Norfork and Bull Shoals tailwater workshop notes available online

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has announced proposed changes to fishing regulations on the White River and North Fork River, below Bull Shoals and Norfork Dams, may be pushed forward for public review in the next month. AGFC says the progress is due to spirited conversations and debates at two focus groups concerning the latest review of those fisheries management plans.The management plans are reviewed and modified periodically to ensure the resource retains its integrity while matching the needs and desires of the public. According to Christy Graham, Trout Management Program Biologist for AGFC, many regulation concerns were proposed, and many were able to be condensed into as few rule changes as possible.

Graham says while the Game and Fish Commission want everyone to be involved in the regulations process they understand a lot of changes all at once can lead to confusion. She goes on to say the Commission has worked to address the public’s requests without making things overly complex.

The results of the focus groups are published on the Trout Management Program’s page agfc.com/en/fishing/sportfish/trout/. Proposals derived from those notes will be published for public comment through an online survey in the next month, and biologists hope to present them to the Commission at its regularly scheduled October meeting.

According to Graham, once the proposals have been formally presented, there will be another 30-day comment window and all public comments will be presented before the Commission votes on the proposals in November. If passed, the regulation changes will go into effect on January 1, 2018.

Graham stresses regulation changes are only part of the management plan revisions, and more changes are possible before the plan is finalized.

She says there have been a number of concerns regarding current regulations, but they also fielded quite a few concerns about other issues, such as water quality, guide fees and stocking rates. Those issues will be addressed either through the management plan or working with other divisions with AGFC and partners.

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