LEWES, DE – DNREC Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police announced today that additional No Wake signs are being installed to extend the current No Wake Zone in the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal southward to the Rehoboth Bay. The extended No Wake Zone will begin in the vicinity of Bay Vista Marina and extend to the Canal entrance jetties at Rehoboth Bay, with the No Wake Zone incrementally extended as signs are installed. All No Wake signs will to be installed by December 1, 2018.
The No Wake Zone extension is needed to address public and navigation safety, increased boat usage and speeding, shoreline erosion, and property protection. The area has seen an increase in recreational and commercial boating traffic over the past few boating seasons, which has led to increased complaints of wake violations. Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police met with local businesses, state park officials, and the boating public in deciding to extend the No Wake Zone.
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DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife has also announced that repairs to the rifle and pistol range at the Ommelanden Hunter Education Training Center are complete, and the rifle and pistol range will reopen on Saturday, October 27, 2018. Repairs to replace a damaged concrete floor, install a new drainage system, and install a new block wall and entryway are part of the Division’s ongoing renovation plan for the Ommelanden range complex.
The days and hours of operation of the Ommelanden Range will be expanded for all shotgun, rifle and pistol, and archery ranges with the addition of Thursdays from noon-5 p.m. and Fridays from noon-6 p.m., made possible with increased revenue from the recent hunting license fee increase. Days and hours of operation had been reduced in 2014 due to budget and staff shortages.
Effective Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, the new operating hours for the Ommelanden Range will be:
· Wednesday – Trap and skeet: noon-8 p.m., and rifle and pistol range and archery range: noon-5 p.m.
· Thursday – All ranges: noon-5 p.m.
· Friday – All ranges: noon-6 p.m.
· Saturday – All ranges: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
· Sunday – All ranges: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Additionally, in customer appreciation, the 50-meter rifle range will be open for “Free Sight-In Days” on Monday, November 5 and Tuesday, November 6 from noon-5 p.m. to allow hunters to sight-in their shotguns, muzzleloaders, and straight-wall, pistol-caliber rifles prior to the opening of the shotgun deer season Friday, November 9.