N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 11-1307: Fishing promotion program

§ 11-1307. Fishing promotion program.

The commissioner shall develop and implement a fishing promotion

program. The commissioner shall, in conjunction with the commissioner of

economic development and the commissioner of parks, recreation and

historic preservation, develop and implement a program which will

encourage residents and out-of-state fishermen to utilize New York

state's fishing opportunities. Such program shall include, but not be

limited to:

1. working with conservation organizations, local sportmen's clubs,

retail stores, and county chambers to develop and conduct educational

fishing clinics for children and adults to teach angling techniques for

both fresh and salt water fishing and to provide information about

stocking programs that will increase the odds of a successful and safe

fishing experience;

2. conducting public outreach, including working with local community

and youth organizations, tourism promotion agencies and local

governments, to develop programs in conjunction with the two free

fishing days annually per department region provided by the legislature,

such as educational seminars, day-long fishing festivals, and tackle and

rod loaner programs, which will encourage individuals to take up the

sport of fishing;

3. making available to the fishing public, via both brochures and the

agency's website, the following information:

a. Public fishing sections of streams, ponds, and lakes;

b. Public access points for streams, ponds, and lakes;

c. Handicapped access points for all water bodies; and

d. The location of state lands, including forests, parks, wildlife

management areas, trails, campsites by type, ski areas, hatcheries, and

environmental education centers and camps;

4. posting fishing reports, including current fishing conditions

statewide, on the department's website;

5. developing and implementing a "learn-to-fish" and "instructional"

passbook and stamp program. a. The department shall make available,

wherever licenses are sold, a "learn-to-fish" passbook and stamps to

children under sixteen years of age. Such stamps shall include various

types of fish indigenous to New York state and shall also include with

the distribution of the "learn-to-fish" passbook one "learn-to-fish"

stamp. A child under sixteen years of age may collect stamps and when

the "learn-to-fish" passbook is complete shall return such completed

"learn-to-fish" passbook to the department via mail and the department

shall issue a patch, to be determined by the commissioner, to

"learn-to-fish" passbook holders who have participated in and completed

the "learn-to-fish" passbook program created pursuant to this

subdivision.

b. A licensee shall also be issued an "instructional passbook" and may

place a "learn-to-fish" stamp previously issued to a child under sixteen

in his or her "instructional passbook" whenever he or she teaches a

person under sixteen years of age how to fish. Once that licensee has

earned fifty "learn-to-fish" stamps in his or her "instructional

passbook", that person shall return such completed "instructional

passbook" to the department via mail and the department shall issue a

free fishing license for the season following that in which he or she

gets their fiftieth "learn-to-fish" stamp. The department shall include

in the "instructional passbook" information relating to the instruction

of fishing techniques to children, and shall also include current

fishing regulations in the "instructional passbook".