Joe D
Registered User
Fish & Boat Commission Acquires Easements in Erie County, Adopts Trout Management Plan
Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) voted at its quarterly meeting today to acquire two easements along Crooked Creek in Erie County as part of the agency’s strategy to improve public fishing and boating access and also adopted a five-year strategic plan for trout management.
“Crooked Creek provides significant steelhead fishing opportunities in the areas and regularly receives trout stockings,” said PFBC Executive Director Doug Austen. “The acquisition of the easements will ensure that the public has access to these opportunities in perpetuity.”
The two easement areas provide approximately a half-mile each of stream frontage and are located along Happy Valley Road and Lucas Road in Springfield Township. The properties are adjacent and the Lucas Road property will provide parking and a footpath to the creek.
The new trout management plan was developed based on input provided by a work group that consisted of commission staff, anglers affiliated with a variety of sportsmen’s organizations, and independent trout anglers which are not affiliated with an organized group.
“Significant progress in addressing these issues over the life of this plan will ensure that adequate protection is being afforded to the resource and that the fisheries provided through the management of wild trout and the stocking of hatchery trout will provide excellent angling opportunities in Pennsylvania,” said Austen.
Some of the key issues addressed in the plan include: the sampling of unassessed wild trout streams; protection of Class A wild trout waters; trout stocking in Class B streams; managing waters through fingerling stocking; stocked trout movement; in-stream flow and habitat protection and improvement; public access to trout waters; and the Lake Erie steelhead and brown trout stocking program.
Commissioners also voted to adopt amendments to regulations which reduce creel limits for American Shad and river herring in the Delaware River. These changes are consistent with regulations either now in place or planned in the near future in New Jersey, New York and Delaware. Effective Jan. 1, 2010, the creel limits for American shad will be reduced from six to three fish and for river herring from 35 to 10 fish in the Delaware River West Branch and the entire Delaware River main stem from the confluence of the
East and West Branches downstream to the Commodore Barry Bridge. For the remaining 2.9 miles downstream of the Commodore Barry Bridge to the Delaware state line, the creel limits in N.J. will remain at six for American shad and 35 for river herring until at least 2011, when it is anticipated that N.J.’s Marine Fishery Council will reduce the creel limits. Given the fish restoration efforts on the two major tributaries to the Delaware, the commission also voted to impose a 10-fish-per-day creel limit on river herring on the Lehigh and Schuylkill rivers.
Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) voted at its quarterly meeting today to acquire two easements along Crooked Creek in Erie County as part of the agency’s strategy to improve public fishing and boating access and also adopted a five-year strategic plan for trout management.
“Crooked Creek provides significant steelhead fishing opportunities in the areas and regularly receives trout stockings,” said PFBC Executive Director Doug Austen. “The acquisition of the easements will ensure that the public has access to these opportunities in perpetuity.”
The two easement areas provide approximately a half-mile each of stream frontage and are located along Happy Valley Road and Lucas Road in Springfield Township. The properties are adjacent and the Lucas Road property will provide parking and a footpath to the creek.
The new trout management plan was developed based on input provided by a work group that consisted of commission staff, anglers affiliated with a variety of sportsmen’s organizations, and independent trout anglers which are not affiliated with an organized group.
“Significant progress in addressing these issues over the life of this plan will ensure that adequate protection is being afforded to the resource and that the fisheries provided through the management of wild trout and the stocking of hatchery trout will provide excellent angling opportunities in Pennsylvania,” said Austen.
Some of the key issues addressed in the plan include: the sampling of unassessed wild trout streams; protection of Class A wild trout waters; trout stocking in Class B streams; managing waters through fingerling stocking; stocked trout movement; in-stream flow and habitat protection and improvement; public access to trout waters; and the Lake Erie steelhead and brown trout stocking program.
Commissioners also voted to adopt amendments to regulations which reduce creel limits for American Shad and river herring in the Delaware River. These changes are consistent with regulations either now in place or planned in the near future in New Jersey, New York and Delaware. Effective Jan. 1, 2010, the creel limits for American shad will be reduced from six to three fish and for river herring from 35 to 10 fish in the Delaware River West Branch and the entire Delaware River main stem from the confluence of the
East and West Branches downstream to the Commodore Barry Bridge. For the remaining 2.9 miles downstream of the Commodore Barry Bridge to the Delaware state line, the creel limits in N.J. will remain at six for American shad and 35 for river herring until at least 2011, when it is anticipated that N.J.’s Marine Fishery Council will reduce the creel limits. Given the fish restoration efforts on the two major tributaries to the Delaware, the commission also voted to impose a 10-fish-per-day creel limit on river herring on the Lehigh and Schuylkill rivers.
