Free Republic

She's studying at a college in Florida, and like any typical American teenager she loves shopping and hanging out with her friends. But at weekends she is one of the deadliest shots in the brush. Regis Giles, 19, is one of America's hottest hunters - and she's taking the big game world by storm. She's killed buffalo, wild boar, deer and a bear in her hunting career, which began when she was aged just nine. And she's already drawing parallels to Sarah Palin, America's most famous gun-toting wilderness-loving woman. Miss Giles is a lifetime member of the NRA. She was...

"...NOAA and its state partners will ask anglers how long their fishing trips last and how much they spend on bait, boat fuel, ice, charter fees and other expenses. Anglers will also be asked to participate in a follow-up survey that will ask them to estimate what they spend on durable goods such as boats and fishing tackle used for saltwater angling for the previous 12 months. Those who participate in both parts of the survey will help NOAA produce accurate economic information."

A frame from a video of the 327-pound alligator gar recently caught in Vicksburg, Mississippi. What a Valentine's Day catch!  Looking for all the world like the cross between an alligator, a fish and dinosaur, the alligator gar is the largest freshwater fish in America. And with two rows of teeth, the predatory fish is also terrifying. So you can imagine his surprise when Kenny Williams, from Vicksburgh, Miss., stumbled across what is being called the largest one ever caught on February 14. The tremendous fish measured 8 feet, 5 inches long, weighed 327 pounds, and was 48 inches around,...

MONKTON, Md. (AP) -- As an algae with a gross nickname invades pristine trout streams across the U.S., Maryland is about to become the first state to enforce a ban on a type of footgear the organism uses to hitchhike from stream to stream: felt-soled fishing boots. The state Department of Natural Resources plans to prohibit wading with felt soles starting March 21 to curb the spread of invasive organisms that can get trapped in the damp fibers and carried from one body of water to another. Similar bans will take effect April 1 in Vermont and next year in...

Wow!  What a nice job by CBS News, Armen Keteyian, and Katie Couric.  On 16 February, CBS News devoted some four minutes to an investigative piece into the scandal that should have rocked NOAA and the Obama administration last fall.  Our government is driving the fishing industry into oblivion with "unduly complicated" regulations and with federal agents who are "overzealous" and prone to "abusive conduct." The piece opened with Bill Lee, a fisherman from Rockport, MA, who has been forced out of business by the fines levied by NOAA.  Mr. Lee is articulate and the photogenic background of Motif...

On the rare occasion when federal bureaucrats waver in their commitment to expanding their own regulatory power, environmental extremists can always be counted on to look for a sympathetic judge to expand it for them. The latest clever scheme would undermine the right of Americans to hunt and fish, using the judicial branch to implement policies too hot for regulators or lawmakers to touch. Congress needs to step in and disarm this assault on traditional sporting activities. The California-based Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) fired the first shot in August when it asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban...

GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA January 15, 2011 Fishing interests see 'corrupt' regulatory scheme By Richard Gaines Staff Writer NEW BEDFORD — Mayor Scott Lang says the "rule-making" process in the federal fisheries regulatory system is as "corrupt" as its New England law enforcement branch was revealed to be. And he predicted Thursday night that corruption, alleged to emanate from "inside baseball" played by government officials and environmental giants such as the Environmental Defense Fund, will be exposed in "the light of day," targeted in part by a lawsuit filed by the cities of New Bedford and Gloucester and a wide range...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ruling by the Obama administration allowing the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol is running into legal hurdles from trade groups opposing the plan. The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday over the decision to allow the sale of gasoline containing higher blends of corn-based ethanol, the second major group to protest the ruling. The Obama administration said in October that gas stations could start selling the ethanol blend for vehicles built since the 2007 model year, increasing it from the current blend of 10 percent ethanol.

BEIJING - The Chinese fishermen detained by South Korean authorities are likely to return home on Saturday, after the charges against them were dropped a day before. Three Chinese fishermen were booked on a charge of "obstructing the duty of civil servants" after a collision between their trawler and a patrolling South Korean vessel in the Yellow Sea on Dec 18. However, South Korean coast guard officials decided to drop the charges on Friday, citing their "lack of direct involvement in the incident" and "active cooperation in the investigation", according to the Yonhap News Agency. The report said the coast...

Pradyun Chakraborty reclaimed his torn fishing net from the river. He and his wife counted the fish they caught—only 20 small Bagdha Ponnas, enough to get him 20 rupees (40 cents US). The net alone cost him 200 rupees ($5 US) to rent, half of which he still owed to his creditor. With fish escaping from his torn net and hardly any other work, Pradyun and his family were just barely surviving. It was the same for Jalal Balan. He bought his fishing net on credit for 1,000 rupees ($22 US) and was slowly paying it off. The majority of...

