This was an ongoing controversy dating back 30 years. We can not fault the desire to restore all of our crown jewel streams to a natural state with wild fisheries. We can not fault the PA Fish and Boat Commission for being staunch defenders of our hatchery system. Stocked trout are the financial backbone of the PFBC and probably the salvation of our great fishing heritage. I do not care to what level of elitist any of us has evolved, we all started fishing catching stocked trout with garden hackle.
Fishing is big business for thousands of merchants and our state government.
This equates to hundreds of millions in tax revenue for PA's general tax fund. Most are under the false impression that the PFBC and PGC are operated solely with license revenue. In years past inclusion in the capital budget meant that the PFBC did not have to pay the money back. We originally built almost all of our hatcheries with capital revenue and the PFBC was not on the hook for repayment. Unfortunately, there is a catch and it stinks.