If you fish in Montana, you will soon have a chance to participate in updating the state’s fishing regulations for the next two years. MTN's Chet Layman takes a closer look at this FWP effort, taking place every other year.
BOZEMAN — Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks updates its fishing regulations every two years. This year is the end of a cycle, and that means this fall the next two years’ regulations will be approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. Now, FWP is starting the work of finding out what Montanans would like to see included in those regulations.
“Very similar to what we do for hunting regulations. We rely on public input and participation in the process to determine what our regulations should be,” said Montana FWP’s Morgan Jacobsen, “and so for our fisheries we have in the state, we have tons of opportunity for anglers and we know anglers have great ideas about how we should approach those regulations in the next two years.
This process is just beginning. Input and ideas will be discussed during a series of meetings around the state that will be turned into proposals that will again be discussed in August before the Fish and Wildlife Commission gets the final versions in October. If you have ideas, concerns or suggestions, now is the time to talk with FWP.
“And again, that is so important because the fisheries and these resources belong to the people of Montana. This is their opportunity to weigh in and to talk about what's going well, what can we change and improve, and what people would like to see for resources,” Jacobsen said.
FWP Region 3's initial meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on March 28 at the Region 3 FWP Office (1400 South 19th). Head over to the FWP website for a list of other meetings around the state.
