SLAUGHTER BEACH – The DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve has closed for the year, and will reopen Saturday, April 1, 2017 for the busy spring and summer seasons. The center is owned and operated by DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife and provides programming and exhibits about Delaware Bayshore aquatic life.

The DuPont Nature Center closes during the fall and winter months when there is less public use of the center, which makes better use of the limited federal Sport Fish Restoration Funds used to operate the center. Cost savings from the winter closure supports aquatic education programs during spring and summer when public programs and visitation are in most demand.

Federal Sport Fish Restoration Funds also support construction and maintenance of public boat ramps and fishing piers throughout the state, as well as a variety of the Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Fisheries research, survey and management programs. For more information, visit http://de.gov/wsfrde.

Perched on the edge of Mispillion Harbor at the intersection of the mouths of the Mispillion River and Cedar Creek, the DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve offers a variety of interactive exhibits, school tours and educational programs. In the spring, its location offers wildlife watchers a front-row seat for the spring spectacle of spawning horseshoe crabs and migrating shorebirds, including the red knot, that depend on horseshoe crab eggs to help fuel their 9,000-mile journey. A Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife facility, the center is located at 2992 Lighthouse Road, east of Milford. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information about the DuPont Nature Center and its programs, please call 302-422-1329 or visit http://de.gov/dnc.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 353

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Entries to be accepted now through Jan. 31

DOVER – With many of Delaware’s hunting seasons already open or opening soon, plan on pointing your camera afield in the months ahead and perhaps catching a hunter in a duck blind or deer stand or otherwise pursuing their favorite game animal or bird. DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife invites you to enter your hunting photographs in the 2016/17 Delaware Hunting Photo Contest. The winning photo will be featured on the cover or inside of the 2017/18 Delaware Hunting and Trapping Guide to be published next year.

A judging panel comprised of DNREC staff will be looking for photos that best portray this year’s contest theme, “Hunting with Family or Friends.” Judges also will look at technical criteria including resolution, clarity and composition.

“The hunting photo contest is a great chance to showcase and share adventures with other hunters,” said Division of Fish & Wildlife Director David Saveikis. “The theme helps reinforce and capture the fun of a shared outdoor hunting experience.”

The contest is open to all Delaware residents, with a maximum of three entries per person. To be eligible, photographs must have been taken in Delaware. Portrait orientation is preferred; landscape photos, if chosen among contest winners, may be cropped for presentation.

Entries may be mailed to the DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife Photo Contest, Attention: Jennifer Childears, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901. All entries must be postmarked or delivered by Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, and must include a completed and signed entry form. A photo release form is also required for photos that include images of children younger than 18. Information and forms are available on the Division of Fish & Wildlife’s website or may be requested by calling Jennifer Childears at 302-739-9910, or email jennifer.childears@delaware.gov.

Photographs must be submitted as 8×10-inch photo quality prints, with no frames or mats and no markings or signatures on the front or back. Winning entries must be available in a digital version with resolution of 300 dpi or greater (when enlarged to 8×10 inches).

Normal processing of RAW image files, minimal cropping and minor adjustments to color and contrast are acceptable. HDR and focus stacking are permitted as long as manipulation is disclosed upon entry. Nothing should be added to the image or, aside from dust spots, taken away. The entrant must hold all rights to the photograph and must not infringe on the rights of any other person. Images that involve unlawful harm to wildlife or damage to the environment should not be submitted and will not be accepted. Entries will not be returned. For more information, please visit the Fish & Wildlife photo contest page on the DNREC website.

The Division’s 2016 Fishing Photo Contest is still accepting entries through Monday, Oct. 31, with similar guidelines. This year’s fishing photo contest theme is “Fishing with Family or Friends.”

