Releases – May 10, 2012
In response to an increasing trend within the National Park Service to disregard its mission of providing access to sportsmen and women in our nation’s beloved national parks, today the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands held an oversight hearing titled “Access Denied: Turning Away Visitors to National Parks.”
Access issues at two popular national parks, Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area, NC, and Biscayne National Park, FL, were discussed in detail by the subcommittee. The American Sportfishing Association (ASA) has been actively engaged with the Park Service over access issues to these and other national parks for many years.
“Anglers are conservationists first and foremost and depend on healthy and abundant fisheries to pursue the sport they love, but, in recent years, the National Park Service has proposed closing, and in the case of Cape Hatteras has closed, wide swaths of public lands and waters to the American people, far beyond what is needed to address resource challenges,” said Mike Leonard, ASA’s Ocean Resource Policy Director. “ASA and the entire sportfishing community are deeply appreciative of subcommittee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and members of the subcommittee for bringing to light these important issues affecting sportfishing access in our national parks.”
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area is one of the East Coast’s premier surf fishing destinations. Off-road vehicle (ORV) access to the park is essential for surf fishing from the beaches, as well as many other recreational activities. Since 2008, the park has been managed under a court-ordered consent decree that severely limits ORV and pedestrian access to the seashore which has caused documented financial harm to the local economy, which is largely based on tourism and recreation. The consent decree remained in effect until early 2012, when a final ORV plan went into place that has further limited access.
“ASA thanks Representative Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) for introducing sensible legislation, H.R. 4094 and S. 2372, which will allow reasonable ORV and pedestrian access to Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area while also providing shorebird and resource protection,” said Leonard. “The enactment of H.R. 4094 and S. 2372 will also provide relief for a community suffering severe economic consequences due to the final ORV plan.”
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will showcase five years of the Coastal Recreational Fishing License Grant Program at a symposium May 31 at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, 203 South Front St., New Bern.
The symposium will feature presentations from grant recipients for numerous projects, including: (1) a Division of Marine Fisheries program to collect recreational fishing data; (2) an N.C. State University study of the movement and mortality of spotted seatrout; (3) a University of North Carolina at Wilmington project that tested the use of text messaging to submit catch and effort fishing reports from a wireless phone; and (4) the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s construction of several boating access sites.
There will also be exhibits of some of the educational projects funded by the grant program.
The symposium is free and open to the public; however, pre-registration is required. Sign up for the event by May 17 by visiting the Division of Marine Fisheries website at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf//crfl-symposium-registration-form.
The grant program was established in 2007 to fund for projects that aim to manage, protect, restore, develop, cultivate, and enhance the marine resources of the state. The program receives revenues from the sale of Coastal Recreational Fishing Licenses.
In the five years since its inception, the grant program has awarded approximately $21 million to 68 projects.
For more information, contact grant program coordinator Tiffany Frazier at (252) 808-8004 or Tiffany.Frazier@ncdenr.gov.
The Seacoast Anglers Association meeting for this month is Monday, May 21, at VFW Post 10804 located at Route 57 & Route 9 in Little River, SC. The social hour starts at 5:30 PM, and the meeting starts at 6:30 PM.
Come and enjoy meeting with other local fishermen and women. The club has guest speakers who inform about what is happening in the world of fishing, as well as report on how and where to fish in inshore and offshore waters.
The guest speaker this month is Dan Kibler of the SC Sportsman Magazine.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Onslow County and Jacksonville last Thursday morning that will dramatically increase water access on the New River by building a new boat ramp.
Under the agreement, the Wildlife Commission will build a new boating access area across the river from its existing site, using land donated by Onslow County and the City of Jacksonville. The Wildlife Commission will design and construct the boating access area, and Jacksonville will provide day-to-day maintenance.
“This is an especially exciting project in Jacksonville because we have so much demand for access to the New River and public water in this area of the state,” said Erik Christofferson, chief of the Wildlife Commission’s Division of Engineering Services. “This project is not only hugely beneficial for City of Jacksonville and Onslow County residents, but for anglers and recreationists across the state, and visitors. It will greatly increase access in this area of North Carolina.”
