PA, NY to Host Webinar on New Wild Trout Management Plan for Delaware River Tailwaters

[DaveKile]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (February 12) -- The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) announced today that a virtual public information session will be held on Tuesday, February 25, at 6 p.m., to discuss the new Delaware River Tailwaters Joint Trout Management Plan. The plan will guide both the PFBC and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in the agencies’ management of this nationally renowned wild trout fishery within the East and West branches of the Delaware River and the Delaware River from Hancock, N.Y. downriver to Callicoon, N.Y.

Anyone interested in participating in the virtual session can register online. Following registration, attendees will receive an invitation to join the webinar.

During the meeting, fisheries managers will discuss the major goals of the plan and provide an opportunity for members of the audience to ask questions. Attendees are encouraged to review the plan ahead of time by visiting the PFBC website (Fishandboat.com).

 

[moorestowngreg]

I (attended, watched, zoomed in?) this presentation. I thought it was really interesting. The biologist from PA was very good and intuitive about questions and they all found a way to take data and graph it and explain it in layman's terms. Here were the takeaways for me:
Wild trout populations in the west branch Delaware are healthy.
Bug life is healthy.
Because of a large yoy class a few years ago, there are and will be more large fish in the system for the next few years.
Over the last several years the lifespan of trout was found to be up to 12 years where formerly it was thought to max out around 6 years.
Fish populations don't vary a lot year to year, although spawning success does and that is reflected in yoy stats and population fish size assessments and year class populations.
Fishing in the fall/winter doesn't impact spawning success to any measurable degree.