Safari Club International to Sponsor National Hunting and Fishing Day

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Safari Club International, a leader in protecting the freedom to hunt and in promoting conservation worldwide, has stepped up as a major sponsor of National Hunting and Fishing Day, the annual celebration of hunters, anglers and conservation.

The 2008 celebration of National Hunting and Fishing Day is set for Sept. 27.

At the urging of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Congress formalized National Hunting and Fishing Day in 1971. Presidents from Richard M. Nixon through George W. Bush have officially proclaimed their support, making the annual commemoration one of the most effective grassroots campaigns ever undertaken to promote traditional outdoor sports.

Consistent with its "SCI, First for Hunters" brand, Safari Club International's sponsorship supports the work of its 180 chapters that promote hunting across the country, as well as the educational efforts of Wonders of Wildlife museum, the official home of National Hunting and Fishing Day. The museum is developing communications campaigns, event-planning tips, promotional items and free online (www.nhfday.org) tools to show that conservation succeeds in America only because of hunters, anglers and shooters. In fact, through licenses and excise taxes, these outdoor enthusiasts generate $100,000 every 30 minutes for fish, wildlife and habitat programs.

"We believe the National Hunting and Fishing Day message is bigger than a one-day celebration. Wonders of Wildlife is expanding the celebration throughout the year. The generosity and commitment of SCI, its chapters and members, are key to this goal," said Denise Wagner, national coordinator for Wonders of Wildlife.

SCI President Dennis Anderson, whose history of volunteer leadership includes serving about 3,000 youths annually at the SCI Orange County, Calif., Chapter's Youth Safari Day, said, "There's nothing like seeing a youngster's face light up when they discover these great outdoor sports. National Hunting and Fishing Day celebrations and events nationwide throughout the year help young people get outside, and SCI wants to help them take those next steps toward the pursuit of a rewarding conservation ethic and healthy outdoor lifestyle."

NSSF remains the charter sponsor for National Hunting and Fishing Day. Other sponsors for 2008 include Wonders of Wildlife, Bass Pro Shops, The Sportsman Channel, National Wild Turkey Federation, Realtree, Cabela's, Woolrich, Gunbroker.com, Outdoor Channel and Safari Club International.

Outdoor television personality Michael Waddell is serving as honorary chairman for National Hunting and Fishing Day 2008.

For more information, visit www.nhfday.org

OFF-ROADERS BOOTED FROM ARIZONA MONUMENT DUE TO ABUSES

Section of Sonoran Desert National Monument Off-Limits to ORVs for Two-Years

 
 

Tucson — A large portion of the Sonoran Desert National Monument will be closed to off-road vehicle traffic for two years to help it recover from the environmental toll of growing motorized abuse, according to agency e-mails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  This would be the first long-term ORV ban on BLM public lands in Arizona due to natural resource damage.

 

Under orders to be published this week in the Federal Register, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages the monument, will declare nearly 55,000 acres (approximately four times the land area of Manhattan) off-limits to all ORV traffic for "up to two years or more, depending on the restoration success," according to the acting monument manager.  An estimated 90 miles of ORV routes will also be closed to motorized use.  This no-ORV zone lies southeast of the North Maricopa Mountains wilderness.

 

"BLM is taking a good first step toward protecting the Sonoran Desert National Monument from off-road excess," stated Southwest PEER Director Daniel Patterson, an ecologist who formerly worked with BLM.  "It is the first of what likely will be many more ORV bans to shield public lands that cannot handle the growing motorized traffic and are literally being ripped apart."

 

Located between Phoenix and Tucson, the nearly half-million acre Sonoran Desert National Monument includes some of the most scenic and biologically rich desert lands in North America.  The Monument has also seen an exponential increase in ORV traffic that, by BLM's own admission, is beyond its ability to effectively manage.  Damage to its lands has reached the point where, last year, agency officials suggested a monument-wide prohibition on ORV use.

 

Unfortunately, the deteriorating situation at the Sonoran Desert National Monument is becoming prevalent on public lands across the West.  Beyond the environmental toll, off-road vehicles are now, by far, the number one law enforcement problem on federal lands in the Southwest, according to agency statistics compiled by PEER.  Increasingly, agencies such as the BLM and U.S. Forest Service are overwhelmed by the sheer number of off-roaders, widespread disregard for agency route restrictions and the enormous, cumulative damage inflicted on the landscapes.

 

 For the Sonoran Desert National Monument, the length of the ORV-ban and the restoration criteria will be much scrutinized.  The Federal Register notice will spell out those terms and go into effect 30 days later, sometime in mid-June.

 

"This protective order is long overdue, and two years will likely not be enough time to heal the land from the extensive ORV damage." added Patterson. "This is a good move, but BLM must do more to truly manage the Sonoran Desert and other monuments for conservation, rather than for how much abuse they can withstand."

