Re: [Paddlewise] Registration and Safety

From: Reeves, Debbie

>I believe Pennsylvania requires all canoes and kayaks to be registered and
I
>hear they are very active in enforcing it even off-season.
>
        This entire thread will probably open a Major can of worms.
Pennsylvania's case is a complicated one.  If you use any PA Fish & Boating
Access, you must have your boat registered.  Period.  No exceptions.  At all
times.  However, you don't need to be registered to use most Dept of
Conservation & Natural Resources Parks, etc., with a few glaring exceptions.
Paddlers on the Yough must pay a fee to use the park.  ONLY paddlers, not
hikers, not mountain bikers.   There is also a sticker and permit system to
use their Lakes, however.  If you have the F&B sticker then this supersedes
theirs.
        Then, on top of that, some counties require a sticker for Their
waters!  Again, though, this is superseded by the F&B sticker.
        Finally, there are some municipalities or government entities that
are even tougher than that.  Green Lane reservoir requires a $45 permit.
It's annual.  If you bring a boat it must be stored there WITHOUT going into
the water for some weeks.  Somehow they've become paranoid about Zebra
Mussels or other alien intruders.  If you take your boat somewhere else, you
must once again put the boat in quarantine before you can put it in the
water.
        I am a New Jersey resident, and NJ does not require any registration
for human powered boats less than 16 ft in length.  PA supposedly has a
reciprocity agreement with NJ.  If I had NJ registration, no problem.  But
since there isn't one, I Must have my boat registered in PA to use it on F&B
accesses.
        Supposedly these funds go for safety programs and access
improvement.  To be fair, PA F&B has a pretty good safety program and they
produce things in conjunction with ACA that are of great help.
        On the other hand, paddlers are consistently losing access to some
F&B regulated streams in PA, and nothing whatever is being done.  -- Even
though these same streams still retain access for fishermen....
JP


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