The latest meeting for the DGIF Board of Directors was this past Tuesday. I attended it to give my opinion (again) and see what the outcome of the public comment period was on the regulation changes. I felt as though it was good news. Due to a few negative public comments, the proposed regulation has been changed to allow the shooting of catfish in tidal waters only, meaning below the fall line. I am fine with this, as that is all I shoot. I realize that some in the western part of the state might get excluded now, and I apologize for that, but that is what the DGIF wanted to do with it. Now, these regulations go out for a 96 day public comment period. After this period, the regulations will be finalized at the August board meeting and they will go into effect January 1, 2013. I am very excited, as it looks very good for the shooting of catfish in Virginia next year! Also, bowfin is pretty much in the bag. There were no comments on that addition and no one at the DGIF was opposed to it. This effectively doubles the number of legal species in Virginia! The regulations aren't up for public comment yet, but I will be pushing for some support again when they are available.
--Jason
--Jason
