Good News,

I was just informed today by Senator Morrissey's office (D: Quincy) that we now have an official bill number for F2F in the Senate. It is S.2043

Best,
Mike Flaherty Good job Mike

Thanks John but there were several other folks involved too.

We're just getting started and I'll try to keep you informed as I learn more.

Mike

No posts lately on this important topic! Is there another thread covering this?

I've been somewhat "on the fence" regarding MPA's and the FFA legislation. But the more I read from the Ocean Conservancy group, the more concerned I am about their true "agenda" and what appears to be lack of concern (if not outright disdain) for the interests of fisherman.

Mike, I assume you are the Mike of the MSBA...if so, let us know what's going on.

Sweetwater,

S.2043 (F2F), has been "comitted to study" by the Massachusetts Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. In political terms, this is a polite way of killing the bill.

We have tried to determine which members of the committee voted against this bill but we have had no luck in doing so.

We plan to re-file another bill with agreed upon language from all involved which will be much more detailed.

Until then however, we are continuing to fight against arbitrary fishing closures being advanced by TOC and other extreme environmental groups.

Most notably we have been concerned with what we consider to be back door attempts at such closures via the Massachusetts Ocean Managment Task Force and with advisory panel to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

I think we have had some progress in these areas but we need F2F to keep from getting bogged down in these side issues. Remember, most of us involved with F2F in Massachusetts are volunteers with our own day jobs whereas TOC, CLF, et al, have unlimited resources in the form of full time advocates bought by Pew.

I wish I had better news but all I can say is that when the bill is reintroduced, we need you and your friends to support it and make sure that your representatives do too.

Take Care,
Mike Flaherty

Mike,

I've signed the online petition and have made donations to F2F and am happy to do more. I was recently at the MSBA show at the Independence Mall and was surprised to see that there was no booth or table set up to advocate for F2F and to provide people with information.

I'm not sure that the everyday fisherman realizes the danger that MPAs represent to our way of life, and the fully arbitrary manner in which TOC is willing to use them.

Surely there are some fishermen-friendly legislators in this state that we can tap to get behind F2F.

Sweetwater,

Last year we had F2F info at the expo and Mike Doebley from the RFA was a scheduled lecturer on the topic the whole weekend. I assisted Mike with these presentations and, in my opinion, the presentations were very poorly attended. Many folks wlaked in because they got the schedule mixed up and when they learned the discussion wasn't about how to catch fish - they walked out.

I think our toughest challenge isn't against heavily funded environmental groups (we have this issue won on substance), what we are really fighting is the apathy of fishermen who think that permanant fishing closures like the ones in California "will never happen here".

We need more people like you Sweetwater.

Mike

P.S.
Yes, there are legislators concerned about arbitrary fishing closures and we will be soliciting their support when the detailed bill is ready.

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