Story Archives of 'Fish and Game Department'

With four months on the job, Glenn Normandeau leads Fish and Game when the department is strapped for cash and looking for new ways to increase revenue, including higher fees and permit costs, staffing changes, even a change in the department’s name. We’ll talk with Glenn Normandeau about the future of Fish and Game.

Guest

• Glenn Normandeau, Executive Director for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department

New Hampshire could become the first state in the Northeast to require a permit for recreational salt water fishing.

The Department of Fish and Game is looking for ways to narrow a projected 6 million dollar budget deficit.

And the sale of salt-water fishing licenses is one proposal on the table.

But, as NHPR Correspondent Roger Wood reports, the idea is meeting a lot of opposition on the seacoast.

New Hampshire’s Fish and Game Department is trying to find ways to prevent an almost five-million dollar budget shortfall in the next biennium.

Some of the proposals include using a portion of the rooms and meals tax, and adding fees for paddlers and saltwater anglers.

Most wildlife organizations like the proposals.

But at least one lawmaker wants to see how the department is spending its money before it tries to raise more.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports.

New Hampshire's Fish and Game Department’s mission has grown far beyond just managing fish and hunting stocks, to conservation, environmental management, search and rescue. But the license fees that fund it are down, as fewer young people hunt or fish. That leaves open the question – who should pay for all the department does? Laura's guests are Lee Perry, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and Lou D'Allesandro, Deputy Democratic Leader in the Senate, Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, Vice-Chair of the Capitol Budget Committee and member of the Senate Finance Committee.

This morning NHPR aired an audio postcard produced by Exchange Executive Producer Keith Shields.

Shields recorded a recent fundraiser for a Northwood Snowmobile club, the Crankpullers.

The fundraiser featured a contest called skimming, in which snowmobilers ride their machines over water.

(sound from Shields' piece)

Shields's piece caught the attention of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

They wanted us to remind listeners that skimming is illegal.

And as Fish and Game's Major Timothy Ascerno told NHPR's Mark Bevis, skimming accidents can be deadly and listeners should not try it at home.

Major Timothy Ascerno is the Assistant Chief of Law Enforcement for the Department of Fish and Game.
(Editor's note: After this interview aired, we learned that the Northwood skimming event did not take place on Jennesse Pond as Major Ascerno suggests in the conversation. It was held at the Lake Shore Farm Resort. We regret the error.)