Committee advances Fish and Game housekeeping bill to allow online notices, align state and federal waterfowl rules

The Senate Executive Departments and Administration Committee advanced Senate Bill 32, a housekeeping measure requested by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department that would let public hearing notices required by statute be published on newspaper websites and make several technical changes to state wildlife and fisheries law.

The bill would: permit digital publication of the department’s biennial public hearing notices (as currently required in print); adopt federal practice allowing the taking of crippled waterfowl from powered watercraft to match 50 CFR 20.21; remove the word “brook” from certain references to trout so rules can apply to all trout species; allow the executive director to set fisheries habitat fees through administrative rules; and repeal the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon…