Baitfish rule tabled

The Commission Arkansas approvedGame and fishingFish regulations for 2018 but postponed voting on a baitfish transportation regulation Thursday until the Sept. 21 meeting. Fishing guides such as David Cochran and Don Andreasen say the proposal will be an economic hardship to guides and damage the state’s striped bass fishing industry. The adopted slate of new fishing regulations will go into effect Jan. 1.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission approved fishing regulations for 2018 but postponed voting on a baitfish transportation regulation Thursday at its monthly meeting in Little Rock.

The commission postponed voting on a proposed regulation to prohibit the transportation of wild caught baitfish between different waterbodies until its Sept. 21 meeting. Many striped bass fishing guides, such as David Cochran and Don Andreasen, oppose the proposed regulation because they say it will cause economic hardship to fishing guides and will damage the state’s striped bass fishing industry.

The commission tabled the vote due to the absence of commission director Jeff Crow, who missed Wednesday’s monthly work meeting due to a family emergency. The commission debates proposed regulations at the work meetings which the agency’s director usually attends.

The adopted slate of new fishing regulations will go into effect Jan. 1. They are listed on the commission’s website at agfc.com.

In wildlife management business, the commission approved entering into a grant agreement with Quail Forever for the amount of $630,000 over four years to hire six new quail biologists to implement Natural Resource Conservation Service conservation programs.

The federal Farm Bill authorized the programs. The new hires will serve as private lands biologists in the state’s quail focal areas to assist landowners in creating, enhancing and restoring native upland grassland habitat. The commission will budget the grant money in the 2018-21 fiscal years.

Also, the commission voted to approve purchasing inholdings at Gene Rush Buffalo River Wildlife Management Area and at Scatter Creek Wildlife Management Area.

The commission authorized its wildlife management division to spend up to $67,000 to buy a 20-acre inholding at Gene Rush Buffalo River Wildlife Management Area, and $100,000 to buy an 80-acre inholding at Scatter Creek WMA. The funds will come from a $500,000 pool budgeted for land acquisitions.