New York Adopts New Freshwater Fishing Regulations

New freshwater fishing regulations go into effect April 1, 2017

"New York State is known for fantastic freshwater sport fishing opportunities," said Commissioner Seggos. "These regulatory changes will help maintain these opportunities and enthusiasm for the sport."

The modifications to the sport fishing regulations are a result of a two-year process that included biological assessment, discussions with anglers, and a formal 45-day public comment period. DEC used public input to finalize the changes. These regulations will be published in the 2017-18 Freshwater Fishing Regulations Guide that will be available at all license sales vendors and on-line in March.

Highlights of the new regulations include:

• Adjustments to existing walleye regulations in various waters throughout the state, including measures to protect spawning walleye and conservative minimum harvest size and creel limits in waters where managers are trying to establish self-sustaining populations of this popular sport fish. Regulations have also been liberalized for two waters where successful management has resulted in increased walleye abundance, Chautauqua Lake (Chautauqua County) and Franklin Falls Flow (Essex County);

• Modifications to DEC Region 7 Finger Lakes rules to increase survival of rainbow trout, brown trout, and Atlantic salmon and to create a greater balance between these species and lake trout;

• Allowing ice fishing in some waters and restricting the number or use of devices used for fishing through the ice (including, but not limited to hand line, tip-up, tip down, etc.) in other waters to protect self-sustaining populations or limit fishing pressure;

• Simplification of the black bass regulations in Lake Erie by compressing the three existing seasons into two while expanding opportunities to use live bait and harvest one large bass per day during a special season;

• Greater protection for northern pike in the St. Lawrence River due to the declining abundance of spawning adults and poor recruitment of young-of-year fish in the Thousand Islands region;

• Relaxing of special regulations for trout and Atlantic salmon for various waters in DEC Region 5 (Adirondack Region) due to poor survival; and

• Multiple updates to clarify existing regulations.

For a summary of the regulations changes, visit DEC's website.

New York Anticipates an Early Salamander and Frog Migration

Volunteers in the Hudson Valley are getting ready for the annual breeding migrations of salamanders and frogs, which may occur as soon Saturday, February 25, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today. The volunteers will be documenting their observations as part of DEC's Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project. With this week's unseasonably warm temperatures and the rainy weekend forecast, the 2017 migration may have an unusually early start.

After the ground starts to thaw in late winter and early spring, species such as spotted salamander and wood frog emerge from underground winter shelters in the forest and walk overland to woodland pools for breeding. In New York, this migration usually occurs on rainy nights in late March and early April, when the night air temperature is above 40F. When these conditions align just so, there can be explosive ("big night") migrations, with hundreds of amphibians on the move, many having to cross roads.

"New York hosts an incredible array of amphibians, and an even more amazing volunteer network that helps ensure their survival each spring," said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. "As the State's Wildlife Action Plan identifies road mortality as a significant threat to frogs, toads, and salamanders, I encourage all New Yorkers and visitors traveling through our state to keep an eye out for amphibians, and our committed community of volunteers helping them cross the road."

Volunteers of the Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project document Hudson Valley locations where migrations cross roads, record weather and traffic conditions, and identify and count the salamanders, frogs, and toads on the move. The volunteers also carefully help the amphibians to safety cross roads. Now in its ninth year, more than 300 project volunteers have assisted more than 8,500 amphibians cross New York roads.

Drivers on New York roads are encouraged to drive with caution or avoid travel on the first warm, rainy evenings of the season. Amphibians come out after nightfall and are slow moving; mortality can be high even on low-traffic roads.

For more information, visit Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings on DEC's website or contact woodlandpool@dec.ny.gov. Project volunteers are encouraged to use the hashtag #amphibianmigrationhv in their photos and posts on social media.

Interested community members are also invited to attend "Why Did the Salamander Cross the Road?" a talk on the Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings project on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the Gardiner Library, 133 Farmer's Turnpike, Gardiner, NY. This talk on the Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings project is part of a Wallkill River Watershed Alliance lecture series. DEC staff will discuss the importance of forests and wetlands in the Hudson River Estuary watershed, and the value of this habitat for amphibians, as well as how volunteers can get involved with documenting "big night" road crossings, assisting amphibians in their overland travel, and conserving important natural areas in their communities.

