Striper Bill Feb 28, MA State House
 

Anybody going? I will try to go as long as my little boy is feeling good after his surgeries on Friday.

Hearings are scheduled for the three bills backed by SF in the MA Legislature in Room B-1 in the Statehouse Bldg on Beacon Hill in Boston on Feb 28th at 11:00 AM. We must have as many people attend and speak in favor of these bills as possible. If you have wanted to do something to help turn around the decline in striped bass fishing, now is the time, and this is your opportunity!


You do not have to speak on each bill. Clearly the bill to conserve striped bass by ending the commercial fishery would go a long way to solving our problems. Recent correspondence with the ASMFC has confirmed that if MA ended its commercial fishery for striped bass that other states would not get the MA quota for their own commercial fisheries. Ending the allowed huge 1,200,000 pound quota, combined with the enormous illegal take of striped bass taken under the cover of the legal fishery, would put a lot more big female stripers on the spawning grounds each season. Our bill also would remove the second striper from the recreational bag limit, and that too would help save a lot of big spawners.~


Those who are currently killing and selling these fish, along with some charter boat captains who believe that bagging a second fish per customer is necessary to attract customers, will be there in force to testify against conservation. If we don’t care enough to show up in force we will certainly be defeated. No lobbying effort can make up for angler apathy. We need you on February 28th. If you are not from MA but fish here, own property here, or are from nearby game fish states that are being affected by the commercial fishery in MA, please show up and have your say.


Dean Clark and others on the MA state board have worked hard to break our key arguments down into segments. If you already know what you want to say, that’s great, but if you want to speak with Dean about taking one of the segments that you are comfortable with, the testimony is all written out for you.


After the hearing we’ll be working with our lobbyist and members to get these bills out of Committee and onto the floor for a vote. The commercial lobby will have far less influence on the general assembly, but we must get the bills out of committee to have that debate. In the 1980s the striped bass situation began to turn around almost as soon as the commercial fishery was ended. There are still a lot of large female stripers in the ocean.~ If we can stop the MA commercial fishery it will be a huge step in the right direction and impetus for other states to act. Be part of the solution!

Excellent thread. I'm shocked it wasn't posted here before. Incredible opportunity to make a difference! The more attendance the better.. There even seems to be transportation available.
Make it count!

Can we read the proposed bills somewhere?
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Go to the stripers forever website. They are posted there.

Bill S.337

Here's the proposed bill. But I'm sorry anything that encourages the taking of 20-26" fish is not good for the fishery. If you want to help the fishery do what has worked in the past and raise the minimum size limit. The funny thing about this bill is SF has run out of officials in the eastern part of the state that will listen to them so they are working there way west.

Hopefully these bills will get killed early and quit wasting our State houses time.
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That bill is the same as we have up here in Maine. Good set of rules.Sad part is we preserve them an then they go back through the gauntlett. 3/4 of all the tags I've had come back have been from fish on their way south in the fall.It's also a lot better than 2 fish anywhere.I'll try to get the time off work to come down.

I think I was the only rec. fisherman who showed up last year to state my hands-on experience and observation that the inshore striper fishing grows ever worse. Facing me down were a dozen Vineyarders, who couldn't explain why their beloved MV BASS AND BLUEFISH DERBY has less than six fish per year, the last three years, which barely crawl over 30.0 lbs. (and NONE which made 40) from the shore. Nevertheless, they were there wringing their commercial hands in mock anguish and despair about how they need commercial access to striper to pay for their center consules, gas, and generally make a living.

Yeah, maybe I'll go again. But I'm so discouraged against the individual greed which solidifies by numbers into commercial fishery industry greed...as a simple matter of basic human nature.

Regarding the goal of obtaining legislation changes in favor of preserving this ever more popular game fish PUBLIC RESOURCE, the momentum will always be against us. The momentum is that a few, expert and dialed commercial fishermen will ALWAYS catch enough fish to sell, just about no matter how scarce the species resource.

How is protecting an endangered resource from greedy pigs a waste of State House time?It can only help the resource rebound.

Because he makes money off the fish, so "the striper stocks are just fine."

When money is involved, it doesn't matter how much evidence there is that the stock is at risk. As long as there is one dissenting view that claims the stripers are healthy, people who make money off the fish will grasp onto that one view/report and say "see! I know those 4 groups say the fish is at risk, but this one guy over here doesn't think so and he's the only one who's correct."

Apparently comms are chartering buses to fight this.

I wish they would have the meetings on an after work basis....or at least 1 meeting....middle of the work day is a killer

Car pool for meeting
 

Any one in my area Dedham wants to car pool
we can share the parking fee. Up to four people
should do it.

car pool
 

If you can carpool shoot me a PM

I'm coming from 93N

[B]GREED!!!!!!![/B] The millions of pounds that the recreational catch is devasting. Slam bam em from shore over the rocks take the hook out of the juenile fish and throw them back in over and on the rocks. At least give em an aspirin before releasing.

U so called recs have been destroying the fisheries.

