September 2024 NRC Preview
The Natural Resource Commission (NRC) meets this Thursday, September 12, at 9 a.m. The meeting will be held at Lansing Community College West Campus.
Up for action at the meeting will be a series of fisheries orders. A breakdown of these orders can be found in our August recap.
While most of the orders represent administrative changes, or simplification of boundaries, one is focused on the commission’s decision last November. That order lowered steelhead bag limits on several streams across the state, an amendment MUCC opposed.
Fisheries Order 200.25 changes is a cleanup of ambiguous language in the fisheries order so that regulations more clearly align with the commission’s intent. The intent of the order is to clear up any gray areas so that steelhead bag limits follow the commissions clearly stated goal of a one steelhead bag limit.
Up for information are several orders:
202.25 – Hook size regulations for Grand Haven, Muskegon, and Whitehall/Montague during November to protect whitefish
205.25 – Modifying lake sturgeon regulations for the Michigan-Wisconsin Boundary Waters to close the Montreal River to lake sturgeon fishing and harvest
206.25 – Special fishing regulations for warmwater species on select waters. Mainly relating to Northern Pike, bass, and Muskellunge
219.25 – Bow, spear, and crossbow closures in Grand Haven, Muskegon, and Whitehall/Montague in November to protect whitefish populations
240.24a – Black Lake sturgeon fishing regulation changes
WCO No. 9 of 2024 – Changes to the Canada Goose Management Program relating to relocation and permitting structure
WCO No. 10 of 2024 – Prohibition of possession or discharge of firearms in the Windsor Township State Game Area
These orders will be eligible for action at the October NRC meeting in Marquette.
Also on the agenda are language changes for WCO No. 8 of 2024, changing the program name from Mentored Youth Hunting Program to the Mentored Hunting Program, as well as a new license called the inclusive mentored license. Additionally, a recommendation to discount the extended late antlerless firearm season licenses to $5 per license.
MUCC will be streaming the meeting on our Facebook page as technology allows.