Join the 20th Great Backyard Bird Count!

This years dates are February 17-20

A lot has changed since the first Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was held in 1998. Each year brings unwavering enthusiasm from the growing number of participants in this now-global event. The 20th annual GBBC is taking place February 17-20 in backyards, parks, nature centers, on hiking trails, school grounds, balconies, and beaches—anywhere you find birds.

Bird watchers count the birds they see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, then enter their checklists at birdcount.org. All the data contribute to a snapshot of bird distribution and help scientists see changes over the past 20 years.

“The very first GBBC was an experiment,” says the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Marshall Iliff, a leader of the eBird program. “We wanted to see if people would use the Internet to send us their bird sightings. Clearly the experiment was a success!” eBird collects bird observations globally every day of the year and is the online platform used by the GBBC.

Bohemian Waxwing by A. Blomquist, 2016 GBBC.

That first year, bird watchers submitted about 13,500 checklists from the United States and Canada. Fast-forward to the most recent event in 2016. Over the four days of the count, an estimated 163,763 bird watchers from more than 100 countries submitted 162,052 bird checklists reporting 5,689 species–more than half the known bird species in the world.

“The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to introduce people to participation in citizen science,” says Audubon vice president and chief scientist Gary Langham. “No other program allows volunteers to take an instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations that can contribute to our understanding of how a changing climate is affecting birds.”

Varying weather conditions so far this winter are producing a few trends that GBBC participants can watch for during the count. eBird reports show many more waterfowl and kingfishers remaining further north than usual because they are finding open water. If that changes, these birds could move southward.

Also noted are higher than usual numbers of Bohemian Waxwings in the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains. And while some winter finches have been spotted in the East, such as Red Crossbills, Common Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks, and a few Pine Grosbeaks, there seem to be no big irruptions so far. A few eye-catching Snowy Owls have been reported in the northern half of the United States.

Jon McCracken, Bird Studies Canada’s National Program Director, reminds participants in Canada and the U.S. to keep watch for snowies. He says, “The GBBC has done a terrific job of tracking irruptions of Snowy Owls southward over the past several years. We can’t predict what winter 2017 will bring, because Snowy Owl populations are so closely tied to unpredictable ‘cycles’ of lemmings in the Arctic. These cycles occur at intervals between two and six years.  Nevertheless, there are already reports of Snowy Owls as far south as Virginia.”

In addition to counting birds, the GBBC photo contest has also been a hit with participants since it was introduced in 2006. Since then, tens of thousands of stunning images have been submitted. For the 20th anniversary of the GBBC, the public is invited to vote for their favorite top photo from each of the past 11 years in a special album they will find on the GBBC website home page. Voting takes place during the four days of the GBBC.

Learn more about how to take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count at birdcount.org where downloadable instructions and an explanatory PowerPoint are available. The GBBC is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada and is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.

Pennsylvania Changes Drought Declarations for 17 Counties

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that two counties remain in drought warning status. Six improve from warning to watch status, and 11 improve from watch to normal status.
•    Drought warning: Mifflin and Union Counties remain in drought warning status. DEP encourages a voluntary water use reduction of 10–15 percent.
•    Drought watch: Six counties moved from drought warning to drought watch: Carbon, Juniata, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Snyder. Fifteen other counties remain on watch: Berks, Bucks, Centre, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Montgomery, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill. DEP encourages a voluntary water use reduction of 5 percent.
•    Normal: Eleven counties—Adams, Bedford, Clinton, Fulton, Huntingdon, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Pike, Wayne, Sullivan, and York—moved from drought watch to normal status, joining the rest of the state.

Although drought watch and warning declarations in winter aren’t common, they have occurred several times in the past decade, in 2011, 2010, and 2008.

DEP bases its declarations on four indicators: precipitation deficits (averaged from numerous gauges), stream flows, groundwater levels, and soil moisture.

