Last year, lawmakers created a registration system for guided commercial fishing trips. Now, they are considering creating an outfitting board to provide more oversight for fishing across Wyoming.
Lawmakers approved a new registration requirement for commercial trips last spring. The $325 registration fee hit about 500 total commercial outfitters this season.
“The reason for that [fee amount] was trying to cover the cost of the department,” Fisheries Division Chief Alan Osterland said at a recent legislative Recreation Committee meeting. “Not necessarily a money maker, but to cover the cost of the program, which we thought we would do with a certain number of registrations, and we've hit that mark.”
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department sold 575 registration stickers for commercial fishing trips, driving about $187,000 in revenue.
The registration also requires commercial outfitters to log each trip they take. In total, 500 outfitters ran about 8,500 trips from January to the end of June, according to Game and Fish.
About 75% of registration stickers were purchased by Wyoming residents. The North Platte saw the most trips with these commercial outfitters.
Now, Wyoming legislators are considering the introduction of a bill that would create an outfitting board to oversee commercial fishing in the state.
“The State of Wyoming’s fisheries represent a premier natural and economic resource,” a Fishing Outfitter and Guides Advisory Board report outlined. “In recent years, recreational and commercially guided recreational fishing pressure has increased significantly, particularly on river systems. While federal agencies maintain patchwork oversight, the State of Wyoming currently lacks a comprehensive, statewide regulatory framework for commercially guided fishing activities.”
Chris Hayes has been a fly fishing guide for two decades and was one member of the advisory board. The board was created to consider the need for more structured fishing oversight across Wyoming. Hayes said creating a new fishing outfitting board could mean important protections for fish.
“ If you've only got 40 antelope tags, you're only gonna kill 40 antelope,” Hayes said at the recent committee meeting. “With fishing, it doesn't work that way. Nobody's practicing catch and release antelope hunting with a rifle.”
He said creating a board could offer more oversight as interest in recreation and harsher weather increases.
“These fish are getting caught over and over and over and over and over, and every time, they do suffer some injury,” Hayes said. “There is some degree of what we call ‘incidental mortality,’ where even through best practices and best handling, some of those fish, even though you release them, are going to die.”
The advisory board’s recommendation outlined the creation of a fisheries outfitting board to oversee registrations and monitor the amount of recreational activity in rivers across the state. Lawmakers have yet to decide whether they’ll introduce the idea during next year’s legislative session.
