NYSCC FISH COMMITTEE REPORT-August 11, 2003

      For many members of the fish committee 2003 has proven to be a tumultuous year. In 2002 the committee along with other members of the NYSCC strongly supported the license fee increase. The committee felt that the NYSDEC needed this increase to maintain programs and replace all personnel that left due to retirements, etc. This did not happen in 2003 even though the Conservation fund, unlike other accounts in New York State, contained surplus money to replace personnel and operate existing sportsmen programs. It appears all our work and appeals haven fallen on deaf ears in Albany as most regions are operating with a large deficiency in personnel. The fisheries are heavily hit with retirements and backfilling generally has been the method of replacement. This however has left a huge void in the grass roots personnel who do the majority of the fieldwork. This is akin to a factory with 50 supervisors and 10 workers. As you can imagine not much can be accomplished with the aforementioned scenario. The committee felt that the sportsmen have been betrayed after doing their part and supporting a fee increase. This problem, without a doubt, was the biggest concern of the NYSCC Fish committee.
Other items of interest are as follows:

      Region 9 is very upset with the latest fish advisory from the New York State Department of Health regarding consumption of fish from Lake Erie. The new advisory limits consumption of many species of fish including yellow perch to 1 meal per week. The contaminant to blame for this advisory is  PCB. Region 9 sportsmen wonder where the test samples of perch came from? Was the whole fish sampled instead of the filet? Why doesn't Canada, Ohio and PA. also have an advisory on these species of fish? How can the Canadian commercial fishermen sell these fish if they contain PCB's? Obviously PCB contamination does not stop at the Ohio or Canadian border. The Lake Erie perch fishing has rebounded spectacularly in the last several years and now this new advisory will obviously effect the fishing.
      Erie County sportsmen along with the Erie County Fish advisory board are still working with Department of Environmental Conservation on a walleye fingerling-stocking program scheduled for Buffalo River in the spring of 2004. The plan calls for approx. 50,000 fingerlings to be stocked annually for at least 5 years.
      Region 9 is also pleased that the proposed daily steelhead creel reduction from 3 to 1 will not take place on Lake Erie tributaries. There is plenty of steelhead in these tribs and the reduction was not necessary.
      The fish committee still regards the cormorant as a major threat to fish populations on Oneida Lake, Lake Ontario and possibly Lake Erie but new federal relaxed regulations which give the states more power in cormorant control might ameliorate the problem.
      The NYSCC fish committee, while still having some regional concerns, Felt that the DEC Fisheries staff was doing a yeoman job with a greatly reduced staff. The people who retired take with them many years of experience and cannot be replaced by someone off the street. Finally the fish committee urges the governor to release the Conservation fund money (The sportsmen's money) and start filling all the huge gaps created by the mandated force reductions.

                                                        Joseph Fischer

* The Conservation Fund Advisory Board (CFAB) recently met in Ellicottville for their annual summer outing/meeting. This group keeps an eye on the sportsmen's money (Conservation fund) to assure it is spent properly. One of the main subjects discussed during the meeting was the timely replacement of DEC personnel. They also were concerned about improved implementation of the computerized licensing program. Many topics were covered during this lengthy meeting but the aforementioned 2 were considered very important.