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Fishing Regulation Proposals Removed From Commission Meeting

Proposed changes to the Montana fishing regulations will not be on the Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting agenda for October as originally planned. Instead, potential regulation changes will wait until a new statewide fisheries management plan is in place in 2023.

After reviewing public comment received on the proposed regulations and considering the ongoing revision of the statewide fisheries plan, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks determined that the plan should be completed first to inform regulation changes.

The proposed fishing regulations were out for review from Aug 26.-Sept. 22, 2022 and were planned to go before the commission at their Oct. 20 meeting for final adoption. Several of the proposed changes are based on criteria that will be detailed in the revised fisheries management plan.

FWP fisheries staff are working on the management plan now and it will go out for public comment in December. The department will use the public input for the management plan to determine if adjusting fisheries management strategies for some waterbodies is needed. The plan, when finalized, will then help to inform proposals for the 2024 fishing regulations and beyond. The commission will consider extending the 2022 fishing regulations into 2023 at its Oct 20 meeting. Changes to the fishing regulations will be considered after the revised management plan is adopted in early 2023.

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