By Roy Miller, Fisheries Administrator
I made a promise in 2007 that the Division of Fish and Wildlife would reinstitute the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament as soon as legislation passed that ensured much-needed funding for fisheries programs. The decision to cancel the Sport Fishing Tournament was made with the utmost reluctance. I was Tournament Director for many years, and know what the tournament meant to anglers and participants. I am happy to report that the sport fishing tournament has resumed.
That was guaranteed when Governor Ruth Ann Minner signed House Bill 107 last fall, establishing general fishing license requirements for the first time for fishing anywhere in Delaware – including both freshwater and marine areas – and for recreational crabbing and clamming as well.
Thanks to revenue the new licenses will generate, the Division of Fish and Wildlife has reinstituted the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament. Prior to the law requiring new licenses, the Division faced increasingly severe budget challenges resulting from not having an increase in fishing license revenue since 1985, and made more challenging by inflation and rising costs for energy and personnel. The Sport Fishing Tournament was a prominent casualty of the cost-cutting measures the Division was forced to make.
_________________________________
| Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament
|
Redear sunfish |
______________________________
The decision to cancel the Sport Fishing Tournament was particularly regrettable because of the tournament’s popularity with the angling public since its inception in the late 1960s. However, through House Bills 107 and 108, the fiscal future of the fisheries and wildlife programs in the Division of Fish and Wildlife has improved dramatically. Delaware residents, for the same $8.50 cost of a freshwater fishing license, may fish, clam, or crab anywhere in the state. New funding will come from the non-resident fishing license fees that rose to $12.50 per day for a 7-day tourist license and to $20 for a yearly license.
In short, those familiar commemorative patches and citations the public has coveted for nearly 40 years are once again available for the deserving anglers whose catch exceeds the minimum entry weight at a certified Tournament weigh station. Also reinstated is the catch-and-release program for which catches of significant size are rewarded with a catch-and-release patch and citation provided a witness verified the length of the released fish.
The number of fish entered in the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament varies from year to year, but in 2005 there were 1,114 citations issued for 43 eligible species of freshwater and saltwater fish. Normally, there is an awards ceremony in the spring when trophies are awarded to the anglers who caught the largest representative of each species category during the previous year. Because of the suspension of the tournament for six months this year, trophies for 2006 winners were not awarded. But to the anglers who earned them, please know that in coming months, the trophies will be ordered and delivered to you—just like the delivered promise for reinstituting the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament.
Thank you, anglers, for your continued support of the tournament, and your enthusiasm for it. The Division of Fish & Wildlife is delighted to bring it back to you.
