This is one change that won’t be happening.
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissioners have shelved a plan to change the rules regarding delayed harvest artificial lures only streams, commonly called DHALO waters.
Earlier this year, the board rolled out a proposal that would have, among other things, allowed kids to fish the waters with bait year round, and allowed adults to do the same during the harvest period. The idea was to make better use of stocked trout.
Then the agency asked for public comment.
It got it, in big numbers, and most of it negative, it seems.
The result is that, on Friday, the commission announced it was withdrawing the proposal in “after receiving public comments overwhelmingly opposed to the measure.”
The commission received 343 comments – an avalanche of response, by its standards – with all but five in opposition to the proposed change. Commission spokesman Rick Levis could not say whether most were from individuals or form letters from organizations.
The use of bait was the main point of contention, however, according to the commission.
The timing of Friday’s decision is telling.
The board was to vote on the proposal at its May 4-5 board meeting. It decided not to wait that long to kill, it, though, doing that by a special vote this week.
“The DHALO program is a stocked trout program, and social factors play a critical role in how the program is managed,” said commission executive director John Arway. “The proposed changes were designed to do two things: first, maximize the harvest of stocked trout before stream temperatures increase to lethal levels and, second, increase the opportunity for kids to catch fish.
“The proposed changes generated much public comment in which questions were posed that would require substantial staff time and effort to fully answer,” he added. “Therefore, we believe that we need to withdraw this idea and focus on identifying other changes where we can more easily accomplish these objectives.”
