Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission meets March 3

​FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 22, 2023) — The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission will hold a quarterly meeting on Friday, March 3.

The meeting will start at 8:30 a.m. (EST) in the Administration Building on the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources' campus in Frankfort. It will be open to the public.

The commission, a nine-member board comprised of volunteers who serve four-year terms, recommends hunting, fishing and boating regulations on behalf of the anglers, hunters, and other wildlife-related stakeholders in the commonwealth.

There are several action items on the March 3 agenda, including proposals to:

• Set the number of elk hunt permits available through the 2023 elk hunt drawing, which will be preceded on the agenda by an informational update about ongoing elk research;
• Reclassify Simpson County from Zone 3 to Zone 2 for deer hunting;
• Update and clarify the administrative regulation that establishes the species of aquatic life that are prohibited in Kentucky;
• Clarify aquatic organism propagation permit requirements;
• Clarify fish transportation permit requirements;
• Establish an experimental commercial fishing methods program;
• Define “gill net" and “trammel net" in administrative regulation;
• Establish special regulations for walleye and smallmouth bass on the Barren River;
• Add special regulations for catfish at Yatesville Lake; and
• Modify the administrative regulation that establishes the requirements for the issuance and use of special commission permits awarded to nonprofit conservation organizations for fundraising to support projects in Kentucky.

Any recommendation by the commission to amend a state administrative regulation must receive legislative approval before becoming law.

The meeting will be livestreamed and archived on the department's YouTube channel at youtube.com/FishandWildlifeKY. A link to the livestream will be posted on the department's homepage at fw.ky.gov before the start of the meeting.

The meeting agenda can be found at fw.ky.gov. On the homepage, click on the “Commission Meetings/Agendas and Recaps" link.

Public comments for the meeting will be handled as follows:
 
In-Person:

• In-person attendees who would like to comment on “New Business Items" or “Discussion Items" on the agenda will be asked to sign up by 9 a.m. (EST) on the day of the meeting, and specify their county and state of residence, organization represented, and position held, if applicable, and the agenda items they intend to address in their comments.
• During the “Public Comments" time on the agenda, attendees who have signed up to comment will have up to 3 minutes total to offer comments about the agenda items that they have specified on the sign-up sheet.

 Email:

• People may email comments about “New Business Items" and “Discussion Items" on the agenda to FW.PublicAffairs@ky.gov through 5 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, March 1. Please include “Commission meeting" in the email's subject line. In the email, commenters should include their first and last name, county and state of residence, and organization represented, and position held, if applicable.
  
• Emailed comments will be distributed to all commission members prior to the meeting. Time permitting and at the discretion of the commission chair, emailed comments will be read by department staff for up to 3 minutes total per commenter during the “Public Comments" time on the agenda, provided the commenter does not speak during the public comments time during the meeting.
• Anonymous comments submitted via email will be distributed to the commission members but may not be read during the meeting.
• The commission will review all emailed comments, and questions will receive an email response.
• Contact information is not required for emailed comments but will be necessary if information is requested, and other than name and affiliation it will not be publicly disclosed if provided.
  

The commission chair reserves the right to not read publicly or allow any comments that are considered libelous, profane, derogatory of others, repetitive or not relevant to the meeting agenda.

Following its March meeting, the next proposed quarterly commission meeting date is Friday, June 2 in Frankfort.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife's main campus is located at 1 Sportsman's Lane (formerly 1 Game Farm Road) in Frankfort, and its ​Administration Building is a large, two-story brick building about ½ mile north of the campus entrance. The entrance is located off U.S. 60, approximately 1½ miles west of U.S. 127.​