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PAF&BC Amends Boating Regulations at Quarterly Business Meeting
Thursday, September 29, 2011
 Erie, PA – At its quarterly business meeting, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) amended various boating regulations and voted to close the lower sections of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers to bass fishing during the spawning period from May 1 to mid-June. The two-day meeting, held at the Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel, began with committee meetings on Monday and Tuesday with the official business session.
As part of the regulation changes approved today, boaters will be required, beginning Nov. 1, 2012, to wear life jackets on boats less than 16 feet in length and on canoes and kayaks during the cold weather months from Nov. 1 through April 30. The change is intended to protect boaters from the dangers of coldwater shock if they fall into the water.
“While boating accidents are more frequent during the traditional summer season, the risk of an accident being fatal is significantly higher when the air and water temperatures are colder in late fall through spring,” said Laurel Anders, director of the Bureau of Boating and Access. “Over the last 15 years, cold-water incidents represented only eight percent of boating-related accidents, but resulted in 24 percent of the fatalities.”
“The disproportionate number of fatalities is primarily due to the effects of coldwater immersion,” she added. “Victims who are wearing a life jacket when exposed to cold water have potentially life-saving advantages.”
Commissioners also removed the no-wake designations from Hawns Run Cove and Anderson Bay on Raystown Lake, Huntingdon County, and placed an “electric motors only” restriction on the area of Lake Wilhelm in Mercer County which runs through State Game Lands 270.
A complete copy of the meeting schedule and the full agenda for the meeting can be found on the Commission’s web site at www.fishandboat.com/minutes.htm.
Anglers and boaters can sign up to receive email updates on the activities of the Fish and Boat Commission at http://www.fishandboat.com/newsreleases/edelivery.htm.
The PFBC is also using today’s popular social media. Individuals can stay in touch by following the Commission on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fishandboat and through RSS feeds at http://fishandboat.com/rss/index.htm.
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PAF&BC
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