Syracuse.com - Senator's aide gives refreshing comments at recent Oneida Lake Association meeting

[HuntingNY-News]

"This is the good stuff of Central New York and Upstate. This is the stuff we should all be working on, he said.

There was only one state or federal politician – actually an aide – at the recent spring meeting of the Oneida Lake Association.

The April 29 meeting, the organization’s 68th annual get-together, was highlighted by talks and updates on the lake and its fishery by DEC, Cornell and U.S. Agriculture Fish and Wildlife officials. The 3,000-member lake association takes pride in protecting the lake and its fishing/tourism industry, which generates millions of dollars annually and has resulted in thousands of local jobs.

Angelo Roefaro, the regional director from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer’s office, decided to sit in. He was recognized and welcomed publicly by OLA officials. I chatted with him briefly afterward.

“I felt like I was watching a National Geographic education episode,” he said. “At first, you get the 30,000 foot up view (from the fishery experts) and then you get down to the problems, and you hear from the local fisher people. It’s a gold mine for information, especially for representatives.”

He said it was interesting to learn about the cormorant issue and to get an update on efforts to control the numbers of this fish-eating bird on the lake. (Federal efforts to harass the birds and keep them off the lake was discontinued in 2010 and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, assisted by a band of local volunteers, is currently trying to pick up the slack with harassment efforts during the fall.)

I asked it there were any partisan issues – reasons why any politician, state or federal, Democrat or Republican, would steer clear of this gathering.

“Partisian issues? No, this is the good stuff of Central New York and Upstate. This is the stuff we should all be working on. Things like invasive species and helping anglers,” he said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog