Fish Code Public Hearing Oct. 8; Comment by Nov. 15

[Wilson]

New Jersey's Fish and Game Council, and the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife, is proposing amendments to the 2014 - 2015 Fish Code. The proposed amendments were published in the September 16, 2013 New Jersey Register, initiating the sixty-day public comment period which will end on November 15, 2013. The Fish Code governs when, by what means, at which locations, in what numbers, and at
what sizes, fish may be pursued, caught, killed, or possessed.

A public hearing concerning the proposed amendments will be held on October 8, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at:

NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife - Central Regional Office
East Branch - Eldridge Road
Assunpink Wildlife Management Area
Robbinsville, NJ 08691

Written comments may be submitted electronically by November 15, 2013 at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/comments . The Fish and Game Council (Council) encourages electronic submittal of comments. In the alternative, comments may be submitted on paper to:

Gary J. Brower, Esq.
ATTN: 05-13-08
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Office of Legal Affairs
Mail Code 401-04L
PO Box 402
401 East State Street, 4th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402

Proposed amendments include, but are not limited to the following:

The Council proposes to regulate the 4.2 mile stretch of Big Flat/Flat Brook, from the Rt. 206 bridge downstream to the Roy Bridge, as Catch and Release Only, Artificial Lures and Flies Only.

The Council also proposes to regulate the 2.2 mile stretch of the Ken Lockwood Gorge (S/Br Raritan River), as Catch and Release Only for trout.

The Council proposes to replace the current catch and release only for bass at Lake Audrey with trophy bass regulations of three bass per day, over 15 inches in size.

The Council proposes to add Franklin Lake (Monmouth), Manalapan Lake (Middlesex), Mountain Lake (Warren), Nomahegan Park Pond (Union) to the Division's trout stocking program. In addition, three waterbodies are proposed to be dropped from the program, Farrington Lake (Middlesex), Shadow Lake (Monmouth), and Lake Takanasee (Monmouth).

The proposal also includes adjustments to boundaries of the trout stocked section of Lawrence Brook to assure appropriate protection of stocked fish in these waterbodies.

The Council proposes to regulate Tilcon Lake as a Holdover Trout Lake.

The daily creel limit on landlocked herring, for personal use, is proposed to be increased from 10 to 35 herring in lakes where herring may be taken. All unused herring would still have to be returned to the water at the end of the angler's fishing trip.

The Council proposes that an ice fishing device be limited to a single line. As more creative devices, both commercially manufactured and personally devised, are being used by anglers, the Council deems it necessary to restrict ice supported tip-ups, fishing rods and hand lines to a single line per device.

The proposal also includes adjustments to commercial snapping turtle rules.