Public water systems in affected counties continue to implement voluntary and mandatory water reductions in response to reduced supplies. DEP suggests several steps citizens can take to voluntarily reduce their water use:
•    Run water only when necessary. Don’t let the faucet run while brushing your teeth or shaving. Shorten the amount of time you let the water run to warm up before you shower. Use a bucket to catch the water and then reuse it to water your plants.
•    Run the dishwasher and washing machine only with full loads.
•    Check for household leaks. A leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water each day.
•    Replace older appliances with high-efficiency, front-loading models that use about 30 percent less water and 40 to 50 percent less energy.
•    Install low-flow plumbing fixtures and aerators on faucets.

DEP also offers other water conservation recommendations and water audit procedures for commercial and industrial users, such as food processors, hotels and educational institutions. These recommendations and additional drought monitoring information are available on the DEP Drought Information website.

Fisheries Disasters Declared for Nine West Coast Species

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker determined there are commercial fishery failures for nine salmon and crab fisheries in Alaska, California and Washington. In recent years, each of these fisheries experienced sudden and unexpected large decreases in fish stock biomass due to unusual ocean and climate conditions. This decision enables fishing communities to seek disaster relief assistance from Congress.

In Alaska:

• Gulf of Alaska pink salmon fisheries (2016)

In California:

• California Dungeness and rock crab fishery (2015-2016)
• Yurok Tribe Klamath River Chinook salmon fishery (2016)

In Washington:

• Fraser River Makah Tribe and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe sockeye salmon fisheries (2014)
• Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay non-treaty coho salmon fishery (2015)
• Nisqually Indian Tribe, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, and Squaxin Island Tribe South Puget Sound salmon fisheries (2015)
• Quinault Indian Nation Grays Harbor and Queets River coho salmon fishery (2015)
• Quileute Tribe Dungeness crab fishery (2015-2016)
• Ocean salmon troll fishery (2016)

“The Commerce Department and NOAA stand with America's fishing communities. We are proud of the contributions they make to the nation's economy, and we recognize the sacrifices they are forced to take in times of environmental hardship," said Samuel D. Rauch III, deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs, NOAA Fisheries. "We are committed to helping these communities recover and achieve success in the future."

Under the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Commerce Secretary can determine a commercial fishery failure due to a fishery resource disaster, which then provides a basis for Congress to appropriate disaster relief funding to provide economic assistance to affected fishing communities, including salmon and crab fishermen, affected by the disaster.

If Congress appropriates funds to address these fishery failures, NOAA will work closely with members of Congress and affected states and tribes to develop a spending plan to support activities that would restore the fishery, prevent a similar failure, and assist affected communities.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

 

 

Sex & Drugs Don't Rock & Roll, at least as far as fish are concerned.

Pharmaceuticals Impact in Waterways

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) Executive Director John Arway described to the PA Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee how fish and aquatic life are impacted by complex mixtures of pharmaceuticals and other compounds released into waste streams and found in runoff from landscapes and urged the public to properly dispose of expired and unused medications.

 

“Research beginning in 1999 first showed that chemicals found in medications were being absorbed by fish and were contributing factors to a number of fish health problems,” Arway said. “Perhaps the most troubling condition is intersex fish. This is where male fish develop female egg cells in their testis.”

Arway noted that the U.S. Geological Survey Fish Health Laboratory reported in 2013 that approximately 50 percent of male bass in the Delaware River had intersex condition, 10 percent in the Ohio River drainage were affected, and up to 100 percent of the males sampled in the Susquehanna River were found to have intersex. More recent samples in the Susquehanna confirm that 90–100 percent of male Smallmouth Bass have intersex condition and that this condition is more severe than found in other drainages.

“How can we as a society make progress in reducing pharmaceuticals from getting into our lakes, streams and rivers?” Arway said. “Removing unused pharmaceuticals from homes and providing proper disposal alternatives is an important first step in reducing the amount of compounds getting into lakes, rivers and streams. Improving wastewater treatment processes to provide more effective removal of medications is another effective solution.”

Last month, the PFBC announced that it had partnered with Geisinger Health System to install a drug take-back box in the agency’s Harrisburg headquarters to provide a way for citizens to safely dispose of unused medications and help improve the health of the Susquehanna River and its Smallmouth Bass.

The full text of Director Arway’s testimony can be found here.