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 352

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Reminder for the week: Purchase your 2016/2017 Delaware hunting license, waterfowl stamps now

DOVER – To achieve public compliance through education and enforcement actions that help conserve Delaware’s fish and wildlife resources and ensure safe boating and public safety, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers between Sept. 12-18 made 1,349 contacts with anglers, hunters, boaters and the general public, including 78 vessel boardings for boating safety and fishing regulation compliance checks. Officers responded to 38 complaints and issued 20 citations. This week, with an expanded Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police presence continuing to be deployed as a deterrent, no citations were issued at the C&D Canal Conservation Area and associated recreational trail.

Incidents of note:

• On Sept. 18, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police arrested a commercial waterman on 15 counts of improper display of commercial crab pot markings in the Delaware Bay near Woodland Beach. The waterman was arraigned in Justice of the Peace Court 7 in Dover, where he pled guilty to seven counts and was fined $854, including court costs.
• On Sept. 14, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police located a Lincoln man reported overdue on a jet ski. Scott O’Neal, 44, was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant from Sussex County Family Court for failure to pay $65,000 bond. In lieu of bond, O’Neal was remanded to the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown.

Citations issued by category, with the number of charges in parentheses, included:

Wildlife Conservation: Failure to attach antlerless deer tag (1), and destruction of state property on a wildlife area (1).

Fisheries Conservation: Recreational: Possession of undersized blue crabs (1), and possession of summer flounder parts (1).
Commercial: Improper display of commercial crab pot markings (15), and failure to report commercial catch of striped bass (1).

Two press releases about a boating accident also were issued this week:

• DNREC Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police investigating fatal boating accident in Sussex County
• UPDATE: Victim identified from Saturday’s fatal boating accident in Sussex County

Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police News, Training and Outreach

• On Sept. 17, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers spoke to the Potomac Irish Setter Club at the C&R Center near Felton about current and new hunting regulations.
• On Sept. 15, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers joined other Delaware police, fire and emergency response agencies for 911 Awareness Day at the Sussex county Emergency Communications Center, attended by more than 100 children.
• On Sept. 14, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers gave a presentation about their jobs and how to become a Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officer to a group of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts in Harrington. The presentation assisted the scouts with earning their law merit badge.

Are you AWARE?
With fall hunting seasons underway, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police remind hunters to purchase their 2016/2017 Delaware hunting licenses and waterfowl stamps. A resident annual hunting license costs $25 for ages 16 through 64. A resident junior hunting license costs $5 for ages 13 through 15.

Residents younger than 13 or those 65 and older who have resided in Delaware for one year or longer are not required to purchase a Delaware hunting license; residents younger than 16 or those 65 and older are not required to purchase a Delaware waterfowl stamp. Higher license prices apply to non-resident hunters, and no exemptions are made for non-residents age 65 and older on purchasing a hunting license or waterfowl stamp.

To hunt waterfowl in Delaware, residents age 16 through 64 who have lived in the state for one year or longer are required to purchase a Delaware waterfowl stamp. For hunters age 16 and older, a federal migratory bird hunting stamp is required to hunt waterfowl. Federal duck stamps may be purchased at U.S. Post Offices, Bombay Hook and Prime Hook national wildlife refuges and online at www.fws.gov/duckstamps. For more information, call 800-STAMP24 (800-782-6724).

Hunters who are exempt from purchasing a license must obtain an annual, free License Exempt Number (LEN). Both exempt and non-exempt hunters of migratory gamebirds, including waterfowl, dove, woodcock and rail, also must obtain a free Federal Harvest Information Program (HIP) number. Both are available online or by calling 855-335-4868 toll-free.

If hunting waterfowl or deer on a state wildlife area from a blind or deer stand that was selected through a lottery, all hunters in the blind or stand are required to carry their $20 annual lottery permit. This permit is waived for hunters participating in Division of Fish & Wildlife-designated youth hunting days.

Delaware hunting licenses, lottery permits and waterfowl stamps are sold online, at the licensing office in DNREC’s Richardson & Robbins Building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, and by license agents statewide. To find a participating hunting license agent, to purchase a license or lottery permit or to obtain a HIP or LEN number online, click Delaware Licenses and Permits. For additional information on Delaware hunting licenses, call 302-739-9918.

