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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• Japan ratified the Kyoto protocol. The European Union ratified it last week. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a report to the U.N. acknowledging the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming but recommended that societies adapt to greenhouse gases, rather than limit them..

• A committee for the California senate approved a measure that would put a 5-cent tax on every bullet to pay for emergency room gunshot injuries. Opponents, including organizations representing gun owners, say it's unfair to tax law-abiding citizens for the harm done by criminals. 

• Wisconsin has declared new summer hunting seasons for deer to try to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease, a relative of mad cow disease. Sportsmen are concerned about the effect the summer seasons will have on Wisconsin's traditional fall hunting season.

• So-called M-P-As, the marine protection areas that prohibit fishing, are practically useless as a fishery management tool according to a recent study. Dr. Robert Shipp, chairman of the marine sciences department at the University of Southern Alabama in Mobile, Ala., said of the 350 fish stocks he studied, only two percent would benefit from the permanently closed areas and those fish are already benefiting from other management initiatives.

• U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, the sportsman advocacy group, said it has called on Motel 6, Red Roof Inns and Studio 6 to stop their support of the Humane Society of the United States because of its work to eliminate the use of dogs for hunting.

• A company in Brussels, Belgium announced it had created a gun that can only by fired by its owner. The so-called "smart gun" was developed under contract with the U.S. government to make it harder for criminals to use stolen weapons.

• Great Outdoors Week, June 10-14, will bring leaders from America's recreation interests to Washington, D.C. for a show and tell to help legislators and their aides learn the value outdoor recreation. More than a dozen events and forums have been scheduled by the American Recreation Coalition (ARC).

• Almost 1000 young anglers will participate in the third annual Steve McCadams "Casting for a Cure" Kids Fishing Rodeo, Saturday, June 8, on Tennessee's Carroll Lake to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

• Helen Sevier, former president and chief executive of Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor of the American Sportfishing Association. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was the first recipient of the new Future of Fishing Award for its work to promote the growth of sportfishing.

• Prosecutors say an 18-year forest service employee, Terry Barton, started the Hayman fire southwest of Denver. They doubt her story that she accidentally started the fire while burning a letter from her estranged husband. At week's end the area in flames in the western U.S. was twice the 10-year average. The U.S. Forest Service said it would spend $120 million to train local firemen to battle wildfires.

• Attendance at U.S. national parks and forests is free this weekend. It's part of President George Bush's Healthier U.S. Initiative to encourage more physical activity. 

• What's hot and what's not? According to the 2002 sports participation report by SGMA, camping, hiking and mountaineering have seen an increase in participants, while fishing and hunting are down. Swimming, walking and bicycling are up. Biggest increases statistically were registered by inline skating, up 453 percent, and snowboarding, up 224 percent.

• A Brazilian court rejected the claim of Ricardo Colares Tavares that he was mentally ill. It sentenced the 23-year-old to 36 years in prison for the murder of Sir Peter Blake, the America's Cup sailor who was shot dead in a burglary while his vessel was anchored at the mouth of the Amazon River last December.

• Gary Schultz, former chief financial officer for Lund Boats, could face a prison sentence of 46 months for the embezzlement of $14 million. 

• According to The Washington Times, the Environmental Protection Agency prepared a document to defend toxic sludge dumping in the Potomac River by the Army Corps of Engineers. The document claimed it was possible that the toxic sludge actually protects the fish because fish are more likely to leave the toxic area and go upstream to lay eggs.

• Switzerland's Victorinox company made a surprise and unsolicited offer to buy all the outstanding stock of Swiss Army Brands, the North American company which markets its knives and tools. 

• Jeffrey Yeager is resigning as ED of American Canoe Association to be vice president for development of Partnership for Public Service, the new nonprofit with a board of governors that includes Tom Brokaw, Michael Eisner and Joseph Lieberman.

• Two 11-year-old fishing buddies, Zachary Hamilton and Gregory Johnson, landed a 162-pound halibut off a dock in Ketchikan after a two-hour battle.

• Pick on somebody your own size. The New Hampshire Union Leader has editorialized about animal rights activists, pondering why they plan to protest fur coats at the New Hampshire beauty contest but not the leather jackets at Bike Week in Laconia. 

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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