter the creek and ultimately the Susquehanna River.

He also noted that the new 2016 S.O.S. button is now available for $10 from the Outdoor Shop online and at all fishing license issuing agents. The funds from button sales and donations to the S.O.S campaign will continue to be used to improve the water quality of the Susquehanna River, which is important for the long-term health of the smallmouth bass fishery.

You can also donate directly to the S.O.S. campaign via the Ralph W. Abele Conservation Scholarship Fund FirstGiving page.

NOTE: On July 28, DEP notified the PFBC that they will not list the Susquehanna River as impaired. DEP staff will continue to collect and evaluate data to make a “final” decision in their 2018 Integrated Report. The 2016 Report is currently available for public comment through Sep. 12, 2016. The PFBC recommends that anyone concerned about the future of the river and health of the Smallmouth Bass provide comments to DEP at ecomment@pa.gov or DEP, Policy Office, RCSOB, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063.

 

[Acristickid]

GRANTS AWARDED

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission awarded $350,000 in grants to conservation groups working on projects to restore fish and wetlands in Elk, Potter, McKean and Cameron counties.

The money comes from a $7.35 million settlement with Norfolk Southern for a 2006 train derailment. The commission got $3.675 million of that money, with the rest going to the state.

Projects funded in this latest round of grant funding include construction of acid mine drainage treatment facilities, riparian buffer and in-stream habitat development work, expansion of a fish hatchery, and research to assess blockages to fish movement.

The commission still has about $1.2 million left to award in future grants.

From Pittsburgh Tribune Review

 

[troutbert]

acristickid wrote:
GRANTS AWARDED

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission awarded $350,000 in grants to conservation groups working on projects to restore fish and wetlands in Elk, Potter, McKean and Cameron counties.

...expansion of a fish hatchery...

Ummm.

Contradictory, isn't it?

Does anyone know which fish hatchery?

 

[Maurice]

troutbert wrote:

acristickid wrote:
GRANTS AWARDED

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission awarded $350,000 in grants to conservation groups working on projects to restore fish and wetlands in Elk, Potter, McKean and Cameron counties.

...expansion of a fish hatchery...

Ummm.

Contradictory, isn't it?

Does anyone know which fish hatchery?

Probably the one that stocks over wild trout. LOL.

 

[troutbert]

Maurice wrote:

troutbert wrote:

acristickid wrote:
GRANTS AWARDED

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission awarded $350,000 in grants to conservation groups working on projects to restore fish and wetlands in Elk, Potter, McKean and Cameron counties.

...expansion of a fish hatchery...

Ummm.

Contradictory, isn't it?

Does anyone know which fish hatchery?

Probably the one that stocks over wild trout. LOL.

That wouldn't narrow things down much.

 

[Acristickid]

Couple quips about wild trout from last meeting - from Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Wild trout, and wild browns in particular, are generating some talk within the Fish and Boat Commission these days.

Wild trout have been a focus of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for the last several years now.

Might a change be in the works?

The commission – using its own staff and college students – has been conducting what’s known as the unassessed waters initiative. It’s an attempt to survey streams never before looked at to find out what’s swimming in them and provide a baseline of data.

The result has been hundreds of stream sections added to the commission’s wild trout waters list, and lots more added to its list of Class A waters, which recognizes the best of the best wild trout fisheries.

At the board’s September meeting, for example, it added 99 waters to the wild trout list and four to the Class A list. That included five stream sections in Fayette and Westmoreland counties, four in Cambria, seven in Indiana and Jefferson and seven in Somerset.

Commissioners Ed Mascharka of Erie County and Glade Squires of Chester, though, pointed out that some of the streams on the lists are home to brown trout. They’re not native to Pennsylvania.

Mascahrka said he’d like the commission to look at the criteria it uses for determining whether trout in a stream are wild, for example. He wants to make sure they weren’t planted there by a cooperative nursery.

Squires, meanwhile, said he’d like better clarification on how the commission is prioritizing which streams to survey.

At one time, Marcellus shale drilling activity was the driving factor, said commission executive director John Arway.

There’s little such activity going on right now, though, Squires said. Perhaps, he suggested, the urgency to survey these streams has slowed, too.

At the least, commissioners want to know more about what’s being done with wild trout and why, he said.

“We’d like to see this program a bit more defined,” Squires added.

The request left commission staff with questions.

Arway and Andy Shiels, director of the commission’s bureau of fisheries, both said they were unclear on what more the board wants.

Arway pointed out that the commission’s standards for what qualifies as a wild trout water is defined by the “biomass” — or weight of fish per stream segment – in policy. They’ve existed for 30 years.

He defended continuing that surveying using those standards, too. The state Department of Environmental protection won’t protect a stream it knows nothing about, he said.

“I think this is a legacy program. I think when our descendants look back 150 years from now, they’re going to say we did the right thing,” Arway said.

Commissioner Len Lichvar of Boswell agreed. He said surveying wild trout streams is tied to protecting water quality, conservation and partnerships as much as anything.

“It’s not just about fish and fishermen. What we do here is broader than that,” Lichvar said.

Squires said the program needs to be more “transparent” for the public’s sake, though.

Another commission suggested the issue might be one of explanation.

“We have a job to do. We have to do it,” said commissioner Bill Sabatose of Elk County of protecting trout and streams.

But he agreed that the commission could do a better job explaining itself to people inside and outside the agency.