Fishing: Research to Increase on Susquehanna, Monongahela
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
31 January 2010
By John Hayes
The Susquehanna River is growing "increasingly impaired," said members
of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and water quality issues
there threaten the smallmouth bass population.
At their quarterly meeting last week, commissioners cited a two-year
U.S. Geological Survey water quality study partially funded with a
$400,000 grant from the PFBC, which found elevated water temperatures
and low dissolved oxygen concentrations were putting undue stress on
bass during the spawn.
The board passed a resolution urging the state Department of
Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
to increase investigations into sources of Susquehanna pollution.
Closer to home, the board agreed to spend up to $10,000 to fund the
Carnegie Museum of Natural History's participation in the Monongahela
River Monitoring Project.
Spearheaded by Fish and Boat's Three Rivers Ecological Research Center
in Pittsburgh, the project will repeat baseline studies originally
conducted in 2003, and establish routine monitoring of the river's
aquatic resources.
The museum will process and identify the collected invertebrate samples.
Other actions
• Whoops! Anglers on Somerset, High Point and Cranberry Glade lakes
have long been aware of a ban on the use of gas powered motors. But
there was a technicality -- parts of the regulation banning internal
combustion motors on those lakes were inadvertently omitted when the
rules were published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin in 1994. Publication
in the journal is required for the regulations to be legal. The board
agreed to close that loophole.
• Access for fish The agency sealed a long-term agreement Erie County's
Lawrence Park Golf Club to install fish ladders at two falls on
Fourmile Creek. The passage structures will allow steelhead to move
upstream and increase angling opportunities.
• Three lines Except when angling through ice, no more than two lines
may be used when fishing. It's an old restriction that dates back to
the 1930s, but agency staff have reconsidered. With fish harvests
primarily controlled through the establishment of seasons and size and
creel limits, the addition of a third line, they said, should have
little impact on fish populations and management. Commissioners
therefore proposed a regulation change permitting three lines in the
water when fishing for game fish, baitfish or both.
• Little J Commissioners agreed to seek a conservation easement that
would enable public fishing on about 1,000 feet along one side of the
Little Juniata River on Barree Road in Huntingdon County. The agency
stocks the river nearby.
• Walleye waters An annual no-fishing period on two Crawford County
nursery waters has been extended for two-weeks to provide greater
protection for spawning walleyes
A transcript of the meeting is posted at http://www.fishandboat.com/minutes.htm
John Hayes can be reached at jhayes@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1991.