Bill Text: NJ S3163 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Permits municipalities to enact ordinances restricting the legal hours for hunting migratory waterfowl.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-11-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S3163 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2020-S3163-Introduced.html

SENATE, No. 3163

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED NOVEMBER 9, 2020

 


 

Sponsored by:

Senator  VIN GOPAL

District 11 (Monmouth)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Permits municipalities to enact ordinances restricting the legal hours for hunting migratory waterfowl.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  


An Act concerning migratory waterfowl hunting and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 23 of the Revised Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.  Notwithstanding the provisions of the State Fish and Game Code and any other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, a municipality may adopt an ordinance restricting the hours during which it is permissible to hunt migratory waterfowl, provided that the legal hours set forth in the ordinance are more restrictive than those in the State Fish and Game Code and regulations adopted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.  The ordinance shall not modify the bag limits or legal dates for any species of migratory waterfowl.  The ordinance shall be enforced in the same manner as other municipal ordinances adopted pursuant to R.S.40:48-1.

     b.    A municipality that adopts an ordinance pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall provide written notice and a copy of the adopted ordinance to the Fish and Game Council, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, and the Director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife.

     c.     The Division of Fish and Wildlife shall post a list of each municipality that has adopted an ordinance pursuant to subsection a. of this section, along with the legal hours for hunting each species of migratory waterfowl in the municipality, on the division's Internet website.

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill would allow municipalities to adopt ordinances that restrict the legal hours for hunting migratory waterfowl within the boundaries of the municipality.  The legal hours would be required to be more restrictive than those established by the State Fish and Game Code and regulations adopted United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the ordinances could not alter other aspects of migratory waterfowl hunting, such as bag limits or hunting seasons.

     Under the bill, a municipality that adopts an ordinance restricting the legal hours for hunting migratory waterfowl would be required to provide written notice and a copy of the adopted ordinance to the Fish and Game Council, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, and the Director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife.  In order to provide information to hunters, the bill would require the division to post a list of all municipalities with restricted hunting hours on its website.

     The hunting of migratory waterfowl, such as certain species of ducks and geese, is regulated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) pursuant to the "Migratory Bird Treaty Act," 16 U.S.C. s.703 et seq. and by the State Fish and Game Council.  The USFWS establishes seasons and bag limits each year in order to maintain a healthy population of each species.  Shooting hours vary from state to state and from species to species, but, in New Jersey, the standard shooting hours for ducks and geese are between a half hour before sunrise and sunset.  Federal law allows states to adopt more restrictive regulations for hunting migratory waterfowl than those adopted by the USFWS.  This bill would similarly allow municipalities to adopt more restrictive shooting hours than those in the State Fish and Game Code.

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