Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission presents 2025 annual report; lawmakers press for clearer fund details and study of administrative efficiencies

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission presented its 2025 annual report to the Game and Fisheries Committee on Feb. 6, summarizing restoration projects, staffing and budget snapshots while fielding questions about fund balances, gas royalties and an outside cost-savings review.

Director Tim Schaeffer opened the presentation by introducing Commission staff and commissioners and distributing the 2025 annual report. He highlighted restoration work that included freshwater mussel propagation and aquatic organism passage projects, and said the Commission is constructing a new research vessel for Lake Erie to support walleye and lake-trout research.

Schaeffer used the opportunity to deliver a public-safety message on ice safety, telling lawmakers, “Please do not walk on the frozen Schuylkill River,” and advising anglers to wear life jackets and carry ice picks. He also said the Commonwealth’s cold-water life-jacket requirement (Nov. 1–April 30 for small boats) has coincided with “about a 50 percent reduction in fatalities” during those months.

On finances, Schaeffer acknowledged a roughly $4 million timing-driven gap between revenues and expenses caused by cash-flow timing and retroactive labor agreements, and noted the Commission’s practice of keeping roughly 70% of prior-year revenues in reserve as a buffer. When asked for current fund balances, agency staff provided day-of snapshots: the Fish Fund balance was reported as $56,600,000 and the Boat Fund as $63,700,000, for a combined total of $120,300,000 as of Jan. 27. Staff said those figures are snapshots and not year-end accounting statements.

Members pressed for more historical fund-balance reporting. Rep. Haddock said the annual report felt “30 pages, 28 pages of fluff, 2 pages of financial information” and asked for clearer year-over-year fund-balance disclosure; Schaeffer and staff said budget-book figures and additional restricted-account detail can be provided. Staff reported gas royalties of $1,400,000 in FY24–25 and about $1,000,000 collected so far in the current fiscal year; they said an uncommitted balance in a restricted revenue account was $1,700,000.

Schaeffer outlined recent legislative and regulatory developments the Commission said will help operations and municipal partners: a fiscal-code provision (stemming from Senate Bill 800 and referenced as Act 45 in committee discussion) that permits flexibility between fish and boat fund spending when projects benefit both constituencies; changes to boating-advisory-board membership; streamlining of senior lifetime license procedures (Act 21); and pending bills to regulate electrified watercraft like internal-combustion craft (House Bill 1418 / Senate Bill 476) and to mark low-head dams (Representative Mihalyk’s bill).

Lawmakers also asked about a Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) review the Commission commissioned to examine administrative redundancies and potential efficiencies between the Fish and Boat Commission and the Game Commission. Schaeffer said the WMI study is examining operational and administrative overlaps (license systems, maintenance crews and other support functions) and is not examining the Commission board structure. He told the committee options will be shared with the legislature, the governor’s office and the Commission board when the analysis is complete, and emphasized “there [is] no foregone conclusion.” Representative Banta and others said they want assurances the study would not automatically lead to structural consolidation.

Members raised a water-quality concern at Benner Springs State Fish Hatchery near State College, where firefighting-foam contamination prompted state review. Schaeffer said testing for PCBs and other contaminants has been ongoing, “it’s my understanding that we’re meeting advisory levels and that they’re safe to consume,” and the Commission provided a letter to the General Assembly on recent test results. He said the agency is monitoring the situation and will share information with the committee.

Commission staff described routine federal audits (U.S. Coast Guard recreational boating safety grants; an ongoing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service audit) and said corrective-action plans are submitted if findings occur; the Commission reported no findings in the most recent Coast Guard audit. Schaeffer also noted recent law-enforcement training and graduations, and invited committee members to field events and an upcoming hearing the Commission is hosting on abandoned and derelict vessels.

No formal committee votes were recorded at this meeting. Committee chairs said they expect to revisit the WMI study and the Commission’s financial details in future sessions and thanked the Commission for the presentation. The meeting adjourned at the scheduled end time.