I'm a recreational fisherman and I understand why you think that way, but at the same time there are many rec guys like myself that are nowhere near like that. I see the goons out there and it pisses me off. I hate the kill tournaments, they piss me off too. But I also hate the "com" guys that are not really commercial fishermen. I know plenty of "com" guys that are not really commercial fishermen. They are not making a living off fishing for stripers or any other fish.
I can just easily turn around and say something negative about real com fishing, but the stupid back and forth banter gets us nowhere.
I'm for rec and com guys reducing their limit. Nobody has a right to these fish. They just need to be managed better.

Bravo

You sure have alot of Hate and are a bit blinded by it... Youre a rec guy that sees things only one way, and just like stripersforever, who do have good intentions by the way, but arent addressing the real problem. Rec, com, charter, boat, surf should all be working together even though its not the case. If Stripersforever had a common cause I would join. Stripersforever guys think that if they shut down Mass com season they will have fish back how they were before, end of story. I com fished a few years through 2010 by the way.... Will they then give bonus tags to the rec guys in order to keep their Com Quota? Or will that Alocation go to a state like VA???
As A Charter Captain I take Recs Out... They complain about the coms, yet not one releases a fish until they catch their limit? The first question they ask is, "How many can we Keep?" No we put 20, 30, 40 plus fish in the boat and you let me see you try to explain to those guys that the Striped Bass Stock is about to collapse! Everybody makes money off these fish, rec, com, boat, surf, tackle manufactures, hotels, tackle shops, restaurants, boat companies, poachers, etc. Who could afford to fish at $5.00 a gallon, driving or boating???

I have a lot of hate? Did you read my post? I said in the end we need better mangement and less bickering. I want better mangement with everybody still enjoying what they do.
The people I disagree with, NOT HATE, are the people who kill these fish in excess. Understand?

I see the goons out there and it pisses me off. I hate the kill tournaments, they piss me off too. But I also hate the "com" guys that are not really commercial fishermen. I know plenty of "com" guys that are not really commercial fishermen. They are not making a living off fishing for stripers or any other fish.


Your words above.... Those Comm guys arent complaining about the lack of fish, niether are the goons...


By the way who kills most of the striped Bass???

http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/sos/spsyn/...es/fig40_2.gif

In my opinion,

Biggest impact would be to reduce limit to one per day.

Second ring I would grab for would be to up the minimum size to 32". Comms are at 34" and there is no way you can get 36" until that is changed.

I am undecided as to the commercial question. But I would like to see it limited to Mass residents only. The commercial fisheries is so effed up it isn't funny, on both the management and the fishermen's sides. We have all seen what a few pogie boats did a few years ago, the net pairs off the beach in RI, and the fleet pillaging Stellwagen as I type..... They need to provide for their families too, but no one has been able to make all parties agree on a solution for the big picture.

I would like to hear some input from BasicPatrick, who has committed the past five years to working against bycatch and other wasteful practices destroying all the sea's resources.

I agree that the one a day limit would make the biggest impact, 32, 34, or 36 inch fish would do... And many saw what the 36" 1 a day did in the early 90's. As far as residents only for Mass com I dont see the fuss, agian that would be selective to a specific group. I by the way did not renew my Mass Com license in 2011, more money in OT back home with no overhead. I really dont know what the fuss is about, the local economy makes out by these out of state com guys or part time com guys. there were what 2500 some odd mass permit holders that did not sell a fish $400 x 2500 + $1,000,000 to the state... no brainer. The same 10 Percent are doing the quota every year regardless...

Yea, I do not like those things I listed. They are no good. Just don't lump everybody into the same category. Im a rec fishermen but I haven't kept or killed a fish in years.
Again, they need to be managed better. Com licenses need to go only to com fishermen, not weekend warriors.
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I understand how you feel....You be the judge of whats good and No good.... They are your fish, how dare those googans and rod reel com guys!!!! You obviously can go out to fish for pleasure, catch and release, and afford to do it, Private plane to Block, Cutty, MV?????? Many rec guys do like to bring something home for the table to eat. Its nice of you to dictate who is deserving of a license... I enjoyed having my mass com license selling 600-900lbs a day in 3 hours 3 days a week it was stupid easy... Let the weekenders have 5 fish on Sundays to themselves, maybe they should get rid of sundays??? You see how happy I am releasing fish in my avatar????

Bottomline here is money.... So when you go to our illustrious statehouse, see if you can figure out where the casino industry's $11.4 million in lobbying money went. Not trying to discourage folks from attending, but you should know the reality of how things work up there. I'll bet the minutes of the meeting could be typed up today. They know which way it is going to go.....

Of Course they do... Its already a done deal...

Cowhunter, what the heck is ur problem? They are not my fish or anybodys fish. I feel it is a privilege to fish for stripers.
How many times do I have to say it? THEY NEED TO BE MANAGED BETTER!
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Have you caught any big enough to legally keep and eat??? You ever fish outside one spot in Mass???

You said a bit more than that. You are dictating who should be fishing for those fish! Not weekend com guys and Googans, your words... On the mangaged better, we may agree to a certain extent... But not a 20"-24" slot limit, (might help you out a bit though). I could direct you to a few rivers you can catch that class fish until you get really tired of it.