 

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See the e-mails outlining the closure order

http://www.peer.org/docs/az/08_13_5_monument_closure_emails.pdf

 

Look at a map of the no-ORV zone

http://www.peer.org/docs/az/08_13_5_monument_closure_map.pdf

 

Learn more about the deteriorating conditions on the SDNM leading to the closure

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=953

 

Look at the growing toll ORVs are inflicting on our landscapes

http://www.peer.org/campaigns/publiclands/orv/index.php

HOT Catches from the IGFA

HOT Catches from the IGFA

May 2008

 By Pete Johnson, Johnson Communications – IGFA PR counsel

From across the globe the International Game Fish Association's world records department receives nearly a hundred submissions each month. Here are highlights of selected documented fish catches from IGFA world records coordinator Rebecca Wright who provided the following information on these 12 recent submissions now before the world records review committee:

Two years ago Dr. Martin Arostegui of Coral Gables, Fla., USA, set a new record off Key West, Fla., by catching and releasing a lemon shark, the heaviest fish documented on a fly rod.  That heaviest-fish-on-fly-record might be broken by Rick Gunion, Village of Palmetto Bay, Fla., USA, who also landed a shark, a tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), on March 28, weighing 222.26 kg (490 lb 0 oz) on 8 kg (16 lb) tippet. Gunion was guided by Brett Dudas while fishing Mantinilla Shoal, Bahamas.  He used an orange streamer for bait and took 40 minutes to bring the shark under control. Gunion, like Arostegui, has numerous world records for various shark species on fly. If his documentation is approved, it would also break the men's tippet record for a 196 lb 6 oz, tiger caught near Flamingo, Fla., by Pat Ford in March 1999.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Judith E. White, of Grand Haven, Mich., USA, guided by Capt. Chris Morrison, landed a blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) on March 30, weighing 3.18 kg (7 lb 0 oz) using cut bait on 6 kg (12 lb) class line. Taking four minutes to land she made the catch while fishing Marathon, Florida, USA, and now may be among the first to fill the women's line class record section for the recently added new species to the IGFA World Record Game Fishes book.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Another new species added this year to the World Record Game Fishes book is the hickory shad (Alosa mediocris) and young angler John William Winstead, of Kill Devil Hills, N.C. USA is one of the first to catch one for a pending IGFA record. His catch was made on March 28 using a Nungesser shad spoon for bait, while fishing the Roanoke River in N.C., The fish weighed .62 kg (1 lb 6 oz) and the young man is waiting to hear if he's the first to make his mark for a new male junior class record.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

A new all-tackle species for the IGFA record book was caught by Ayaka Kosuge, of Miura-Shi, Kanagawa, Japan, who guided by Katsu Yonamine, landed a coastal trevally, (Carangoides caetuleopinnatus) on March 5, weighing 1.05 kg (2 lb 5 oz). Fishing off Ginanzaki, Japan, Kosuge used a VR speed jig for bait taking just five minutes to bring the fish in.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Fishing the Rio Negro, in Colombia, Medellin angler Alejandro Linares, landed a sardinata (Brycon whitei) on March 22, weighing 4.08 kg (9 lb 0 oz) for a pending IGFA All-Tackle class record. It took him 15 minutes to land the fish using an in-line spinner for bait.  The old record caught in Venezuela last year is 4 lb 4 oz in.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

George Bogen of Los Angeles, Calif., USA, guided by Modesto Miranda, landed a gulf coney (Epinephalus acanthistius) on March 15 while fishing Mexico's San Jose Del Cabo.  The fish, a member of the grouper family, weighed 5.78 kg (12 lb 12 oz) and was submitted for an IGFA All-Tackle class record. Bogen was using frozen squid for bait and it took him six minutes to land. The current record is 11 lb 12 oz caught two years ago in the same waters of Mexico. 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
Escaping the still frigid weather of her home in Bozeman, Mont. USA, fly angler Dotty Ballantyne, chose Andros Island, Bahamas to chase her next potential IGFA world record.  Guided by Steven Adderly, she landed a whaler shark (Carcharhinidae family) on April 4, weighing 11.11 kg (24 lb 8 oz) on 4 kg (8 lb) class tippet.  She used a red/white baitfish fly to entice the fish which followed with a 20 minute fight. The current women's record for the species is 16 lb 8 oz caught off Strangers Cay, Bahamas last June. 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Junior angler Heather Michell Harkavy, Coral Springs, Fla., USA fishing off Flamingo, Fla., and using cut bait, landed a cobia (Rachycentron canadum) weighing 29.94 kg  (66 lb 0 oz). Guided by Capt. Jay Wright Jr., she's hoping the April 20 catch breaks the current female junior class record of 65 lb 4 oz, caught on Chesapeake Bay, Va., USA in 2002.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