For more information on hunting in Delaware, click 2016-2017 Delaware Hunting and Trapping Guide. The guide also is available in printed form at DNREC’s Dover licensing desk, and from license agents throughout the state.

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife recognizes and thanks the majority of anglers, hunters and boaters who comply with and support Delaware’s fishing, hunting and boating laws and regulations. Citizens are encouraged to report fish, wildlife and boating violations to the Delaware Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police by calling 302-739-4580. Wildlife violations may also be reported anonymously to Operation Game Theft by calling 800-292-3030 or online at http://de.gov/ogt.

Media Contacts: Sgt. John McDerby, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police, 302-739-9913 or 302-354-1386, or Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 350

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DOVER – DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife announced today five upcoming Sunday deer hunting opportunities for the 2016/2017 hunting season, based on a recent change in state law that allows Sunday deer hunting in Delaware. The new law allows only for hunting deer on Sunday, no other game, with deer hunting to be allowed on selected public lands on the following Sunday dates:

• Oct. 9
• Nov. 13
• Nov. 20
• Dec. 11
• Jan. 15, 2017

Sunday deer hunting is also allowed on private lands in Delaware on the same dates, with landowner permission required.

After consideration of public input and recommendations of the Advisory Council on Wildlife and Freshwater Fish, the Division Fish & Wildlife announced that selected tracts on 80 percent of Delaware’s state wildlife areas will be open for deer hunting on the dates above. To learn which wildlife area tracts are open for Sunday deer hunting, and for more details about Sunday deer hunting opportunities in Delaware, including county overview maps of the wildlife areas, please visit the Fish & Wildlife website.

State wildlife areas and public lands that have selected tracts OPEN to Sunday deer hunting, but that also have other tracts CLOSED to Sunday deer hunting on the dates listed above are:

New Castle County
• Augustine Wildlife Area, near Port Penn
• C&D Canal Conservation Area, near St. Georges
• DNERR – Blackbird Creek Reserve, near Townsend

Kent County
• Little Creek Wildlife Area, east of Dover
• Ted Harvey Conservation Area, southeast of Dover
• Norman G. Wilder Wildlife Area, near Felton

Sussex County
• Assawoman Wildlife Area, near Millville
• Nanticoke Wildlife Area, Seaford/Bethel area
• Milford Neck Wildlife Area

Deer can be hunted on selected public lands open to Sunday deer hunting during Delaware’s regular hunting hours of one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset. All DNREC’s Delaware State Parks lands are CLOSED to Sunday deer hunting. Hunting on private property always requires landowner permission.

For more information on Sunday deer hunting, or to request printed copies of wildlife area maps showing areas open and closed to Sunday deer hunting, please call the Wildlife Section office at 302-739-9912.

For more information on the 2016/2017 hunting seasons and Division of Fish & Wildlife-managed wildlife areas, please consult 2016-2017 Delaware Hunting and Trapping Guide and Delaware Wildlife Area Maps. Printed copies of the guide and maps are available at DNREC’s licensing desk in the Richardson & Robbins Building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901. The guide is also available from license agents throughout the state.

Follow the Division of Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareFishWildlife.

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 346

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LONG NECK – The victim in Saturday’s fatal boating accident in Sussex County has been identified as Gerry Aster, 78, of Phoenix, Ariz., DNREC Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police said today.

Mr. Aster was operating a personal watercraft (PWC) that collided with a pontoon boat at the entrance to the Pot-Nets Bayside community in Indian River Bay. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses told investigating NRP officers that a PWC returning to Pot-Nets Bayside collided with the bow of a pontoon boat leaving Pot-Nets Bayside about 11:30 a.m. The impact launched the PWC several feet over the pontoon boat before it came down in the water.

The operator of the pontoon boat, a 56-year-old Wilmington man, was flown to Christina Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition. Two passengers on the pontoon boat – a 53-year-old Newark man and a 10-year-old Bridgeville boy – were uninjured.

The accident investigation is continuing.

Media contact: Sgt. John McDerby, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police, 302-739-9913 or 302-354-1386, or Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 344