Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - A tale of Two Coasts

Some of you have heard this before but as right coasters are considering bills to increase protection of the stripers, some left coasters are (were) proposing bills that would remove restrictions on fishing regulations of striped bass in an effort to eliminate them. These left coasters were not striper anglers but tended to be water districts and agricultural concerns.

The bill's language was sufficiently gutted to remove sections that would impact the west coast striper fishery. Great job ny the left coast angling communities :btu: .

Quote:

April 15, 2010 -- In a move designed to avoid complete failure, Assemblymember Fuller (Bakersfield) struck the entire contents of her bill during the hearing held by the State Assembly’s Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee on April 13 that would have sent the estuary’s striped bass fishery on a path toward oblivion.

Fuller’s gutting of her bill is good news for the state’s sport fishing industry and anglers. This legislative attack on what was once one of the state’s premiere sport fishery was aggressively supported by two dozen water districts, corporate agricultural interests, and some valley politicians who have cloaked their attack on striped bass behind pseudo - biology and the facade of protecting endangered species.

That their effort did not succeed given the money and power behind these political forces is a testament to the latent power of recreational anglers when they stand their ground to protect their fisheries.

An estimate one hundred anglers attend the hearing in the state capitol. Many of them had to take a day off of work, and no one paid them to show up and make a stand to save the fishery. While the CSPA Conservation Director spoke in opposition to bill during the hearing along with Dr. Tina Swanson of the Bay Institute, the battle was won days prior to the hearing with hundreds letters sent to the Committee from the public and an additional forty five letters of opposition from some of the state’s sport fishing organizations.

More here: Striped Bass Eradication Bill Defeated