According to a report on Syracuse.com, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation passed a regulation that prohibits the practice of photographing fish caught out of season. Due to a growing trend of social media posts of anglers taking photos with fish caught out of season, the DEC put the new regulation into effect on April 1st. And the offense of being caught with photos of fish out of season is fineable according to the report.
According to their fishing guidelines the rule reads as follows now:
A person may not fish for a species (even if immediately released) during the closed season for that species on a given water. Fish caught during the closed season must be unhooked and released immediately. They may not be handled for any other purpose, including taking a photo.
It will be interesting to see if other state’s adopt rules like this, specifically prohibiting activities related to more folks wanting to show off catches on social media platforms.
For more on the rule and to read the original report, read this article Syracuse.com.
