- Public no longer allowed to assist with trout stockings
- Preseason and in-season stockings will be combined for some waterways
- PFBC will still stock the same number of trout statewide
- Regional opening days discontinued; mentored and regular openers to be combined statewide
Preseason trout stockings are typically a race against the clock for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
Trying to stock 3.2 million trout into 832 streams and lakes across the state – all before opening day – means time is of the essence.
But now, the PFBC is faced with another challenge when it comes to stocking trout.
The spread of the coronavirus coupled with uncertainty of what the future holds has forced the PFBC to get as many trout out of the hatcheries and into the water as quickly as possible.
“We have to get them out now. We don’t know what things are going to look like in a month,” said Communications Director Mike Parker.
That means every stocking truck that is sent out will be filled to capacity and some fish destined to be released during the season will be stocked now. The end result, according to Parker, is some in-season stockings won’t happen as the entire allocation of fish for certain waterways will be released all at once. Most of those places will be in the 18 southeastern counties that are part of the regional opening day.
Another consequence of the changes is the previously released stocking schedule will no longer be accurate. Parker said stockings won’t take place according to the dates on the schedule since agency employees are simply focusing on stocking as many waterways as they can, and quickly.
“Everything is being re-tooled,” he said. “We want to get as many places done now because of the uncertainty. For example, if we have a driver that can’t work due to a quarantine, that’s really going to impact the effort to get fish out.
“We want to get this done now.”
Parker added that anglers will be notified at a later date which waterways were stocked and which ones already received the in-season allocation. Initially, stockings will be prioritized to deliver trout to regions of the Commonwealth that are predicted to be affected most severely by COVID-19 that could result in restrictions on travel.
The change in stocking procedures will not result in any reduction in the approximately 3.2 million trout scheduled to be stocked statewide in 2020, and stocking will occur seven days a week until further notice.
Other changes the agency is implementing include consolidating the 2020 trout season schedule into a single, statewide schedule for all Pennsylvania counties; limiting volunteer participation; and adding more convenient ways to purchase fishing licenses online and display proof of a fishing license and boating documents on a digital device.
Statewide Mentored Youth Program and Opening Day
The PFBC will operate under a consolidated statewide schedule for all counties during the 2020 trout season. Under this revised plan, a single Mentored Youth Trout Day will occur on Saturday, April 11, and a Statewide Opening Day of trout season will take place on Saturday, April 18.
As a result of these changes, separate, earlier regional mentored youth and opening days will no longer occur in the 18 southeastern counties, including: Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill and York. Anglers in these areas should revise their plans as necessary to adjust to the statewide schedule.
These changes, made by the PFBC under direction provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, are intended to reduce large gatherings of people and the number of anglers traveling into the regional area (18 southeastern counties), which is already heavily affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Parker said the move was made to limit the occurrence of anglers traveling from other areas to fish in the southeast region where counties are under a quarantine.
“There are certain state parks that are closed, so we don’t want to encourage people to go in there. We don’t want them traveling to areas where there are issues,” he said. “By making the opening days all one date, there’s no reason for anglers who live in bordering counties to go into places under quarantine to fish.”
Volunteer Participation
The 2020 trout stocking will be conducted on an accelerated schedule, and volunteers will not be permitted to assist with stocking activities.
To complete trout stocking operations without the assistance of the public, the PFBC will modify stocking methods for this year. Many PFBC staff are being reassigned from their normal work duties to assist with stocking fish into lakes and streams. In some cases, pre-season and in-season allocations of trout will be combined into single stocking events to increase the efficiency of stocking trips.
“We realize that many of our stocking volunteers look forward to helping us, but we must take these necessary precautions to ensure public safety during this vital period,” said PFBC Executive Director Tim Schaeffer. “Just as we’ve counted on our volunteers for decades to help us stock trout, we’re counting on them now to play it safe and stay home. We appreciate their service throughout the years, and we hope that we can invite them back to join us again very soon.”
“This change in our stocking approach is necessary to fulfill a critical mission of our agency and our obligation to anglers,” added Rick Kauffman, PFBC District 6 Commissioner. “We’re trying to get as many fish in the water as possible as quickly as possible while we still have the best access to waterways and available staff. While our methods may be different this season, people will have the same opportunity to get outdoors and fish, which has proven benefits to our physical and mental health.”
More Convenient Ways to Purchase and Display Your Fishing License, Launch Permits and Boat Registrations
To reduce unnecessary travel and social contact amid health concerns, anglers and boaters will be able to display their fishing license, launch permit, or boat registration renewal digitally on a phone or other mobile device as proof of possession.
This change will allow customers who may be unable to, or feel uncomfortable visiting a store to purchase a fishing license, launch permit, or boat registration renewal to make the purchase using the FishBoatPA app or computer through The Outdoor Shop and not have to possess a printed copy of the document. Upon purchase of a fishing license, a .pdf file containing an image of your license is provided via email. Similarly, with each boating related transaction, customers will receive a digital receipt that serves a temporary permit or registration valid for immediate use. Eventually, customers will receive validation decals and registration cards in the mail from the PFBC, which can take several weeks.
If approached by a Waterways Conservation Officer (WCO) in the field, the angler or boater would only have to produce the digital image of the license, permit or registration on their phone or mobile device. A digital copy of the .pdf, photo, or screenshot of your fishing license, launch permit or boat registration on your phone or mobile device will all be accepted as proof of possession.
I think you could stock the creeks up in Cameron county elk potter the same as you did before