Editor’s Note: Today’s guest commentary comes to The Outdoor Wire from Jeff Harrington of Michigan. Jeff is an editor and manager for a group of weekly newspapers in Northern Lower Michigan.

Hunters and anglers aren’t exactly an endangered species yet, but reports and statistics reflecting the continuing decline in our numbers are just what animal rights activists love to add to their arsenals against sport hunting and fishing.

And there should be plenty of concern among us, as another hunting season winds down and another election cycle heats up, especially in view of the anti-hunting establishment’s stunningly successful disinformation campaign at the polls here in Michigan just over a year ago.

Read More...

By John Burton

A number of area residents are urging state officials to take action to halt waterfowl hunting along the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers.

While hunters counter that they are doing what people have been doing here for years and that they obey all laws and state regulations doing it, those opposed to the sport recently ratcheted up their campaign by compiling a petition seeking an out-and-out ban on local hunting.

"The discharge of firearms has no place in this densely populated area, and should have been discontinued years ago," states the letter accompanying the petition sent to Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

Read More...

Recently voters approved a Constitutional Amendment which allows the dedication of a portion of the Corporate Business Tax to fund maintenance and capital improvements at state parks and Wildlife Management Areas. Wildlife Management Areas are public lands that offers citizens the opportunity to hike, bike, kayak, boat, birdwatch and hunt and fish.

With this stable source of funding, the Division of Fish and Wildlife now has the opportunity to expand how these areas can be used for public enjoyment. As we develop our plan for these 122 areas, we are interested in hearing from you, the users of these public lands. To help us in this decision making, we are asking you to please take a few moments to complete an on-line survey at http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/wmasurvey08.htm . Please fill out a separate survey for each WMA that you use. Thank you in advance for assisting the Division in this important capital improvement activity.
Read More...

ASSEMBLY, No. 1202  STATE OF NEW JERSEY 213th LEGISLATURE
 PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2008 SESSION
Sponsored by: Assemblyman ANTHONY CHIAPPONE District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
     Changes composition and revises authority of Fish and Game Council; creates nonlethal alternative committee within council.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
   AN ACT concerning the Fish and Game Council, and amending P.L.1948, c.488 and amending P.L.1999, c.282.
  Read More...

It was a difficult vote for Shore legislators. "It put a lot of people on the spot, who were trying to have it both ways between their commercial and recreational guys," Kean said. Last summer, the DEP proposed seasonal reef exclusion rules that would keep lobster and fish traps off the reefs from May through October. That measure is proceeding through the DEP administrative process and could take effect later this year, state Division of Fish and Wildlife Director David Chanda said at last Thursday's meeting of the state Marine Fisheries Council.

Read More...

Bill will be reintroduced

By KIRK MOORE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU  asbury park press
A last-chance attempt to ban commercial fishing gear from New Jersey's artificial reefs failed Monday, but the bill's prime sponsor says he will reintroduce it in the new Legislature, even as the state Department of Environmental Protection prepares a seasonal exclusion of fish and lobster traps.
Despite winning clear approval in the state Senate Thursday, the outright trap ban failed to get enough support on the last day of the Assembly session and died with a 42-31 vote to table the measure.
Read More...