© 2025 Wyoming Public Media
800-729-5897 | 307-766-4240
Wyoming Public Media is a service of the University of Wyoming
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Transmission & Streaming Disruptions

Troubled waters? A bill again proposes regulating commercial fishing in Wyoming

A close-up of small waves in a moving, blue-green river.
Hannah Habermann
/
Wyoming Public Media

A bill to regulate commercial fishing guides is back in the Legislature after several failed attempts over the last few decades. HB 5 wants to give Wyoming Game and Fish, with guidance from an advisory committee, the authority to require registration for commercial fishing boats, with different fees for resident and nonresident users.

That registration count could then help figure out how many boats are actually getting out on the water and potentially lead to limits on different stretches of rivers in the future. Commercial fishing is largely unregulated in Wyoming, unlike surrounding states like Montana, Idaho, Colorado and North Dakota.

The bill unanimously passed out of the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resource Committee on Jan. 23 and now heads to the House floor. A similar bill failed there last year with a 38 to 22 vote. The measure had been previously tabled as an interim topic.

Over the course of two meetings of agency input, public comment and committee discussion this year, one thing was clear: Waters around the state have gotten a lot busier in recent years. Many anglers who gave their input said some sort of change is necessary to deal with overcrowded rivers, but thoughts on how to implement that change varied.

Chris Hayes is a fly fishing guide in the Upper Green River Valley and has worked in the profession for two decades. He said in his neck of the woods, it's not uncommon to now have 20 commercial boats on a section of water narrow enough to throw a rock across.

“This amount of relentless pressure has led to an enormous decline in the quality of our fishery in my region, as well as nearly every river in the state that you can float a boat down,” he told lawmakers.

Hayes, as well as others who provided public comment, emphasized that an influx of out-of-state guides has put more pressure on already fragile ecosystems across Wyoming.

“ In every watershed in the state, there are multiple out-of-state operators that exploit our fisheries resources and, in return, contribute practically nothing to the economy, save the cost of an angler's fishing license,” Hayes said.

Casper resident Sydni Handeland voiced concerns about who would implement the regulations and the impacts the bill would have on businesses in her community.

“ It gives the Game and Fish the power to regulate fishing outfitters, which is misplaced authority, and the ability to limit commercial boats allows the chance for monopolization and risks ruining local Wyoming economies,” she said.

Handeland brought up the comparison of big game hunting, which is regulated by the Wyoming Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides. She advocated for either expanding that current board to include fishing or starting from scratch for fishing specifically.

“Creating a new [board] in its entirety would probably be the best solution here to properly regulate fishing outfitters, and with a board comes requirements, business licenses, insurance, CPR, reports, things like that,” she said. “It adds that professional aspect to it.”

Lee Livingston is currently in his third term on the Wyoming Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides. He said the group has had many internal discussions about this issue.

“ If it was shifted to us as an outfitter board, the big elephant in the room is we do not know how many fishing outfitters are out there,” he said. “I see this bill as potentially starting to get a handle on that.”

Livingston, who’s been in the outfitting industry for 40 years, said the board is self-funded but also emphasized that they legally cannot charge different prices for in-state and out-of-state outfitters.

When asked his thoughts on creating a board that would oversee all types of outfitting, which is the current model in Idaho, Livingston said he couldn’t speak for the whole board.

“ I could see it getting pretty big,” he said. “I think your two biggest players are going to be big game outfitters and fishing outfitters. And then again, there's a lot of other outfitting happening in Wyoming.”

The House Travel Committee ultimately amended the bill to bring in an advisory committee to provide recommendations to Game and Fish on how best to get started with some sort of registration system. The committee would be made up of fishing outfitters and would serve as an expertise board, rather than a decision-making board.

The advisory committee and Game and Fish would then report back to the Joint Travel Committee on a recommendation to either create a new board entirely or have an existing board carry on the task of regulating commercial fishing in the state.

A bill to raise nonresident fishing license fees also passed out of committee and heads to the House for its first floor vote. HB 204 would raise the nonresident daily licence from $14 to $18, the nonresident five consecutive day license from $56 to $62, and the nonresident 12-month license from $102 to $112. Those prices include a $2 processing fee that goes to Game and Fish.

Hannah Habermann is the rural and tribal reporter for Wyoming Public Radio. She has a degree in Environmental Studies and Non-Fiction Writing from Middlebury College and was the co-creator of the podcast Yonder Lies: Unpacking the Myths of Jackson Hole. Hannah also received the Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing & Journalism Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council in 2021 and has taught backpacking and climbing courses throughout the West.

Enjoying stories like this?

Donate to help keep public radio strong across Wyoming.

Related Content