COLUMBIA SPY

Monday, May 13, 2013

Smallmouth bass fishing banned until June

YORK DAILY RECORD
In the Susquehanna River, smallmouth bass populations have plummeted, with catch rates of adults falling 80 percent between 2001 and 2005, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Subsequent studies by the commission have found that populations have not recovered.

This decline prompted the state agency to impose emergency regulations that prohibited fishing for the species in much of the river from May 1 to June 15, 2012, and again this year.

MORE HERE:
http://m.ydr.com/yorkdaily/db_32169/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=BCyxlXIk

UN: Eat more insects; good for you, good for world; Could this strategy help fight the coming cicada plague?

http://www.abc27.com/story/22234585/un-eat-more-insects-good-for-you-good-for-world

Feds won't call Susquehanna River impaired despite drastic decline in smallmouth bass

LANCASTERONLINE
The federal government has refused to overrule Pennsylvania officials and declare the Lower Susquehanna River impaired.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the private Chesapeake Bay Foundation and some environmental groups and anglers had implored the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to go over the head of the state Department of Environmental Protection and make the impairment listing, citing a drastic decline in the river's prized game fish, the smallmouth bass.

Such a listing would force the state to draw up a cleanup plan for the river.

But EPA accepted DEP's list of 7,009 impaired waters, which does not include the Susquehanna River.

However, apparently reacting to feedback from EPA and others, DEP changed its final listing on the Susquehanna's status.

DEP's original draft list had designated a 100-mile section of the Susquehanna, including Lancaster County's portion, as "unimpaired." The final list submitted to EPA changed the listing to say there was insufficient water-quality data to make an impairment determination.

MORE HERE:
http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/848865_Feds-won-t-call-Susquehanna-River-impaired-despite-drastic-decline-in-smallmouth-bass.html