Major Updates
Paddlefish Lobby Day, August 20th
DEMA endorses Paddlefish Campaign
A group of Pennsylvania scuba divers were looking to add a new attraction to quarries where they recreate, train, and otherwise exercise their sport. Paddlefish are a unique filter feeding fish that looks like a shark and can grow to five feet long in the wild. They are a popular attraction at scuba parks across the country and are native to PA. However, we were shocked to find they are not on the Fish & Boat Commission’s list of approved species for stocking. We want to change that…
We’ve drafted a proposal that will add the American Paddlefish to the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission’s list of stockable fish in Commonwealth waters. This action would achieve three goals:
Awareness
·Spread awareness of a threatened species normally obscured by its murky habitat.
Creation of public wildlife interaction with a living fossil.
Restoring an organism to a role in the ecosystem that is currently vacant and noncompetitive to its peers in the shared food web.
Economic
Creation of an attraction for our private and public waters for the benefit of state outfitters.·
Create a new breading option for hatcheries and outfitters.
Lay the foundation for a future state game fish.
Creation of new economic opportunities at minimal to no taxpayer expense.
Conservation
Provides a diverse gene pool across the state for future reintroduction projects.
Supports the creation of a private hatchery program that can support future PFBC propagation programs without expensive infrastructure investments.
Endorsements
Do you want to help use bring the paddlefish back
to Pennsylvania? Email us and we’ll setup a meeting
between you and your legislature so you can share
your support.