Outdoor Notes : Fishery Project Proposals Await Action by DFG

Proposals for projects to restore California fishery resources and habitat have been sent to legislative committees for approval by the Department of Fish and Game, as provided by the Fisheries Restoration Act of 1985.

The act provides $5 million to the DFG each year in fiscal 1985-86 and 1986-87 to restore and maintain fishery resources and habitat damaged by water projects and other development. Proposals include such projects as river bank stabilization, removal of barriers to migrating fish, restoration of spawning gravel, culvert repair and construction of screens to protect fish at water diversions.

Pending approval by the legislative committees, DFG will announce the proposals selected for funding in early February.

The National Wildlife Federation has asked the government to prohibit use of lead shotgun ammunition in all waterfowl hunting in the lower 48 states or face court action to force the ban, intended to protect endangered bald eagles from lead poisoning.

If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not act within the next month to announce the ban for the 1987 hunting season, the federation will seek a ban in court.

Lead shot has been blamed for poisoning waterfowl that eat the spent pellets. Bald eagles, which sometimes feed on sick and dead waterfowl, have developed poisoning after swallowing lead shot.

The wildlife service last week proposed banning lead shot in parts of 44 states during the 1986 season. In areas where lead shot is banned, hunters are required to use nontoxic steel shotgun pellets.

The federation maintains, however, that since eagles and waterfowl migrate throughout the lower 48 states, a comprehensive ban is the only realistic way to eliminate lead poisoning.

Nearly 100 designs depicting the cackling goose will be judged Tuesday in Sacramento in the eighth annual California duck stamp art contest. Five waterfowl experts will select three finalists, then the state Fish and Game Commission will choose the winner and two runners-up at its February meeting in Monterey. The winner’s work will be used on the $7.50 state waterfowl hunting stamp.

Briefly The Long Beach Casting Club will conduct a one-day casting clinic for experienced fishermen Mar. 1. The clinic will be restricted to 30 students. For further information, call Margaret Walker at (213) 598-7486. . . . Two Orange County firms recently paid $4,250 in fines and costs for environmental law violations. Both pleaded no contest. Parker-Hanifin Corp. of Irvine was fined $1,500, charged $1,050 in costs and put on two years’ probation for polluting a flood-control channel with oil, and Southern California Edison of Santa Ana was fined $1,000 and paid $700 in costs for illegally altering Oso Creek in Mission Viejo. . . . About 50 African clawed frogs were seized in December by Arizona Game and Fish Department officers from Phoenix pet stores in an effort to keep the prohibited species from becoming established in Arizona. The clawed frogs grow to the size of bullfrogs, are extremely aggressive and eat virtually anything small enough to swallow. . . . The captive-breeding program for black-footed ferrets in Wyoming got a boost recently when the Captive Breeding Specialists Group agreed to provide technical advisers. The black-footed ferret is an endangered species once thought to be extinct. . . . A public workshop will be held Tuesday night at 7 at the Legion hall in Lee Vining on the U.S. Forest Service’s Mono Basin Scenic Area project. . . . The National Coalition for Marine Conservation--Pacific Region will hold a public meeting at the Golden Park Auditorium in Downey Wednesday at 7 p.m. to discuss ocean resource management, research and enforcement.