NYSDEC Seeks Public Comment on Inland Fisheries Management Plan

 

The New York Sate Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Con­ser­va­tion (NYSDEC) is seek­ing pub­lic com­ment on its recently released Draft Fish­eries Man­age­ment Plan for Inland Trout Streams. Pub­lic com­ment will be accepted until June 25. The pur­pose of the plan is to help guide the efforts of the NYSDEC as they seek to max­i­mize inland fish­eries for their fullest eco­log­i­cal and recre­ational poten­tial. The NYSDEC have found over 3,000 streams across the state with doc­u­mented pop­u­la­tions of trout. Of those streams, 80% sup­port wild trout populations.

 

 

Inland trout streams are an impor­tant part of New York State’s diverse fish­eries resource. They are par­tic­u­larly impor­tant in the Ashokan Water­shed where fish­ing is a vital his­tor­i­cal and cul­tural ele­ment of the area. It is also an eco­nomic dri­ver with anglers from all over the world com­ing to fish in the famed waters of the Eso­pus Creek and its tributaries.

In order to best man­age inland trout fish­eries, NYSDEC uti­lizes tools such as fish­ing reg­u­la­tions, access and infor­ma­tion, habi­tat pro­tec­tion and improve­ment, and stock­ing hatchery-reared trout. NYSDEC places great impor­tance on mea­sur­ing the out­come of man­age­ment strate­gies against well-defined objectives.

To com­ment, please visit the NYSDEC web­page devoted to the plan. On the page, links to the plan itself as well as meth­ods to sup­ply com­ments can be found. We encour­age all users of fish­eries here in the Ashokan Water­shed to pro­vide com­ments on how they think the fish­eries can best be managed.

 

Tags: brook trout, brown trout, DEC, Fishing, inland fisheries, NYSDEC, rainbow trout