| Annual Report to House Game and Fisheries Committee |
| Report by Peter A. Colangelo To the February 6, 2003 |
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Thank you, Chairman Smith for once again providing the Fish and Boat Commission with the opportunity to make our annual report to you and the other members of the Committee. I always appreciate the chance to update you on the Fish and Boat Commission’s programs and initiatives and I likewise welcome the opportunity to address any questions you may have for my staff or me. With me today are Commission President Bill Sabatose, Ed Matheny of the Boating Advisory Board and other Commissioners and staff. Joining me at the table is Dennis Guise, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Counsel. Also in attendance are a number of senior staff members from the Commission who will be more than happy to assist with any program-specific inquiries committee members may wish to make. First off, I’d like to thank you all for your support for Senate Bill 1242 in the hectic final days of last year’s legislative session. The PFBC’s highest legislative priority in 2002 was to secure a means of funding our highest priority capital projects. The legislature and the administration recognized this need and as a result Act 208 was signed into law. In this law, the Commonwealth specifically authorized the Commission to incur debt for capital projects for the first time since the 1960’s. Act 208 authorizes the Commission to expend operating funds or incur debt for 18 capital projects with a total cost of about $54.5 million. Our Commissioners have authorized us to proceed at once with the six top priority projects at state hatcheries. These projects will lead to the construction of the new Blue Valley Mine Drainage Treatment and Fish Culture Station in Elk County, as well as needed upgrades at Huntsdale, Benner Spring, Pleasant Gap, Bellefonte, and Tylersville state fish hatcheries. These six projects have estimated costs of about $13.2 million, and our current estimate of the cost to pay back the principal and interest once all project are underway is about $930,000 per year. We’re moving forward with these six projects, and I’m pleased to report that work orders for all of them either have already been submitted to the Department of General Services or will be submitted within this month. The Blue Valley/Brandy Camp Project represents an innovative partnership approach involving the Commission, DEP, the Toby Creek Watershed Association, the Office of Surface Mining and other groups. As I’ve reported before, the concept here is to build a state facility that combines mine drainage treatment with a state-of-the-art recirculation trout hatchery. When fully operational, the hatchery should be able to produce 200,000 adult trout each year with single cycle operation. Here are the latest drawings of the project, and I encourage all the Committee members to take a closer look at them at the end of our meeting. For the last five years, the Fish and Boat Commission has been issuing a call to action to address critical infrastructure funding. I looked over my last few reports to this Committee and in just about each one, I described the need for an infrastructure improvement initiative to come up with new ways to fund the backlog of capital projects on Commonwealth property managed by the Fish and Boat Commission. Act 208 is a first step in addressing these needs, and I want to thank all those – particularly the legislators on this committee - who worked to secure its approval. Why do we care so much about infrastructure funding? Together with the 83,000 miles of streams in our Commonwealth and nearly 4,000 lakes, ponds and other impoundments, infrastructure is the backbone that supports fishing and boating in Pennsylvania. Our state fish hatcheries and state launch ramps and state dams support millions of fishing and boating trips, and each fishing trip makes a positive economic impact. In his recent State of the Union address, President Bush spent a great deal of time focusing on economic growth. Likewise, Governor Rendell, in his inaugural address and recent news articles, emphasized the need for a strong Pennsylvania economy and revitalization of rural Pennsylvania. Fishing and boating are generally associated with leisure and recreation – for obvious reasons – but the fact is that in Pennsylvania these activities are also important to the overall economy and particularly important to local rural economies. Each year, more than 2 million people go fishing and/or boating in Pennsylvania. Residents and visitors combine to take some 18 million fishing trips in the Commonwealth every year. According to the most recent information released from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the American Sportfishing Association, fishing generates about $1.6 billion annually in economic impact for Pennsylvania. It supports over 14,000 jobs, and contributes about $54 million to the state's General Fund in state sales and income taxes. When we talk about the need to “keep Pennsylvania fishing and boating,” we’re also talking about helping our economy grow and travel and tourism. I’m sure that you’ll agree that protecting the future of fishing and boating in Pennsylvania is not only important to preserving outdoor traditions, but it is crucial to ensuring our state’s economic vitality. The sportsmen and women of this Commonwealth have long demonstrated their willingness to pay their fair share. In fact, one could argue that over the years they have “paid the freight” in terms of funding important conservation programs that benefit all Pennsylvanians. Over the years in Pennsylvania other sources of revenue, including conservation bond issues, have, in fact, been used, to develop the infrastructure that is the backbone of recreational angling and boating in this Commonwealth – the state-owned fish hatcheries, dams and access areas. Unfortunately, many years have passed since the Commission’s needs were recognized in a state conservation bond initiative. Since I was appointed Executive Director of the Commission in 1994, the Commission has managed to squeeze from its operating budget an average of $1.5 to $2 million annually for major improvement projects at hatcheries, dams and access areas. Even at that, the needs have continued to grow and the backlog increased. At the same time, in the last several years, funding for our basic operations has remained