The California State Fish and Game Commission adopted sweeping closures of ocean waters off the Southern California coast, eliminating sportfishing and most other uses in these areas in a vote Dec. 15 in Santa Barbara. In adopting the regulations, mandated as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), three words come immediately to mind about the process: corrupt, unfunded and unnecessary. The process has been flawed from the beginning. First, there is massive conflict of interest that should disqualify two of the commissioners from voting: Commissioner Michael Sutton, whose employer stands to gain financially with the passage of massive...

The state of Alaska filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to stop a federal agency's plan to protect endangered sea lions by restricting fishing in the western Aleutian Islands. According to Parnell's office, up to 900 people are employed by fleets in the areas where fishing will be restricted. It says the plan would cost fishery losses of tens of millions of dollars annually, and it believes the federal agency committed procedural violations that limited input from the public and experts.

Sarah Palin is under fire for clubbing a fish to death on her new reality TV show. The Tea Party darling and her daughter Bristol, 20, were shown on a halibut fishing trip filmed for her new programme, Sarah Palin's Alaska. After catching a fish, Sarah is seen beating it with a club and Bristol later holds its still-beating heart in her hand, a sight Sarah called 'weird'. A spokesperson for animal rights group In Defense Of Animals told TMZ: 'Sarah Palin’s complete lack of compassion as demonstrated in this snuff video is disgusting.' The group adds: 'Most disturbing is...

Angler's record fish is reel deal  By JOHN COLES    Big fish ... Gunther, 70, beside huge halibut A PENSIONER reeled back the years and defied his age when he landed this world record halibut weighing more than 34 STONE — enough for nearly 1,000 fillets. Super-fit Gunther Hansel, 70, spent more than two hours wrestling with the massive 8ft 2in flatfish after hooking it in an Icelandic fjord with a 30lb line and plastic lure. Five other men on the fishing boat then helped haul it on board with a rope around its tail. The monster fish weighed...

DETROIT — The U.S. Senate has approved legislation that sponsors say aims to fight the spread of Asian carp into the Great Lakes. Author Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., says the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act adds the bighead carp species of Asian carp to a list of injurious species. That prohibits the species from being imported or shipped in the U.S. Levin and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, introduced the bill in July 2009. The Senate passed it Wednesday. A companion House bill that Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., introduced is pending in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency denied on Thursday a petition by several environmental groups to ban lead in fishing tackle, two months after rejecting the groups' attempt to ban it in hunting ammunition. The EPA said that the petition did not demonstrate that a ban on lead in fishing tackle was necessary to protect against unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Twelve states have language in their constitutions guaranteeing a right to hunt and fish. The Arizona Legislature is proposing to do the same but with a twist that could marginalize the role of scientists in setting game policy, some conservation groups fear. Arizona’s Legislature has approved for public vote a constitutional amendment called Proposition 109; it will be on the ballot on Election Day 2 November. It includes language that would give the state Legislature central control over wildlife management, saying: EXCLUSIVE AUTHORITY TO ENACT LAWS TO REGULATE THE MANNER, METHODS OR SEASONS FOR HUNTING, FISHING AND HARVESTING WILDLIFE IS...

BATH, England - A British man has joined the small group of people who can claim to have caught a tigerfish, one of the world's most dangerous species, while fishing in Africa. Jeremy Wade of Bath, England, said he reeled in the tigerfish, a larger cousin to the piranha, while fishing in the River Congo and set it free after taking a picture, The Sun reported Thursday. "The teeth on it are incredibly sharp and are about the same length as a great white shark," Wade said. "It also has an extremely powerful bite and has been known to consume...

LADYSMITH, Wis.- It wasn't quite Captain Ahab's great white whale Moby Dick, but a Wisconsin angler reeled in a huge white fish -- a rare 51-inch albino muskie, officials say. Paul Parise caught the white muskie Oct. 6 in the lower Flambeau River in Rusk County, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Tuesday. "That is a pretty fantastic catch," Tim Simonson, co-chairman of the state Department of Natural Resources' muskie committee, said in a news release. "Albino muskie are pretty rare to begin with, and for one to survive to that size is pretty uncommon given they don't have the...

KEY WEST - A woman remains hospitalized after being bitten in the chest by a barracuda while kayaking in the Florida Keys. The Coast Guard says the 45-year-old woman and a male companion were kayaking Sunday evening near Big Pine Key when the fish jumped into the vessel and bit her....