DURHAM, N.H. -- A new national saltwater angler registry will go into effect on January 1, 2009. To help inform saltwater anglers in New Hampshire about the upcoming change, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department will sponsor a public informational meeting about the national registry on July 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Urban Forestry Center, 45 Elwyn Road, in Portsmouth, N.H. Gordon Colvin of NOAA Fisheries will be on hand to answer questions and provide information about the new registry. The public is encouraged to attend.

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire's deer hunting seasons have been established for this fall, and the outlook is generally good in spite of the challenging winter of 2007-2008. The impact of the cold, snowy winter on parts of the deer herd in New Hampshire suggests that 2008 may not be a record-setting season like last year. New Hampshire's 2007 hunter harvest of 13,559 deer was the second highest since record keeping began in 1922 -- exceeded only by a harvest of 14,204 in 1967 -- according to Kent Gustafson, Deer Project Leader for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

CONCORD, N.H. -- The annual drawing to select the lucky hunters who will be offered a permit to hunt moose in New Hampshire this fall will be held on Friday, June 20, at 9:00 a.m. at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, 11 Hazen Drive in Concord, N.H. Fish and Game will issue 515 moose hunting permits this year. The public and interested media are invited to be on hand to watch the excitement as the names are drawn. Winners are selected through a computerized random drawing.

GREENLAND, N.H. -- Looking for a summer adventure? Join staff of the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on kayak tours in the Great Bay Estuary, where you can watch osprey diving for fish, herons gracefully glide overhead and learn what makes the Great Bay Estuary one of the most amazing and diverse places on earth!

CONCORD, N.H. -- Calling all wild women! The Becoming an Outdoors-Woman fall workshop brochure and mail-in registration form are now available to download at http://www.nhbow.com. You can also call (603) 271-3212 or email aquatic-ed@wildlife.nh.gov to request an application by mail. Starting Monday, June 9, applications will be accepted by mail, or in person, at the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation office at 54 Portsmouth Street in Concord, N.H.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Are you looking for a fun way to get outside with family and friends this summer? Why not learn how to fish! The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's "Let's Go Fishing" Program and the Greenland Recreation Department are teaming up to provide an introductory fishing class that will teach you all you need to know about a recreational activity that everyone in the family can enjoy -- even if you don't know the first thing about rigging a rod and finding a fishing hole.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Calling all fourth and fifth graders! Are you still trying to find something fun to do to jump-start your summer? Spend a week exploring and fishing the streams, ponds and lakes of the Souhegan Valley with the Peabody Mill Environmental Center (PMEC) and expert instructors from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Let's Go Fishing Program.

CONCORD, N.H. -- The New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 21, at 1 p.m. at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Great Bay Discovery Center at 89 Depot Road in Greenland, N.H.. Meetings of the N.H. Fish and Game Commission are open to the public and are ordinarily held in Concord.

HART'S LOCATION, N.H. - On Thursday, May 15, 2008 at approximately 8:30 p.m., two distressed hikers from Pennsylvania emerged early from a planned multi-day traverse of the Presidential Range in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

CONCORD, N.H. -- If you encounter wildlife, even young animals that appear to need help, the kindest (and safest) thing to do is to leave them alone and let nature take its course, officials from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said today.

CONCORD, N.H. - Remember to brake for moose when traveling New Hampshire roadways. There were 198 moose/vehicle collisions in New Hampshire in 2007; in the last five years the state has averaged 230 per year. May and June are high-risk months for encountering moose on the roads, because moose are moving from winter to spring habitats and starting to come out to the roads to eat salt. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is working to make people more aware of the danger of moose/vehicle collisions. Step number one is to learn what you can do to reduce the chance of being involved in an accident with a moose.

CONCORD, N.H. - The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is now accepting applications for a new register of names to be used for staffing current and future Conservation Officer Trainee vacancies. If you've thought about becoming a Conservation Officer, this is an opportunity to be considered. The closing date for filing an application is June 20, 2008.

CONCORD, N.H. - Get out the fishing gear and head for the river, lake or pond to try your luck on New Hampshire's annual Free Fishing Day -- Saturday, June 7, 2008. State residents -- and nonresidents, too -- can fish any inland water in the Granite State that day without a license. If you're already licensed, take advantage of the day to bring along your friends and family.

CONCORD, N.H. - If you're looking for something new and different to jump-start your summer, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's "Let's Go Fishing" Program and the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation have a perfect solution. "The North Country Experience" is a beginning fly-fishing weekend offered June 7 and 8, 2008, at Coleman State Park in Stewartstown, N.H. This free course will give you the chance to learn about the traditional and timeless sport of fly-fishing.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Spring is here -- flowers are blooming, birds are singing, black flies are biting and it's time to fish for brood stock salmon. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is planning to release more than 1,500 Atlantic salmon into the Pemigewasset and Merrimack Rivers -- three times the number of fish that were released last year.

CONCORD, N.H. -- The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's new boat access site on Lake Winnisquam in Laconia is currently scheduled to open on July 1, 2008. In the meantime, the facility will remain closed while the Department's contractor completes work on the facility, which will be the first state-owned and -operated public boat access on Lake Winnisquam. The lake is 4,264 acres in size, but currently has only one public boat access, which is fee-based.

CONCORD, N.H. -- The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's new boat access site on Lake Winnisquam in Laconia is currently scheduled to open on July 1, 2008. In the meantime, the facility will remain closed while the Department's contractor completes work on the facility, which will be the first state-owned and -operated public boat access on Lake Winnisquam. The lake is 4,264 acres in size, but currently has only one public boat access, which is fee-based.

CONCORD, N.H. -- In a tragic accident, Shu Qin, age 28, a woman hiker from Shanghai, China, was killed after being hit by a boulder on the Falling Waters Trail in Franconia Notch in New Hampshire's White Mountains on Thursday, May 8, 2008. Qin had been staying with friends in Wellesley, Mass. She was hiking with her husband, brother-in-law and sister-in-law on the trail, which passes three waterfalls and leads to Little Haystack Mountain.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Young anglers have a chance to enter a kids fishing photo contest sponsored jointly by Kidz Rule USA (a magazine for children and their families living in New Hampshire) and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. This is the second annual fishing photo contest held by the magazine. The contest is open to all children under age 13. With their parent's permission, children are encouraged to send in their New Hampshire fishing photos with the approximate weight or length of the fish they catch. All entries must be received between May 1 and September 30, 2008.

CONCORD, N.H. -- A search for a missing 58-year-old kayaker from Vermont will continue today on the Connecticut River in Piermont, N.H. On Thursday, May 1, 2008, Robert Swantak of Bradford, Vermont, set out in his kayak on the Waits River in Bradford, Vermont, and then onto the Connecticut River in Piermont, N.H. for an afternoon of fiddlehead picking. Vermont and New Hampshire authorities were notified in the evening of May 1 that Swantak had not returned from his river trip.