The new site will include more than 70 trailered spaces and 30 single-vehicle spaces, and will provide a welcome center for visitors. The Commission will provide funding through motorboat registration receipts and Sportfish Restoration Funds, and may seek money from sales of the Coastal Recreational Fishing License.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is joining with the National Safe Boating Council to promote National Safe Boating Week and the importance of wearing a life vest. This year, National Safe Boating Week is May 19-25.
In 2010, drowning was the reported cause of death in almost three-fourths of all boating fatalities, according to the National Safe Boating Council. Of those, 88 percent were reported as not wearing a personal flotation device, better known as a PFD or life vest.
“Wearing a life vest is one of the most effective and simplest life-saving strategies for safe boating,” said Maj. Chris Huebner, who is the Wildlife Commission’s state boating safety coordinator. “Life vests are no longer the bulky, cumbersome models of years past. Knowing what options are available and what model works best for you—then wearing it—can mean the difference between life and death.”
Both state and federal regulations require that a Type I, II, or III personal flotation device in good condition and of appropriate size be accessible for each person onboard a recreational vessel, including canoes, kayaks, rowboats, and other non-motorized craft. Sailboards, racing shells, rowing sculls, racing canoes, and racing kayaks are exempt from this requirement.
North Carolina law requires children younger than 13 to wear an appropriate life vest whenever they are on a recreational vessel that is under way. It must be U.S. Coast Guard approved and be a proper fit, with youth sizes corresponding to weight. The law also requires all personal watercraft riders and passengers, and anyone being towed by a personal watercraft, wear life vests.
“Accidents happen quickly,” Maj. Huebner said. “Too often, there isn’t time or you are unable to find a life vest and put it on.”
North Carolina requires all boaters be in compliance with the boating safety education requirement law. Anyone younger than 26, operating a vessel powered by a 10-horsepower or greater motor, must have completed successfully an approved boating safety course or otherwise be exempt.
There are more than 200 sworn, full-time wildlife officers across the state with arrest authority for any criminal offense committed in their presence, including state and federal violations. They enforce hunting, trapping, and inland fishing regulations and boating laws to protect the resources of the state and the safety of its citizens. The public can assist them by reporting wildlife violations to (800) 662-7137.
The “On the Road, On the Water, Don’t Drink and Drive” safety campaign is back. After a successful inaugural effort in 2011, the multi-agency campaign will resume this summer.
A news conference will be held 11:00 a.m., May 22, at Upper Barton Creek Boating Access Area on Falls Lake, near Raleigh, to kick off the campaign.
North Carolina sets the same limits for vessels and vehicles: Any driver with a blood-alcohol concentration that meets or exceeds .08 or is appreciably impaired by alcohol and/or drugs is subject to arrest.
But perhaps more than anything, the safety campaign is about education.
“We can’t arrest our way out of the problem of impaired driving. This is a high visibility campaign, being very much about awareness and personal responsibility,” said Lt. Todd Radabaugh with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “We want drivers to understand and accept the responsibility of safety—on the road and on the water—for themselves and others.”
The “On the Road, On the Water, Don’t Drink and Drive” campaign combines law enforcement resources to ensure that everyone can travel safely on highways and waterways during summer. Officers will conduct sobriety checkpoints and special saturation patrols during busy holiday periods, combined with special messaging strategies to increase awareness of the dangerous consequences of impaired driving. Leading the campaign are the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, responsible for enforcing boating regulations, and the State Highway Patrol, providing for highway safety.
Joining the safety campaign are the Alcohol Law Enforcement division, local police and sheriff’s departments and Forensic Tests for Alcohol branch, which is providing six mobile breath-alcohol testing units. Each mobile unit is equipped with alcohol screening devices, computers and communication work stations, as well as a magistrate office and other necessary equipment and supplies for processing impaired suspects.
The state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is promoting and supporting the safety campaign through additional outreach and education.
There are more than 200 sworn, full-time wildlife officers across the state that patrol 5,000 square miles of inland streams, rivers, lakes, and coastal waterways and instruct certified boating safety education courses. The public can assist them by reporting boating violations to (800) 662-7137.
