Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Harrisburg, PA - The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is seeking nominations for the 2008 Ralph W. Abele Conservation Heritage Award, the highest recognition conferred by the agency.

Nominations are currently being accepted until February 13, 2009.

Strategic planning creates an important opportunity for an organization to regroup and spend time critically thinking about the past, present and especially the future. The time is right for the PFBC to begin looking to the future and develop its next strategic plan.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced today that steelhead are officially on the run in Erie after the heavy rain experienced this week.

The steelhead run is timed perfectly with the launch of the Commission’s new website mapping feature, which allows anglers to locate Lake Erie tributaries to fish for steelhead, download directions to the tributaries, find places to park, and read the local fishing regulations. Check it out at www.fishandboat.com/steelhead. (Click on the yellow triangles for detailed information on fishing destinations and the Help icon for help information.)

The Commission stocks over a million juvenile steelhead each year and continually works on improving access to Lake Erie tributaries through property acquisitions and easements using angler funds acquired through the Erie permit and Erie/trout/salmon combo permit. The Commission also makes funds available for property acquisitions and easements through the Erie Access Improvement Grant Program. You can find out more about this program at www.fishandboat.com (click on “Grants” located in the left navigation bar of the home page).

As always, the Commission asks all anglers to leave no trace by picking up all bait containers, discarded line, and any other trash before leaving fishing sites.

In July and August of 2007 and 2008 Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Area 6 along with other agency personnel sampled 10 different moderately-wide to wide (14-36 meters) warmwater streams in southeastern Pennsylvania to document the warmwater fish communities as part of a greater project that would eventually characterize warmwater stream fish communities throughout the state. Sample sites measuring 300-500 meters in length were electrofished at specific locations (segments) on each stream, which are listed in Table 1. Most of the stream segments were characterized as slow moving with few riffles and long pools or long glides. The majority of the pools were up to 1.25 meters deep, but pools were occasionally up to 2.0 meters deep. Streams sampled included those both in the Delaware River drainage and Susquehanna River drainage.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is reminding anglers to report tagged smallmouth bass in order to help the agency with a population assessment on a section of the lower West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

The commission is currently conducting the assessment and an angler survey on about seven miles of the lower West Branch of the Susquehanna River from the vicinity of Muncy downstream to Montgomery, Lycoming County.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will hold its spring quarterly meeting April 21-22 at the Clarion Hotel in DuBois, PA.

Commission committees will meet beginning at approximately 9:45 a.m. on Monday, April 21, and again at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22. The full Commission will meet for formal consideration of the agenda beginning at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. All committee meetings and the review of the agenda are open to the public. Attendance is encouraged.

The state may be named for Penn’s Woods, but autumn isn’t all about trees here in the Commonwealth – though that brilliant foliage does provide a beautiful backdrop for fantastic fall trout fishing, especially along 147 waters being stocked by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) in October.

The PFBC will stock 89 streams with 47,100 adult trout. In addition, 58 lakes will be stocked with 62,400 adult trout.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is inviting public comment on adding naturally reproducing eastern brook trout to the State Wildlife Action Plan, the document that prescribes conservation measures for species and their critical habitat before they become more rare and more costly to protect and restore.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is launching a large-scale angler survey effort that will explore fishing use and anglers’ experiences on 130 miles of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers.

The survey is designed to measure catch, harvest, economic expenditures and angler opinions associated with fishing on sections of the two rivers for the period April through October. The Susquehanna River survey reach will extend from Sunbury to the Holtwood Dam near the Maryland border. The survey reach on the Juniata River will extend from Port Royal to the mouth near Duncannon.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is launching a large-scale angler survey effort that will explore fishing use and anglers’ experiences on 130 miles of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers.

The survey is designed to measure catch, harvest, economic expenditures and angler opinions associated with fishing on sections of the two rivers for the period April through October. The Susquehanna River survey reach will extend from Sunbury to the Holtwood Dam near the Maryland border. The survey reach on the Juniata River will extend from Port Royal to the mouth near Duncannon.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has placed a temporary ban on the transportation of live fish from Lake Erie and its tributary waters inland.

Visitors to the 91st Annual Pennsylvania State Farm Show can land something deliciously fishy. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is sponsoring “Fishin’ From the Kitchen Day” at the annual agricultural showcase on January 8. That day preparation techniques and recipes for Pennsylvania sportfish will be featured in the popular PA Preferred Culinary Connection event.