By Frank Sargeant, Editor
The Fishing Wire

This is the final in a three-part series on Climate Change or Global Warming. It steps beyond the causes fulminating much disagreement across the nation to look at what is already being done, and what reasonably can be done in the near future to alleviate some of the more obvious and damaging results. While our interest here has been primarily the impact on anglers, boaters and outdoorsmen as well as the industries they support, the issues obviously reach far, far beyond recreational and business issues.

So, we are faced with a climatologic root-canal, following up our environmental colonoscopy.

We can assuredly argue over what is causing the rapid change, but it’s difficult to logically deny it’s happening. World temperature charts go up very rapidly starting about 1975, after wavering up and down for the century before that.

There’s no question glaciers and permafrost are melting. There’s no question sea level is rising.

There’s no question snook are moving north along Florida’s coast, that dogwoods are blooming earlier, confusing both turkeys and turkey hunters, that manatees are found far north of where they used to be along the coast–several have popped up off Cape Cod in recent years.

Global Warming appears to be irrefutably underway. Who’s to blame or how long it will last may inspire some arguments, but the thermometer does not lie. The question is, what can be done about it, if anything?

Few of us want to pour U.S. taxpayer billions into the pockets of hostile, shaky, inept or corrupt governments with a demonstrated inability to govern effectively in an effort to stem climate change impact in the Third World.  We are already parceling out some $30-billion per year in foreign aid, far more than any other nation.

But this does not rule out measured assistance to needy nations that will put our help to good use, very likely to our benefit as well as theirs. And it certainly does not mean we shouldn’t do our best at home to turn this increasingly-leaky climatological ship.

So what, if anything, can be done?

Surprisingly a lot has already been achieved.

Steps in the Right Direction

All is not gloom and doom, by a long shot. There have been enormous strides in switching to cleaner, renewable energy in recent years. U.S. carbon emissions shrank by 14% between 2005 and 2017 — more than in any other country. Read more

SAVANNAH, GA – – Blue Force Gear® announced the debut of the Tourniquet Now!™ Pouch to its growing line of medical accessories, each designed with focus on mission-critical essentials, including IFAK carriers and medical item storage, all while remaining versatile and lightweight. Read more

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources  has finalized the terms of an agreement with the Detroit Grand Prix that will keep the event at Belle Isle Park for the next three years, with an option to extend the agreement for an additional two years.

The final agreement reduces the Detroit Grand Prix’s total time spent on Belle Isle for set-up, the race weekend and take-down from 84 days in its previous contract with the City of Detroit to 60 days in 2019 and 59 days beginning in 2020 in the new agreement with the State of Michigan. In addition, the new agreement will increase the annual fee paid by the Grand Prix from $200,000 in the Detroit contract to $325,000. Read more

By Michael D. Faw

While no one wants to die, no one also likes to be lied to.

According to most mass liberal media and some misguided school students, you would think all Americans will soon die from a firearms inflicted homicide or an accident involving a firearm.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

In fact, those widely noted and quoted champions of research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), like to, and are paid to, find the facts. Their National Center for Health Statistics lists the leading cause of death in American as heart disease. This verifies those who argue spoons have killed more Americans than firearms. More CDC numbers reveal cancer, respiratory diseases, accidents (mainly ladders), strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, and nephrosis are numbers one through nine in the causes of death listing. This group of illnesses and death inflictors amassed more than 1.9M (million) deaths in 2015 (best year stats are available) as reported in the Health United States, 2016 Table 19. Rounding out the top 10 in the leading cause of death for Americans was suicide. This accounted for 44, 000-plus deaths in 2015 in the United States of America. Not all of those self-inflicted deaths were accomplished with a firearm.

Firearm related deaths in America are actually low in the overall counts and totals.

It’s important, however, to also note that in causes of death, suicide ranked as number 7 among males and was not in the Top Ten causes of death listed for females.

Overall, in the white population, suicide dropped to cause No. 9 and was not in the Top Ten among causes of death for Black or African Americans in the survey numbers. Read more

Don’t forget that Michigan residents and out-of-state visitors can explore DNR-designated routes and trails without purchasing an ORV license or trail permit Aug. 18-19. All other ORV rules and laws still apply, and the Recreation Passport is required where applicable.

