bp-Outdoors :  The AuCoin Report News Briefs from the Great Outdoors!  Covering Boating, Hunting, Fishing, Camping, Hiking and more. Topics include: New products, environmental news, conservation, legal issues, gun ownership, celebrity news and industry alerts.

 

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Fishing Videos - Fishing Lures - Fishing Reels

July 5, 2001
 
• A U.S. judge in Salt Lake City agreed with conservationists, ruling that Utah counties may not use heavy equipment to improve primitive trails such as off-road vehicle routes, cow paths and creek beds on federal lands.

• In Kenya, the Waso Trust Land Project, an environmental organization, claimed an American TV show, Survivor Series III, cleared 20-square kilometers of vegetation of the Shaba National Reserve, scaring away animals and seriously damaging the park's ecosystem. 

• The U.S. Justice Department said it denied gun permits to about 153,000 out of 7.7 million applicants last year. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act requires background checks.

• A study of child drownings showed 75 percent were male. Infants were more likely to drown in bathtubs, toddlers in swimming pools, and older children in freshwater ponds, lakes and rivers. Very few were boating related. The findings appear in the July issue of Pediatrics. 

• The Water Works Wonders ad campaign to woo more people to boating and fishing got a positive nod in the June issue of American Demographics magazine. Author Matthew Grimm noted that the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation's Take Me Fishing theme resonated with a growing middle-class search for a simpler, less hectic life.

• Oracle's Larry Ellison formed Oracle Racing, setting goals to win the Louis Vuitton Cup races in 2002 and the America's Cup in 2003. Compaq Computer Corporation will supply computing systems and technology expertise for boat design and testing. 

• Hunting and anti-hunting groups dueled in court to keep or kill Wisconsin's first mourning dove hunting season in September. 

• June was not the best tournament month for Tiger Woods so he put his golf clubs down and went fishing in Alaska. "Not too many fish ask for your autograph," Woods told Reuters. The British Open is in two weeks.

• News anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife, Meredith Auld Brokaw, are in their hometown of Yankton, S.D. today to give the city $250,000 for a hiking and biking trail.

• More than 300 exhibitors bring their wares and hopes to sportfishing industry's major tradeshow of the year, ICAST 2001, which opens July 11 for three days at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Among the displays are fishing rods designed for inshore fishing the Gulf of Mexico, Falcon Coastal Series, and a device that adds lifting power to fishing rods and nets, Leverage King.

• Outdoor Intel Inc., Boulder, Colo., a new company, announced an agreement to be the exclusive purveyor of digital mapping data from Fishing Hot Spots, Inc., (FHS), the nation's largest publisher of fishing maps. 

• Ladies, Let's Go Fishing, aka the No Yelling School of Fishing, holds its first freshwater fishing clinic in Denver, Sept. 8-9, hosted by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Info at ladiesletsgofishing.com.

• At its Philadelphia convention, Safari Club International Foundation conducted a "Sensory Safari" for the blind July 2-3. Participants could touch and feel taxidermy mounts and hear the wild sounds of otter, bobcat, wild boar, elk, black bear and other wildlife indigenous to the Liberty State.

• Tim Banse is the new executive editor of Southern Boating and Marine Business Journal.

Florida wildlife officials believe alligators killed Alexandra Murphy, 2, of Winter Haven and Samual Wetmore, 70, of Venice. A tourist suffered serious injuries when a 10-foot alligator grabbed her foot and pulled her under as she swam in a lake at a nudist colony near Tampa. 

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July 11, 2001

• The U.N. opened a two-week conference to seek ways to control illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons. U.S. officials objected to the draft proposal. They said it would restrict legal commerce and ownership of handguns and hunting weapons.

• The largemouth bass virus (LMBV) has been killing the popular sportfish in Texas and other southern states. Now it is quickly spreading west and north. The Washington Times said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given the problem its highest priority for Sportfish Restoration grants.

• Vacationing in Kennebunkport, Maine, President Bush went striper fishing with his father, the former president. They caught and released several striped bass.

• South Dakota fisheries managers told the Associated Press that walleye and perch have been fished out in some lakes and that these popular fishes are seriously depleted in other lakes. They blame too much angling pressure. 

• Hunting groups filed a legal challenge to the state granting permission to the Humane Society to give birth control drugs to deer in Indiana. A spokesman for the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America said the drugs could be dangerous to the deer and to humans who eat deer, and accused proponents of just wanting to stop deer hunting.

• World Wildlife Fund said whale watching is now a $1 billion business, providing far more economic benefit than commercial whaling. 

• The U.S. EPA, the city of Seattle, other local governments and local businesses pledged to use clean diesel technology engines to help clear the pollution that hides Mount Rainier. 

• Fires and risk of fires dominated the news from outdoor recreation areas. Four firemen died fighting a blaze in Washington state. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that authorities declared extreme fire hazard conditions in a large portion of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area near the Canadian border.

• Scott Foremny, 17, of Oregon collapsed and died on day 21 of a 23-day camping expedition in the San Juan Mountains outside of Silverton, Colorado. An autopsy was planned to help determine cause of death. Foremny was participating in a skills and leadership program taught by the Colorado Outward Bound School. 

• Jessie Arbogast, 8, was in grave condition at a Pensacola hospital. A seven-foot bull shark bit off his right arm. His uncle wrestled the shark to the beach. Rangers at Gulf Islands National Seashore killed it and retrieved the arm from the jaws of the shark. Surgeons reattached the arm in an 11-hour operation.

• Two out of every six skiing injuries in the U.S. are knee injuries, the Steadman-Hawkins Sports Medicine Foundation reported. Most involve intermediate skiers, not experts or beginners. Women were more likely to suffer injury, but men had more serious injuries.

• Brunswick Corp. sold its Zebco fishing division to W.C. Bradley Co. Bradley brands include Thermos and Char-Broil.

• Isaac Walton League holds its 79^th national convention July 11-14 at Fort Mitchell, Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati. IWLA will review its policies on watersheds, sustainability, shooting ranges, the Farm Bill, energy and outdoor ethics.

• Steve Tadd is the boating industry's new "Boating Guy." Tadd sails, water skis, fishes, paddles and, until recently, worked in a boat store. The Boating Guy's first public appearance is at the Tampa Bay Show, Sept. 13-16.

• An argument over a campsite parking space ended in a shooting that killed Stephen Wells, 36, and his nephew, Jerry Rios, 11, at Morro Strand State Beach Campground in California. Park officials wounded the suspected gunman, Stephen A. Deflaun, 42.

 

July 17, 2001

• The Bush administration will not appeal the federal court ruling that permits continued road building in U.S. national forests. The so-called Roadless Rule sought to protect 58 million areas from commercial mining and logging. 

• Interior Secretary Gale Norton told Oregon's Klamath River Basin farmers she will not reconsider the decision to withhold irrigation water to benefit endangered fishes. Some farmers disobeyed a federal order and diverted water from an irrigation canal. This week farmers, water districts, environmental advocates and Interior Department officials attend mediation meetings.

• The House Agriculture Committee started hearings this week and hopes to finish its draft of a new "farm bill" by Aug. 2. The bill will pull together billions of dollars in farm subsidies as well as appropriations for public nutrition, export promotion programs, research and conservation. The National Wildlife Federation said the bill in its draft form does not do enough to help farmers and ranchers conserve wildlife habitat and improve water quality.

• Interior Secretary Gale Norton addresses wildlife experts and conservationists from around the world July 20 at Ducks Unlimited's International Waterfowl and Wetlands Symposium in Washington.

• Reuters Health reported that more than eight out of 10 fish in a Virginia sampling showed troublesome concentrations of BDE– brominated diphenyl ether – an organic pollutant that comes from the treated sewage sludge farmers spread on crops. 

• Andrew McKelvey, wealthy founder of Monster.com, has funded Americans for Gun Safety, promoting rights and responsibilities for gun owners. The new lobby, taking flak from right and left, is in favor of closing the so-called gun show loophole.

• Kryptonite Corporation, which makes bicycle locks, announced its list of metro areas with the most bike thefts. New York, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Washington/Baltimore, and San Francisco/Oakland lead the list. Kryptonite said most bikes were stolen from places where owners thought they were safe such as the home, garage, college dormitories and apartment complexes. 

