Upper Delaware River PFBC & NYDEC Meeting

[afishinado]

From the PFBC site:

03/25/2019

PFBC TO HOST MEETING ON DELAWARE TAILWATERS TROUT FISHERY

HARRISBURG, PA (March 25) -- The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) announced today that it will hold a joint public meeting with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) on Tuesday, April 9, to outline progress being made towards survey work identified in the 2018-2020 Fisheries Investigation Plan for the Delaware TailwatersOpens In A New Window.

The meeting will be held at Hancock High School, 67 Education Lane, Hancock NY, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

The Delaware Tailwaters system consists of the East and West branch tailwaters and the main stem of the Delaware River downstream to Damsacus Township, PA and Callicoon, NY. The purpose of this intensive investigative effort is to gather the information needed for the development of a new fisheries management plan for this important wild trout fishery.

At the meeting, biologists will present initial results from the first year of survey activities such as monthly electrofishing, spawning redd counts, trout tagging and an angler creel survey. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, learn about planned activities for 2019, and how they can support PFBC and NYSDEC efforts.


Link to source>
https://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/fish-and-Boat-Commission-Details.aspx?newsid=247

Plan details>
http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/112782.html

 

[krayfish2]

I'll be interested to see what information they have to release.

 

[Mike]

Just click on the plan details link above. It outlines the study activities and thus the most likely topics of the year one results bearing in mind that there is another year of study to complete.

 

[krayfish2]

Clicking on the link doesn't give me the information collected or the information that they choose to release. I'll wait for the follow up to the meeting.

 

[CLSports]

A guide buddy of mine was at the meeting. The question was specifically asked about any NYDEC or PFBC ramp closures including access at Stilesville and Hale Eddy. They stated there were no changes at any access areas.

 

[krayfish2]

Very interesting. Moon has gone past Hale several times and keeps texting photos of no rocks blocking access. I'll make a call to a local and see if he's got any updates.

 

[krayfish2]

I looked over some of the information and put a little of it below.



Highlights from 2018 field work

Fishery-independent Biological Data Collection

Night-time boat electrofishing (4 sites)
•2017 - 30 independent samples. 830 brown trout and 45 rainbow trout captured
•2018 - 36 independent samples. 1221 brown trout and 147 rainbow trout captured

Day-time backpack electrofishing (15 sites)
•2017 - 42 independent samples. 1571 brown trout and 1119 rainbow trout captured
•2018 - 38 independent samples. 1932 brown trout and 452 rainbow trout captured


Redd Counts

•2017: 1076 brown trout redds recorded in West Branch Delaware River. No counts occurred in East Branch or any tributaries

•2018: 82 rainbow trout redds counted by volunteers in the spring

29 in West Branch tributaries
36 in East Branch tributaries
17 in Delaware River tributaries


•2018 Brown trout redd counts canceled due to high autumn flows


Fishery-dependent Data Collection

2018 Creel Survey
•3,851 angler trips Delaware Tailwaters documented per angler interviews 2,782 (72.2 %) in West Branch

•Strong participation by both boat and wade anglers, many of whom are non-local anglers. 1,563 (40.6 %) boat anglers vs. 2,278 (59.1 %) wade anglers
?3,325 [color=FF6600](86.3 %) anglers are non-local[/color], based on origin by zip code

•Relatively few trips were guided. Nearly all guided trips are boat angling. Considerable participation by non-local guides was documented. 545 (14.1 %) guided trips vs. 3,229 (83.8 %) non-guided trips
248 (45 %) guided trip by local guides vs. 248 (45 %) guided trip by non-local guides

•Based on the 2018 creel data, the recreational fishery is focused almost entirely on trout, fly fishing is the predominant technique, and catch and release is widely practiced. . 2,947 (76.5 %) fly tackle
?3,649 (94.7 %) specifically targeting trout
?Reported Brown Trout catch, (interview data) [color=FF3300]Total catch 2,645 trout of which 67 (2.5 %) were harvested
[/color]

?Reported Rainbow Trout catch, (interview data) [color=FF3300]Total catch 700 trout of which 9 (1.3 %) were harvested
[/color]

•77% of anglers described themselves as "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their fishing experience over the last three years
•3% of anglers were "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied."

•Angler satisfaction was not singularly attributable to catching many trout (26.8 %), catching large trout (36.6 %), or catching at least one trout over 20-inches (26.0 %).

•Harvest of trout is important to a relatively small (3.1 %) component of fishery participants.