Friday, April 04, 2008
DGIF formalizes boating ed rules
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
Recent columns
RICHMOND -- The board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has formally established rules to implement a mandatory boating education law in Virginia.
Virginia's General Assembly mandated boating education during the 2007 session, but the DGIF was responsible for establishing a plan to put the rules in place.
The plan was announced to the public in January, and the agency's board ultimately approved a version that had just a few minor changes in language and details.
The regulation, which becomes official on July 1, covers such details as who will be authorized to provide the course, minimum scores for tests and the record-keeping specifics.
The timetable for the mandatory requirements was set by the law adopted by the General Assembly.
The first group required to meet the new standards, by July 1, 2009, are personal watercraft operators 20 and younger. With just a few exceptions, all boaters will have to meet the standards by July 1, 2016.
The complete text of the new regulation is available on the DGIF's Internet site (huntfishva.org).
In other business at the meeting:
n New director Bob Duncan outlined plans to change the process by which the agency makes changes to hunting, fishing, boating and wildlife regulations.
The new system will split out the regulations review cycles for hunting, with that process alternating years with fishing, boating and wildlife diversity.
The new process would also re-establish more statewide meetings with constituents, not only after proposals have become official but also as potential rule changes are being considered.
No formal action has been taken on the proposal but the DGIF board did give the agency's staff the OK to develop the plan, which is similar to the system used by the department until just a few years ago.
n The department's board approved for advertisement a proposed rule change to ease restrictions on muzzleloader ignition systems.
The rule would remove the reference to "flintlock or percussion" from the muzzleloader definition in the regulations. The change would legalize muzzleloaders that use electronic ignition, and also leaves open the door for other potential technical advances in ignition systems.
n Duncan honored three senior managers for 30-year service milestones reached -- and ignored by previous agency leaders -- in the past few years.
Charlie Sledd, who manages the agency's boating program and David Whitehurst, chief of the Wildlife Diversity Division, have each been with the department for 34 years. Fisheries Division chief Gary Martel has been with the agency for 32 years.
Heritage Day looms for trout anglers
Stocking trucks are busy today delivering brown, rainbow and brook trout to 16 waters in the state's Trout Heritage Day program, established in 2001 as a compromise for anglers who missed the festival-like atmosphere -- and guaranteed stocking -- that went away when the state eliminated the traditional trout opener.
Some Heritage waters are suffering low flows but the DGIF has no plans to alter its stocking plans.
"Everything's a go," said state trout biologist Larry Mohn. "The fishing may not be as good or you'll be able to see the trout in some of these streams, but in most cases they're adequate.
"They're as good as they are later on in the season."
Heritage waters are closed to fishing today and until 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
--Mark Taylor
