§ 11-1307. Fishing promotion program.

The commissioner shall develop and implement a fishing promotion
program. The commissioner shall, in conjunction with the commissioner of
economic development and the commissioner of parks, recreation and
historic preservation, develop and implement a program which will
encourage residents and out-of-state fishermen to utilize New York
state's fishing opportunities. Such program shall include, but not be
limited to:

1. working with conservation organizations, local sportmen's clubs,
retail stores, and county chambers to develop and conduct educational
fishing clinics for children and adults to teach angling techniques for
both fresh and salt water fishing and to provide information about
stocking programs that will increase the odds of a successful and safe
fishing experience;

2. conducting public outreach, including working with local community
and youth organizations, tourism promotion agencies and local
governments, to develop programs in conjunction with the two free
fishing days annually per department region provided by the legislature,
such as educational seminars, day-long fishing festivals, and tackle and
rod loaner programs, which will encourage individuals to take up the
sport of fishing;

3. making available to the fishing public, via both brochures and the
agency's website, the following information:

a. Public fishing sections of streams, ponds, and lakes;

b. Public access points for streams, ponds, and lakes;

c. Handicapped access points for all water bodies; and

d. The location of state lands, including forests, parks, wildlife
management areas, trails, campsites by type, ski areas, hatcheries, and
environmental education centers and camps;

4. posting fishing reports, including current fishing conditions
statewide, on the department's website;

5. developing and implementing a "learn-to-fish" and "instructional"
passbook and stamp program. a. The department shall make available,
wherever licenses are sold, a "learn-to-fish" passbook and stamps to
children under sixteen years of age. Such stamps shall include various
types of fish indigenous to New York state and shall also include with
the distribution of the "learn-to-fish" passbook one "learn-to-fish"
stamp. A child under sixteen years of age may collect stamps and when
the "learn-to-fish" passbook is complete shall return such completed
"learn-to-fish" passbook to the department via mail and the department
shall issue a patch, to be determined by the commissioner, to
"learn-to-fish" passbook holders who have participated in and completed
the "learn-to-fish" passbook program created pursuant to this
subdivision.

b. A licensee shall also be issued an "instructional passbook" and may
place a "learn-to-fish" stamp previously issued to a child under sixteen
in his or her "instructional passbook" whenever he or she teaches a
person under sixteen years of age how to fish. Once that licensee has
earned fifty "learn-to-fish" stamps in his or her "instructional
passbook", that person shall return such completed "instructional
passbook" to the department via mail and the department shall issue a
free fishing license for the season following that in which he or she
gets their fiftieth "learn-to-fish" stamp. The department shall include
in the "instructional passbook" information relating to the instruction
of fishing techniques to children, and shall also include current
fishing regulations in the "instructional passbook".