Stocking Trimmed in 2014 as local Hatcheries Close
birchcreekdeerfarm.com/trout.html
Will we see a decrease in fishing license sales in the coming years? I would like to think something should be expected thanks to the new announcement of trout stockings in PA.
Under pressure to fund employee health care and retirement obligations and pay for growing infrastructure needs, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will close two coldwater hatcheries as part of a plan to shave $9 million from its $60 million annual budget.
At its quarterly meeting last week, executive director John Arway said the agency planned to close its Oswayo trout hatchery in Potter County and its Bellefonte hatchery in Centre County, at a combined savings of $2 million. Together the operations produce about 785,000 brook, brown, rainbow and golden rainbow trout that will not be replaced in the stocking program.
“Fishing license sales have steadily declined since 1990, while at the same time operating costs have continued to increase, including the price of fish food,” Arway said in a prepared statement. “As a result, we must streamline our operations and reduce operating costs in order to maintain a sound financial condition while we attempt to secure long-term, dedicated alternative funding.”
About 67 percent of the agency’s budget is raised through license fees. New multi-year license sales are expected to generate some new revenues. About 15 percent of the budget comes from federal Dingell-Johnson Act taxes on fishing-related equipment, and the agency gets another $1 million from federal wildlife grants. New money is in the pipeline from shale gas leases, but with far less property to lease than the Game Commission and water-quality oversight demands, resources are limited.
The hatchery closures and reductions to the stocking budget will occur in 2014.
Dave Miko, fisheries division chief, said his team is still in the first stages of planning ways to significantly decrease stocking without significantly decreasing angler enjoyment.
“There are some things we were already starting to do to make the program more efficient,” he said. “We’re looking now at how to cut [stocking] in the ways that make the most sense.”
Sections of Approved Trout Waters have been categorized according to angler use. Thirty angler trips on opening weekend would be considered “low angler use,” Miko said. A “medium angler use” area would be a popular destination marked by ample parking. “High angler use” would be an urban or suburban waterway with lots of parking spaces.
“Many of our waters will receive no reductions in fish,” Miko said. “We’re looking at service areas with three or four low-efficiency waters where we may cut two or three of them to put more emphasis on one or two streams.”
No specific waters have been targeted to date, he said.
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