relatively flat while the costs of doing business have continued to rise. Consider these facts. In Fiscal Year 1995-96 the Fish Fund expended about $25.2 million. Our projected expenditures for FY 2003-04 are just over $30 million. Compare our frugal 16% increase over a total of eight fiscal years with the changes to General Fund expenditures over the same period. General Fund appropriations increased from about $16.2 Billion to close to $20.7 Billion, an increase of about 22%. The Commission’s stewardship of the Fish Fund, and our approach to serious fiscal challenges, is noteworthy. For 2003, our top fiscal priority is to work with the new administration and the General Assembly to address funding for state infrastructure. Even as we move forward at once with more than $13 million in state hatchery projects, Act 208 authorized important additional work, which could move forward more quickly if we had a mechanism to repay the debt outside the Fish Fund. We urge your support for a new and innovative funding source for state infrastructure managed by us and I hope you’ll agree that we should address this issue now. Chairman Smith, in House Resolution 15, you have touched briefly upon funding issues in your call for a review of the financial feasibility and other pros and cons of merging the Fish and Boat Commission with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. We hope that this study will not delay long overdue efforts to provide funds in addition to fishing license and boat registration dollars to undertake major capital projects on state-owned property under the jurisdiction of the Fish and Boat Commission. The subject of combining the two agencies has been studied in the past, and the members of the Fish and Boat Commission and its staff have always cooperated fully with such studies. We look forward to working with you and this Committee in efforts to look into these areas once again. Just because various states take different approaches to organizing agencies with jurisdiction over fishing, boating, hunting, and trapping does not mean that some approaches are “right” and others are “wrong.” A closer examination will show that even in states with large umbrella agencies, many of the functions – including boat registration and titling – are organized in different ways. We believe that the examination proposed by Chairman Smith will show the biggest challenge facing both agencies is not their current administrative structure, but rather a need for sources of revenue beyond a strict reliance on license revenues. Although the Fish and Boat and Game Commissions focus on our primary customers, the anglers, boaters, hunters and outdoors enthusiasts of Pennsylvania, much of what we do, including nongame fish and wildlife management, habitat protection and environmental education, serves the Commonwealth as a whole. Up to this point, I have primarily discussed the “big picture” items related to the Commission and our programs. Before I conclude my remarks and entertain your questions, I do want to quickly highlight some other items of interest for you. For the 2003 season, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission plans to produce approximately 4 million adult trout for stocking in the waters of the Commonwealth. As compared with the 2002 season, this figure represents an increase of about 200,000 adult trout that will be available for stocking during the 2003 season. The production plan includes 3.9 million trout averaging 10 inches in length and weighing just under 1/2 pound each; 40,000 “premium” trout that will average 13 inches long; 20,000 brood trout and 10,000 golden rainbow trout with a 16-inch average length. These goals are set on a plus or minus five percent basis. Raising the production goal for 2003 in this manner reflects the PFBC’s commitment to continue to produce and stock the quality trout that Pennsylvania anglers have come to expect, while also ensuring that our hatcheries remain in compliance with their individual discharge permits. In your information packet is the current list of planned pre-season stockings, as well as an information paper on Trout Stocking 2003. The in-season stocking information will be available in late February or early March. I should mention that stocking information is very dynamic. There are changes made just about every day. The best place for your staffs and constituents to get the most up-to-date trout stocking information is our web site. ¨ Trout Acquisition Initiatives We are also taking innovative approaches aimed at augmenting the number of adult trout available for stocking in future years. In November, we signed a partnership agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to raise 100,000 brook trout at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery just below Kinzua Dam and Reservoir in Warren County. These trout will be available for stocking in 2004 and will be stocked in the Allegheny National Forest and elsewhere. We are also actively exploring the availability of additional space for hatchery development at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery. A conceptual plan for improving this hatchery so that it could raise 300,000 additional adult trout for stocking Commonwealth waters has been created. The concept is for the federal government to undertake the major capital improvements at this site and for the Fish and Boat Commission and the Fish and Wildlife Service to expand our partnership agreement to cover the operating costs Another innovative approach involves the purchase of adult trout from commercial hatcheries. The Commission has embarked on a pilot program to purchase about 100,000 adult trout for stocking in Commonwealth lakes. This procurement will be done through the Department of General Services. We expect bid packages to be issued in late February or March. Our goal remains to issue up to five contracts for purchase of these trout with the first stockings to take place in fall/winter 2003 or spring 2004. I am convinced that we must continue to pursue innovative arrangements like this to reach the long-term goal of stocking about 4.5 million adult trout in Pennsylvania waters. ¨ NPDES Permits for PA State hatcheries The Department of Environmental Protection issued 3-year National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Permits for Pleasant Gap, Bellefonte, Benner Spring, Oswayo and Tylersville Fish Culture Stations, effective October 1, 2002. The