Boaters may need to wear life jackets longer; fishing license fee increase may pass
Pennsylvania boaters may be required to wear their life jackets until June 1 in future years.
Robert B.J. Small, president of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s board, asked the agency Monday to look into extending the cold-water life jacket requirement for an additional month.
Boaters on a canoe, kayak or boat less than 16-feet long have been required since 2012 to wear a life jacket between Nov. 1 and April 30. However, Small feels that some lives could be saved if the regulation is extended another month because the lakes and other waterways still have colder temperatures.
The regulation was created to help people survive cold water shock that causes an involuntary gasp, hyperventilation, breathlessness and a reduced ability to control breathing and swim. The agency points out a life jacket greatly increases your chance for survival in cold water. It also increases the amount of time for you to be rescued.
“The number of accidents during cold water months have remained steady over the past 10 years, but the fatalities have been cut in half,” Small, who represents the sixth district of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties, said during a board meeting. “Despite the air temperature, the water is still dangerously cold, and there have been cold water fatalities in the month of May.”
So far in 2023, two boater-related fatalities have been investigated by the agency. On March 18, an 18-year-old man died after his 10-foot rowboat capsized on Lake Henry in Wayne County. Two other passengers on the boat survived. No one aboard was wearing a life jacket.
On April 13, a 65-year-old man died on the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County after the motor on his 12-foot boat stalled, and it went over the Dock Stream Dam. The victim wasn’t wearing a life jacket when he was found dead, but witnesses believe he did have a life jacket on when the accident happened. A passenger, who had a life jacket, survived the accident.
The agency’s boating accident data reveals that while the number of boating accidents during the cold weather months has remained comparable over the past decade, fatalities have decreased from 58% in 2012 to 17% in 2022.
There were a record low number of boating accidents, 41, in 2022 that resulted in nine fatalities across the state. The 10-year average is 60 accidents and 11 deaths.
“I’d like to ask the Boating Advisory Board and staff to take a look at extending the life jacket requirement through Memorial Day to June 1,” Small said. He’s hoping the change can be made for when the the regulation is set for the cold water season that begins Nov. 1.
Laurel Anders, director of the Bureau of Boating, said the agency's Boating Advisory Board can discuss the proposal at its June 5 meeting.
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Higher license costs in 2024
In other agency news, it appears the majority of anglers are on board with a fishing license fee expected to happen for the 2024 license year.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission held a hearing Monday for the public to comment on raising license rates, but no one from the public provided comment.
The board voted March 1 preliminarily to raise the cost of an annual license in 2024 from $23.50 to $26 and non-resident annual licenses from $55 to $59. Senior resident lifetime licenses are proposed to be raised by $10 to $85. Rates will also increase for the one-, three- and seven-day tourist licenses.
In addition, the resident trout permit would increase $2.50 from $10.50 to $13, and trout/Lake Erie permits would go from $16.50 to $19. The overall increase to trout anglers would be $5 more than this year.
Tim Schaeffer, executive director, said he's not surprised that no comments were given from the public.
"We've really had a strong understanding and support for the incremental approach that we have been taking to license increases," he said.
The agency will need the extra revenue to continue investing in critical improvements and maintenance efforts for fish hatcheries, hazardous dams, boat launch areas and ramps and other agency-owned facilities.
The money, which will help offset inflationary costs, will also help replace the agency’s equipment, vehicles and watercraft.
"The anglers and boaters understand and appreciate this approach," Shaeffer said about small incremental price increases.
The agency estimates the new fee increases will provide additional annual revenues of up to $2.9 million. However, the added cost is expected to decrease the overall license sales to anglers by 2% which would be 17,556 licenses and 11,328 trout permits.
If adopted, it would be the second year in a row for the licenses to increase. Anglers are paying a similar rate increase for their 2023 licenses. The prices for a resident annual fishing license, trout permit and combination trout/Lake Erie permit, each increased by $2.50, marking the first fee increases since 2005.
In 2022, the agency sold a total of 793,663 licenses, which is 8% less than 2021’s total of 865,973. License sales account for 67% of the agency’s fish fund revenues.
Comments about the proposed new rates can be made through May 15 by email to RA-pfbcregulations@pa.gov or by mail to Public Comment, P.O. Box 67000, Harrisburg, PA 17106.
The board will vote on the the proposed rates again at a special meeting to be scheduled in May. If adopted, the rates would become effective Dec. 1.
In previous years, the state Legislature approved license fee changes. When Act 56 of 2020 was passed, the Legislature delegated the authority to set fees for the agency to the board of commissioners with a sunset date of July 2025. If the general assembly doesn’t approve of what’s proposed, the board can intervene.
This will be the third of five years that the agency can consider raising the rates, and an increase was not warranted the first year.
Schaeffer hopes the Legislature is able to extend the sunset date for the legislation beyond 2025.
"It's working in the way it we intended. I'm really optimistic that there will be support to extend that sunset date before it expiries in 2025," he said.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors ,Twitter @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: When should I wear a life jacket while boating in Pennsylvania?