• Harley-Davidson reached out to a new kind of cyclist, introducing the V-Rod, a liquid-cooled performance cycle. Until now, H-D's cycles were strictly air-cooled V-Twins. Harley's Buell Motorcycle unit launched Firebolt, a sport cycle. Italian brand Ducati, known for high performance cycles, introduced the Monster 620 i.e.with a 60-horsepower, fuel-injected, 620 cc engine.

• More than 3,000 sailors will race from Detroit to Mackinac Island July 21-24 in the 77^th Bayview-Mackinac Race, now with Bacardi Rum title sponsorship.

• Ecuador expects the U.N. to widen the area around the Galapagos Islands that is considered a World Heritage Site. Wildlife within a 40 mile circle around the 19 islands would get more protection.

• Fund for Animals sent a letter to 2000 newspaper and sports cable channels asking them to stop running positive features about hunting and fur trapping.

• The Fort Worth Zoo opened Texas Wild, an eight-acre exhibit promoting conservation of Texas wildlife. The Humane Society complained that Texas Wild really promotes sport hunting and asked the zoo to let it help redesign the exhibit.

• Joan Alvarez resigned, effective August 15, after 15 years as editor-in-chief and web director of Outdoor Retailer magazine. 

• Racing Champions Ertl added five new action figures to its Outdoor Sportsman line, including TV angler Jimmy Houston, TV hunter Bill Jordan and tournament angler Clark Wendlandt.

 

• The House Resources Committee meets and votes today on CARA, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act, to provide $350 million for 15 years for conservation and historic preservation. 

• Almost 180 nations, but not including the U.S., agreed to support the Kyoto protocol to slow greenhouse gas emissions. Seattle Mayor Paul Schell and four members of the city council said they supported Kyoto and called on other local governments to adopt polices to fight global warming.

• U.S. Representatives turned back (268-161) a measure that would have required the FBI to keep background check records of gun buyers at least 90 days. Observers say similar measures will be attached to other bills. Attorney General John Ashcroft favors keeping records one-day only.

• Following a three-day protest, U.S. retailer Kmart said it would take handgun bullets from shelves. Filmmaker Michael Moore and victims of the Columbine High School shooting protested outside Kmart headquarters in Troy, MI. 

• Forty-five anglers compete in New Orleans Aug. 2-4 in the 31^st annual BASS Masters Classic, the championship event of the BASSMASTER Tournament Trail produced by Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. Anglers fish canals, sloughs and bays in the Mississippi River delta region. A Kids Klassic competition and a boat and tackle show are also scheduled.

• In the draft of a successful trade exhibition, following several that were not, the American Sportfishing Association quickly announced it would bring ICAST back to Las Vegas next year, July 17-19.

• California Fish and Game took possession of a fish caught in a Modesto lake. Officials were concerned it was either the plant-eating Pacu, an exotic aquarium fish, or a flesh-eating piranha.

• Outward Bound USA and the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company announced research to determine factors that put enthusiasts at risk in the outdoors. They'll seek information from nearly 1,300 outdoor and adventure enterprises.

• The female crew of AlphaGraphics rescued teammate Asia Pajkowska, 38, of Britain, thrown into the ocean during the 8,000-mile EDS Atlantic Challenge yacht race. The rescue occurred off the coast of Spain during the third leg of the race between Portsmouth, southern England, and Baltimore, on the U.S. East Coast. 

• Bayliner, Crestliner, Wellcraft, Tracker and Lund led the boats.com June ranking of boat brands based on popular consumer information searches.

• Yamaha Marine will supply outboard motors for boat brands owned by Genmar Holdings. 

• Musician James Taylor and actor Pierce Brosnan publicized opposition to the U.S. Navy's Low-Frequency Active (LNA) sonar program which they say disturbs whale migration and communication.

• American David Duval won the British Open. Before leaving for England, Duval went fishing, running and mountain-biking in Sun Valley, ID. Duval lists fly-fishing, snowboarding and surfing among his special interests. Golf is his business.

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The AuCoin Report is a service of AuCoin & Associates, Inc. 

Communications for the Great Outdoors, St. Petersburg, Fla. 

A&A specializes in marketing, corporate and public policy communications for boating, sport-fishing and outdoor recreation organizations. 

Contact Bill AuCoin at: wmaucoin@tampabay.rr.com