Explore the thrill of the ride yourself or take time to introduce friends and family to Michigan’s 3,700 miles of off-road trails and/or the state’s five scramble areas (St. Helen’s Motorsport Area, Black Lake Scramble Area, Silver Lake State Park, Bull Gap and The Mounds).

If your Labor Day travel plans include crossing the Mackinac Bridge Monday, Sept. 3, please remember that the Mackinac Bridge Authority will close the bridge to vehicle traffic from 6:30 a.m. to noon.

The brief closure is for the safety and security of 2018 Annual Bridge Walk participants. The walk will begin at 7 a.m. in both St. Ignace and Mackinac City, but no busing will be available to transport walkers across the bridge. Read more

BELLEVUE, WA – Judge Brett Kavanaugh must be confirmed to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement, which once again confirms the president’s determination to put qualified jurists on the bench who will interpret the Constitution rather than try to reinvent it, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

CCRKBA members, supporters and gun owners in 11 key states – Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin – must contact their senators and urge them to vote for confirmation. Information on senators in those and all other states may be found at www.senate.gov.

“One look at Judge Kavanaugh’s qualifications should be enough to convince anyone, especially those sitting on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to confirm his nomination,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Only those who wish to rewrite the Constitution, omitting the Second Amendment in the process, would oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation.”

Gottlieb said CCRKBA has done its homework on Kavanaugh. His dissent on an important case in the District of Columbia that recognized the ban on semiautomatic rifles and a broad registration requirement were not up to Constitutional muster shows that the judge understands and adheres to the individual right to keep and bear arms that is enshrined in the Second Amendment, he noted. Read more

The Department of Justice announced today that 3M Company (3M), headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, has agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly sold the dual-ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) to the United States military without disclosing defects that hampered the effectiveness of the hearing protection device.

“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the men and women serving in the United States military from defective products and fraudulent conduct,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Department’s Civil Division.  “Government contractors who seek to profit at the expense of our military will face appropriate consequences.”

“Through rigorous enforcement of the False Claims Act, we protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse,” said U. S. Attorney Sherri Lydon for the District of South Carolina.  “And in this case in particular, we are proud to defend the integrity of our military programs and ensure that our men and women in uniform are adequately protected as they serve our country.” Read more

Quick actions of two Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers earlier this month resulted in a successful water rescue, saving a woman from drowning in the Manistee River.

CO Sam Koscinski and CO Scott MacNeill were conducting marine patrol on the river in Manistee County when they noticed a distressed female in fast-flowing water, located north of Tippy Dam. Elisabeth Aldridge, 22, of Montague, Michigan, was wrapped around a log being pulled by the current, her head barely above water.

Aldridge and her friends were swimming when the strong current took her further into the river. One of Aldridge’s friends was trying to reach the log where Aldridge was stuck, but struggled against the current. Officers Koscinski and MacNeill arrived on scene and advised the friend to return to shore. Read more

Mossy Oak GameKeepers is excited to announce the GK5 Giveaway.  This giveaway began at 8:00 AM Central Daylight Time (“CDT”) on July 25, 2018, and ends at 11:59 PM CDT on November 30, 2018.

To register for the giveaway, go to https://www.gkgiveaway.com/.  Registering for the GK5 Giveaway enters you in the Grand Prize Drawing and Weekly Prize Drawing.  See the complete line of GameKeeper products at your local Walmart.

The winner of the grand prize will drive off in a fully restored 1972 Custom GameKeeper Edition K5 Blazerpowered by Jasper Engines & Transmissions with a 3 year/100,000 Miles Parts & Labor Nationwide Warranty!

Additional prizes consist of WEEKLY giveaways of a GameKeeper prize package consisting of the following items:

• 1-GameKeeper T-Post Feeder
• 1-9 lb. Bag of BioLogic Perfect Plot Seed
• 1-GameKeeper 25lb Broadcast Seeder
• 1-GameKeeper Shadow Game Camera
• 1-Bag of Full Draw Ground Down Cracked Corn
• 1-Bag of Full Potential Mineral Supplement
• 1-Full Draw Supplement Block
• 1-MEEN Green Fertilizer
• 1-GameKeeper Membership – Logo Cap, Logo Decal
• 1-(.25) Acre Bag of BioLogic Non-Typical Clover
• 1-Year Subscription to GameKeepers Magazine. Read more