They Are Trying To Destroy Our Fish and Game Commission

It is hard to believe that the state’s House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee members have sponsored a bill that would devastate our current state Fish and Game Commission status. HB-559, sponsored by Representatives Carla Skinder (Cornish), Jayne Spaulding (Bedford), Henry Parkhurst (Winchester) and Senator Sheila Roberge (Bedford), would remove certain criteria from the nomination and appointment of Fish and Game Commissioners and take away the role of the commission to set rules and regulations.

HB-559 eliminates many of the election qualifications currently required of our Fish and Game Commissioners. in order to be elected to the commission It does away with the requirement that an applicant for the state Fish and Game Commission have an active membership in a conservation or sportsmen’s organization in this state, along with many other requirements. The bill states that at least one member of the commission shall have experience in the areas of wildlife preservation and animal protection. In other words, the door would be open for any number=2 0of people who are anti-hunting, anti-fishing, anti-gun and/or animal rights activists to apply.

Here are some of the current requirements of HB-206:2 (Appointment of Commission) that will be eliminated under the new bill HB-559:H. 

"Sporting Clubs in each county may form a county sporting club board. Whenever an appointment is to be made to the commission, each board may nominate 1 to 3 persons and submit such recommendations to the governor for the consideration. Whenever an appointment is to be made to the commission from the tidewater towns, the advisory committee on marine fisheries may nominate 1 to 3 persons and submit such recommendations. HI. For the purpose of this section, “sporting clubs” means:

a. An organization which has specific interests in hunting, fishing, trapping, wildlife and habitat conservation and which has been registered with the department of state for at least 2 consecutive years.
b. An organization which acknowledges in its permanent by-laws, the promotion and protection of hunting, fishing or trapping and which accepts scientific wildlife management methods and tools.

In section 206:2a - Qualifications of Commissioners, under HB 559, the following requirements have been eliminated:

d. An active outdoorsman/woman holding a resident fishing, hunting, or trapping license in at least 5 of the 10 years preceding the appointment.

f. At least five years experience in one or a combination of the following fields:  1. forestry, 2. agriculture, 3. management of wild lands, 4. soil conservation, 5.conservation of water resources, 6. fish and game management or propagation, 7. conservation engineering, 8. conservation law, 9. wildlife education and 10. active membership in a conservation or sportsmen’s organization in this state."

My longtime friend, Bill Carney, of Bow, New Hampshire, who has been a Fish and Game Commissioner going on several years, has the following to say concerning HB 559: "Virtually, HB 559 would abolish the current and long established policy for the selection of Fish and Game Commission members and will re-establish the commission as just an advisory commission with no power to establish rules and regulations. HB-559 also gives the ultimate power over the entire Fish and Game Department to one person, the Executive Director, who will run the Department’s policy program and financial issues without direction or oversight from the Commission. Now, we will have just one person, appointed by the Governor, to run a 28 million dollar a year department without checks or balances from a commission."

Sporting clubs will no longer be sought out for commission nominees. No longer will organizations that acknowledge hunting, fishing, trapping or scientific wildlife management in their by-laws be consulted for commission membership. No longer will there be a requirement that a commissioner be an active outdoorsman or woman, holding a state hunting, fishing or trapping license for at least 5 years. No longer will commission members be required to have experience in one of the following outdoor skills: forestry, agriculture, management of wild lands, soil conservation, conservation of water resources, fish and game management or propagation, conservation engineering, conservation law, wildlife education or be an active member in a conservation or sportsman’s organization in New Hampshire.

If this bill passes as submitted, at least one member of the commission shall have experience in the area of wildlife preservation and animal protection. There is nothing in HB-559 to prevent all eleven Commissioners from having these same requirements or credentials of animal protector. It opens the door for animal rights activists, who are anti-hunting and trapping, to apply for a seat on the Fish and Game Commission.

This bill, if passed, will destroy the Fish and Game Department as we know it today and since its inception 75 years ago. HB-559 is the brain child of people and legislators who do not look, or have ever looked, favorably on the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, especially its Commission. The prime sponsor of this bill, whom I have spoken with is Representative Carla Skinder, of Cornish. Sportsmen/women may recall her as the Representative who two years ago sponsored a very controversial bill to stop all trapping in New Hampshire.

There is no question that there is a political agenda being played out with this piece of legislation, not only by Representative Skinder but with others in the Legislature. There are some, who in their own minds, consider themselves sportsmen/women and some who want to support a department different than the present one. The obvious goal is to destroy the Fish and Game Department and establish something else of their liking.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department has an annual budget of between 26 and 28 million dollars with all of these funds coming from the sale of licenses, fees, stamps, money from federal taxes on hunting and fishing equipment, federal wildlife funds, ATV and snow machine registrations, along with off highway gasoline taxes, with only about $50,000 a year coming from the general fund for non-game use.

The latest national survey of hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing indicates that New Hampshire’s economy benefits by some $700,000,000 a year from hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing. This is 1.4 billion dollars over the two year biennium budget cycle. These figures tell you t hat our Fish and Game Department must be doing something right. Today, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is considered one of the best run fish and game departments in the northeast.

Legislation like HB 559 can be very damaging for the Department funding. There are some upset sportsmen who want to circulate a petition that states that if this legislation change takes place, the signers will no longer buy a license in New Hampshire, but hunt and fish in other New England states. If this drastic approach happens, it would hurt our Fish and Game Department and its funding base.

At their August 2008 Commission meeting, the present commissioners voted to oppose any legislation to make the Commission advisory only. They have also voted to resign if this law change becomes effective. Sportsmen and women of New Hampshire must realize that this is one of the most important bills to come before the legislators in the Department’s 75 year history. This bill must be opposed by all in the New Hampshire sporting community and voted down. All sportsmen and women and their families must call their Representatives and inform them of this legislation and ask them to attend the public hearing of this bill in the Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee and speak in opposition.

All sportsmen and women should also make a commitment to personally attend the bills hearing and to speak out against it. The hearing date for HB-55 9 is February 17, 2009 at 10:00 A.M. and is scheduled for Room 307 in the Legislative Office Building, the building directly behind the State House. If the turnout is extremely large, as we hope it will be, the meeting may be moved to Representative Hall. You can read this bill by going to the State House website at: www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ie and click on bill research, type in the bill number HB 559, hit submit and you will be able to read and copy the bill, and also get docket and status information.

Thanks Bill Carney, for your years of service on our current New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission. We wish you all well.

Bob Harris can be reached via e-mail at: outwriter2@aol.com

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DISCLAIMER:  The opinions expressed by Mr. Harris are not necessarily those of the Goffstown Residents Association or its members

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