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<p>To see one is rare, but that doesn&#8217;t mean they don&#8217;t exist.</p><p>River otters have made a comeback in the state, and last week the Pennsylvania Game Commission welcomed a full house to its Northeast Region Office to tell people about the aquatic mammals and their plans for a limited trapping season.</p><p>Tom Hardisky, the agency&#8217;s aquatic furbearer biologist, said otters are nocturnal, which makes them a rare sight. Hardisky said he sees about one a year, and that&#8217;s a lot more than decades ago.</p><p>&#8220;Industrial waste, acid mine drainage and pollution from tanneries wiped out the otter&#8217;s prey species which is fish,&#8221; Hardisky said. &#8220;By 1977, they existed just on the western edge of the state and in the northeast.&#8221;</p><p>Otters, which are members of the weasel family and can weigh up to 20 pounds, feed primarily on suckers, chubs, sunfish and stocked trout. Hardisky said they&#8217;ll also consume crayfish, turtles and snakes.</p><p>As regulations resulted in cleaner water over the years, those prey species increased and so did otters.</p><p>The Game Commission released 153 otters throughout the state from 1982 to 2004. By 1998, Hardisky said, otters established populations in watersheds across Pennsylvania and the northeast remains a stronghold.</p><p>&#8220;In our neck of the woods, things look pretty good,&#8221; Hardisky said. &#8220;We always had river otters in the northeast and the Poconos and, as of 2014, there was a huge range expansion.&#8221;</p><p>Due to a combination of the rise of incidental captures by beaver trappers, damage complaints and the fact that all but two other states in the East (Rhode Island and Indiana) don&#8217;t have an otter trapping season, Hardisky said, the Game Commission has decided to hold a limited season in 2016.</p><p>Hardisky said other states that have otter trapping seasons, such as New York with an average annual harvest of 1,270, have proven a regulated harvest won&#8217;t harm the population.</p><p>&#8220;It comes back year after year,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But we want to do this very conservatively.&#8221;</p><p>Pennsylvania&#8217;s season will run for three days - Feb. 21-23 and has a capped harvest of 85. The season can be extended for five days, but once that quota of 85 is reached it will be shut down.</p><p>By holding the season in February, Hardisky said, it will reduce the chance of pregnant females being harvested.</p><p>&#8220;This is the time of year when males are most active so they would be most vulnerable, as compared to females, to trapping activity,&#8221; Hardisky said.</p><p>All otter harvests must be reported to the Game Commission within 24 hours and Hardisky said the data will yield a lot of useful data for the agency, such as age structure, reproductive status, habitat and overall health.</p><p>The otter trapping season will take place in Wildlife Management Units 3C and 3D only, and Hardisky said it could expand to the northwest region next.</p><p>But for now, the Game Commission will wait and see how the 2016 season plays out before deciding on any expansion.</p><p>&#8220;We want to safeguard the population,&#8221; Hardisky said. &#8220;This season is highly regulated and we&#8217;re confident we&#8217;re not going to overdo it.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A packed house attended the Game Commission&#8217;s otter presentation at Dallas. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_otter11.jpg</photo0><caption0>A packed house attended the Game Commission&#8217;s otter presentation at Dallas. </caption0><photoCredit0>Charlotte Bartizek| for Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Game Commission program outlines plans for limited trapping season</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Up next&#8230;</strong></p><p>The Game Commission&#8217;s Northeast Region Office in Dallas will hold another wildlife program on Aug. 25 on wildlife forensics. The program begins at 7 p.m. and includes a demonstration from the PGC&#8217;s canine, Skye and handler Dave Allen.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Otters abound in northeast