Commission has undertaken or will undertake improvements to the wastewater treatment subsystems at all of these hatcheries. We already have interagency settlement agreements with DEP for Tylersville and Oswayo FCS, and, later this month, staff is scheduled to meet with the Northcentral Regional staff and discuss approaches for the other hatcheries in the Northcentral Region. Staff has also met with members of DEP’s Southcentral Regional Office staff to discuss a first draft of a new permit for Huntsdale FCS. We have submitted written comments to DEP concerning this draft, and we expect that DEP will move forward with a formal draft permit for Huntsdale in the relatively near future. ¨ Huntsdale PCB Investigations Speaking of the Huntsdale Fish Culture Station, I’m pleased to report some progress in our efforts to find possible sources of low levels of PCBs on the site. As you will recall from prior reports, devices we installed in the water in several raceways that were not being used by fish showed very low, but detectable, levels of PCBs. This was the first time in many attempts that we found PCBs in water flowing into or through the hatchery. In the past, the membrane devices only picked up PCBs at the end of the hatchery. As a result of this finding, we assembled a group of experts at the hatchery and came up with a plan for shallow monitoring wells and further taking of soil samples. We recently received the preliminary results from these samples. These indicate higher levels of PCBs in some soils located near two specific raceway sections. Although this finding is encouraging, it is not the end of the search. I should note that we did not raise trout in the Huntsdale raceways where previous tests showed somewhat elevated PCB levels. Samples of fish were taken from Huntsdale and the other trout hatcheries in late November 2002. I understand the numerical results are being reviewed by technical staff, and they should be available in the next week or so. The Commission continues to operate in accordance with the guidelines approved by this Committee in October 1999. As you may recall, your guidelines specify that results should be released at least one month in advance of the upcoming trout season. I fully believe this information will be available for release shortly, and we’ll report the results to you as soon as they are available. There were 105 reportable boating accidents recorded in 2002. Included in that total are nine fatal accidents with an equal number of victims. That number is fairly consistent with the 10-year average, but our goal continues to be zero boating fatalities. Toward that end, the Commission continues to be a national leader in providing safety education. We issued more than 15,000 boater safety education certificates last year. We expect that number will rise this year in direct response to Act 199 of 2002, which mandates boating safety education for some motorboat users. This new law takes effect on February 7, 2003. Act 199 provides that persons born on or after January 1, 1982 shall not operate certain motorboats on Pennsylvania waters without first obtaining a boating safety education certificate. The bill contains exemptions for non-resident visitors, landowners operating boats on their own ponds which lack public access, and operators of motorboats powered by electric motors or motors of 25 hp or less. It provides for various courses of instruction. Boating safety certificates, good for a lifetime, will carry a $10 fee. The legislation was sponsored by Senators Richard Kasunic and Edward Helfrick, among others, and had broad bipartisan support. ¨ Law Enforcement Report Active law enforcement is an important part of our boating safety efforts. Improved training and tools for our officers resulted in a record number of 70 BUI cases being prosecuted last year. That’s an increase over the previous record number of BUI cases, 54 in 2001. During 2002, officers issued 4,131 citations and 17,816 warnings for violation of fishing laws and regulations. Along with that, officers issued 4,060 citations and 19,005 warnings for violations of the boating laws and regulations. ¨ Other Bureau Annual Reports -- 2002
¨ Public Outreach Our waterways conservation officers and other members of our staff have compiled a tremendous record of public outreach to Pennsylvania’s anglers and boaters. During 2002, our officers and other staff briefed more than 12,000 individuals who attended meetings across Pennsylvania. Together with members of my senior staff, I myself attended about 25 public sportsmen’s meetings, many of which were sponsored by members of this Committee and other members of the State House and Senate. The hundreds of anglers and boaters who we met came with good questions and strong opinions. There is overwhelming support for adequate funding to meet infrastructure and operating costs, and nearly everyone understands and supports the need for fishing license increases in the future. A particularly outstanding example of our public outreach efforts was the Trout Summit 2002. The Trout Summit brought together government officials from across our nation as well as interested trout anglers from across Pennsylvania. The first day of the Summit was the day for technical briefings by various government agencies; the second day featured briefings by our staff and discussion groups with Pennsylvania trout anglers. I’m pleased that Chairman Smith and other members of the Committee and staff could attend the first day of this event. On the second day, the avid interest of our trout anglers was evident. They may not always agree but they always care, and it’s great to have customers who invest so much thought and effort into their recreational pursuits. Just last month, we mailed out the written reports on the Trout Summit, and each of you should have received a copy. Our staff are developing new regulatory and management initiatives incorporating some of the input we received in this effort. ¨ Conclusion: Mr. Chairman, the time has come for all of us to focus our efforts on the best interests of the anglers and boaters of Pennsylvania. I appreciate your statements in support of our capital funding initiatives. The members of the Fish and Boat Commission and the staff are committed to working together with the General Assembly and the Administration to promote fishing and boating and the tremendous economic benefits they provide. |
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