• HB0017 under consideration.

The outdoor use of Wyoming’s resources is always a topic of debate at the annual legislative session and 2024 is no different. One such piece of legislation, House Bill 0017, would seek to limit the number of commercial outfitters on Wyoming’s rivers and streams as well as require those outfitters to register and pay an annual fee for their equipment.

Wyoming Game and Fish Director, Brian Nesvik, spoke with SVI as part of the Weekday Wakeup recently and touched on the subject.

“Right now the only outfitters required to be licensed and regulated by the state are big game and trophy game,” he said. “That bill would focus on fishing outfitters. Mainly targeting and focusing on streams and rivers where the usage is very high and anglers have complained about the quality of their experience [because of] too many people being on the river.”

Specifically, Nesvik is referencing House Bill 0017 in this year’s session which seeks  “authorizing the Wyoming Game and Fish commission to regulate commercially guided fishing boats; providing for registration of commercially guided fishing boats, vehicles and trailers operated by outfitters and professional fishing guides; providing definitions; providing rule-making authority; and providing for an effective date.”

The bill seeks to “set limits on the number of commercially guided fishing boats allowed to launch into any river or lake.”

According to the bill a commission would hold public meetings in each community in which the rules apply.

Those rules would require “registration and payment of an annual fee for each commercially guided fishing boat or vehicle or trailer that is operated by an outfitter or professional fishing guide.”

If passed the new regulations would go into effect on July 1, 2024.

To follow the session visit wyoleg.gov.