PFBC wants to change regs for private trout fisheries. What does a hatchery owner think?

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is collecting comments about how it can monitor private trout stockings and ways to keep invasive species out of waterways.

A proposal aimed at addressing conservation challenges, improving fisheries management and fish health, preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species, and simplifying the code will be discussed at the agency’s 1 p.m. Sept. 28 meeting in Harrisburg.

The agency wants to create a simple, no-fee, user-friendly stocking authorization process through which anyone stocking fish within Pennsylvania waters would be required to obtain authorization from the PFBC before stocking. This process — like those currently used by more than 30 other state fish and wildlife agencies — is intended to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species and the introduction of new aquatic pathogens that could affect the commonwealth’s aquatic resources. Commercial fish producers would also be required to test certain fish imported into Pennsylvania for disease before stocking in areas where those diseases do not occur.

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The proposal also includes new watercraft inspection requirements to check for invasive species.

Under this proposal, all boaters (with limited exceptions for fishing tournaments), would be required to drain live wells and bilges before transporting their watercraft away from the water. The PFBC reports at least 19 other states already have watercraft inspection requirements in place.

While the draft has received support from agencies like the PA Council of Trout Unlimited and the Native Fish Coalition, others feel there’s still work to be done to make it workable for private industry.

Proposal not ready to consider?

Adam and Liz Pritts, co-owners of Laurel Hill Trout Farm which is a third-generation trout farm on the border of Somerset and Westmoreland counties, believe the proposal should not be approved as presented.

With Pennsylvania’s proposal, they feel it’s too early to have a proposal for the voting board to consider.

“It’s not that we are against it," said Liz Pritts. "Where the private hatcheries are against, from what we’ve talked to people about it, it’s just the way it’s written it’s impossible to comply.”

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Her husband, who also serves on the Pennsylvania Aquaculture Advisory Council, is concerned about how the new stocking authorization requirements will affect Pennsylvania fish hatcheries.

“The idea behind some of this stuff I don’t mind," said Adam Pritts. "I think there are better ways they could go about some it like the stocking authorizations. I don’t think they realize the amount of economic impact it will have. People just won’t do it. They will either stop stocking because of it or they will ignore the regulation. That’s what I’ve seen in other states,” he said.

Liz Pritts is concerned about the authorization process to stock fish. “They could be denied. We have no idea because there is no criteria for approval, currently.” They both said the agency’s proposal is too vague and leaves too much to interpretation as there isn’t a process in place. He said the wording needs to be clarified such as if the authorizations are actually free and what’s to be expected.

If the PFBC wants to learn what’s going out there, Adam Pritts said they could make a reporting requirement on the farms that have been approved to stock fish. Private fish farms are regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and he said it wouldn’t take much for the farms to report what they released in the waterways to the PFBC.

The Pritts have three additional fish farms in Osterburg, Bedford County; Normalville, Fayette County; Newville, Cumberland County and four trout farms in Virginia. They provide fish to West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania. He said they don’t deliver or produce fish in Maryland because of the regulations.

Laurel Hill provides trout for a variety of functions like fish derbies, sportsmen club events, and families who want fish to stock in a private pond or want to have fish in their favorite public stream for the weekend. Those with private ponds have trout stocked in the fall and the family catches them through the spring. When the water starts to become too warm, they catch the fish and eat them.

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He said they do a lot of small deliveries and pick-ups involving 10 to 100 fish to the general public. “What are the chances of them wanting to continue to do that when they have to go through an additional step of paperwork, especially when it involves the government?” he said feeling that those sales would greatly diminish.

People applying for a permit may have their approval changed or denied by the agency because of the number of fish or species being requested. They are also concerned as there is no set time for authorizations to be approved, especially if people are applying through the mail.

He said the proposed requirements could end last-minute fish sales and extra sales that they make along their delivery route. Sometimes they call a regular a customer to say they will be in the area and can reduce the customer’s delivery costs if they purchase fish that day.

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Some good ideas in the proposal

“There’s a lot in this that I actually don’t mind. I support. We have farms throughout the state. I don’t want diseases moved throughout Pa.,” he said about the fish health guidelines which he believes are ahead of many other states.

He said the language requirements about the outside of boats being cleaned to remove algae and mussels is good, but will be difficult to enforce.

Liz Pritts thinks the PFBC will be surprised at how many fish are provided to waterways through private fish farms. “We put a lot out there,” she said about stockings that occur around the state. He said when the fish goes into public streams, it helps with license sales. He said people are paying them to stock streams that are fished out quickly or are no longer stocked by the PFBC.

If the process becomes too complicated, Adam Pritts said hatcheries like his family’s farms can focus on other states and move their operation from stockings to processing their fish for food.

Response from the PFBC

Don Anderson, PFBC commissioner for the fourth district in south-central Pennsylvania, has been involved in rearing trout since 1973 with volunteer cooperative nurseries as well as some time with a commercial hatchery. He’s also been a deputy waterways conservation officer for 44 years.

“Our agency has concerns over undesirable species of fish being brought into the commonwealth and being stocked. So we have to have regulations against the things we don’t want here.”

He said the commercial hatcheries don’t want something that impacts the health of their fish.

“We need to have regulations, that everyone can live with, that’ll work for the commercial aquaculture industry because they are an important part of the economy in Pennsylvania.”

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He said the people he has talked to want to have some of the requirements more defined. “I can understand and appreciate that and those are some of things we can work out.”

The stocking authorization needs to be “user friendly,” he said about the customer wanting 200 or 300 trout for a creek near their home. “It needs to be a simple process,” he said about alleviating people’s fear about needing to get a permit.

He said the goal is to get a process to accomplish what the agency wants to monitor but not be intrusive to the commercial hatcheries or the people who want to buy fish. “We are going to take our time with this,” he said about needing to take the public comments into consideration. “We want to do it right. We’re not going to rush into anything,” he said about having the ability to fine-tune the proposals.

He believes the agency is committed to working with the public to get the process developed the right way.

The public comment period for the proposal runs through Sept. 17.  To view the proposal and submit public comment online, visit Fishandboat.com.

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 your website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on social media @whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pa. Fish and Boat Commission to create private trout stocking rules