A new IGFA All-Tackle species submission was made by Mauro Sergio Preuss, Curitiba-Pr, Brazil, who landed a chicote surubim (Sorubimichthys) August 20, 2007. The fish weighed 6.28 kg (13 lb 13 oz) and was caught while Preuss was fishing the Araguia River, Brazil.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Fly-fishing Uraima Falls in Venezuela, Miami, Florida USA's Eduardo Aristeguieta, guided by Guerrero Marino, landed a payara (Hydrolicus scomberoides) on April 19, weighing 7.71 kg (17 lb 0 oz). He was using a FPF blue mackerel fly on 10 kg (20 lb) class tippet and took 15 minutes to reel the payara in. He's hoping to beat the old record of 14 lb 0 oz, recorded Feb. 2001 also at the same falls.

 
 

 
 

 
 

Ninth annual IGFA Offshore World Championship attracts 63 teams

For Immediate Release:

 

27 countries from six continents in Cabo for prestigious catch-and-release tournament

 

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico ---
Sixty-three boats with teams of anglers are set to blast away from the mouth of the Cabo San Lucas harbor early Monday morning signifying the start of the four-day IGFA Offshore World Championship, throughout the week of May 11 – 16.

    "We have representation of teams from 27 countries on six continents," said tournament director Mike Myatt as he and Alberto Trevino the Secretaria de Turismo de Baja California Sur, welcomed the international anglers to the premier fishing location. Considered the most prestigious catch-and-release billfishing tournament in the world, the event also draws the single largest contingent of international teams ever to compete in a fishing competition.

    Countries and territories represented include teams from Angola, Australia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Grenada, Guatemala,
Italy, Jamaica,
Kenya,
Mexico, New Zealand, Panama,
Papua New Guinea,
Portugal,
Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Spain,
Sultanate of Oman, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks and Caicos, the United States, Vanuatu and Venezuela. Many of the teams in the ninth annual tournament will be represented by anglers from a number of additional countries.

The U.S. has 14 teams signed on. Both Mexico and Brazil are represented by five teams each; Italy and Angola each have four.

    The teams previously qualified by winning one of 130 IGFA sanctioned tournaments held in 38 countries worldwide during 2007. It's the seventh straight year Cabo San Lucas has been chosen as the championship location.

They'll fish for marlin, sailfish and other billfish species with the top team winning engraved watches along with trophies and merchandise. Awards are presented through to the third place finishing team. The final results will be made on Friday at noon PDT.

At the IGFA OWC last year, a team representing its win in Spain's Marina Rubicon Marlin Cup 2006 tournament leaped from the middle of the 62 boat field to a dramatic win by one release fish over a team from Cabo San Lucas. It was the second straight year that a team, on the final day of the four day competition, had an amazing 10 releases of striped marlin to win the championship. Using circle hooks, a total of 335 marlin were caught and safely released alongside the teams' boats.

    At a kickoff party Sunday at the Hotel Finisterra, each team participated in a drawing for their four different boats --- ones they hope will guide them daily to multiple bill fish releases. All of the boats are captained by local Cabo guides.

Partners and sponsors for the IGFA Offshore World Championship are Secretaria de Turismo de Baja California Sur, Costa Del Mar, Hotel Finisterra, Guy Harvey Inc., Shimano,  Picante Sport Fishing and Yacht Sales, Cabo Yachts, K D & G Sea Life Masterpieces, Hook & Tackle, Momoi Hi-Catch, Murray Products, AFTCO BlueWater, Bodo Muche, Minerva's Baja Tackle, Señor Greenberg's, IWS Scales, King Sailfish Mounts, Pompanette, Pisces Sportfishing, Corona and Modelo S.A DE C.V. Mexico, Don Tyson, Trans Cabo, Eagle Claw, MoldCraft Products, Inc. and API Dock. 

    Each morning the daily results along with photos of the previous day's round will be posted on the IGFA's home page at www.igfa.org . A list of registered teams can also be found on the web site under the fishing tab on the home page by clicking "tournaments."

    Next year, to begin the event's 10^th anniversary, the tournament welcomes the Bonnier Marine Group which will join the IGFA to manage the world championship which began in 2000.

    Founded in 1939 the IGFA is a not-for-profit organization committed to the conservation of game fish and promotion of responsible, ethical angling practices through science, education, rule making and record keeping. IGFA members are located in over 125 countries and territories. The IGFA welcomes visitors to its 60,000-square-foot interactive Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum in Dania Beach, Florida.

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Advance sent May 10, 2008

Contact: Pete Johnson, Johnson Communications, Inc.

Scottsdale, Ariz. 85267

480-951-3654 (ph) 480-951-0040 (fax)

JohnsonCom@aol.com (e-mail)