MSBA Action Alert--Stripers Forever Bill Could Pass- Only One Hearing--This Thursday 11 AM
On This coming Thursday January 14th at 11 am in Room A-2 of the State House The MA Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture is holding the One & Only Public Hearing on H796 which is formally named An Act relative to the conservation of Atlantic Striped Bass aka The Stripers Forever Bill.
MSBA sources inside the state house have informed MSBA that this legislation has momentum and if a large number of fishermen do not turn out to oppose the bill at the hearing MA Anglers may see the end of Commercial Striped Bass Fishing amongst other poor management measures contained in the bill. Rumor has it that Stripers Forever has three buses coming to the hearing, including one from Maine.We advise that those attending be sure to be in the room at 10 AM because the room is expected to reach max capacity well before 11 am. MSBA will be announcing a meeting place in the Quincy Area for members to meet and take the "
Some Background on this bill:
The main actions in this legislation are as follows:
1..."Commercial harvesting and sale of wild striped bass shall be prohibited in the commonwealth"
2..."It is unlawful to take or possess striped bass unless the fish are whole with head on and are between 20 and 26 inches total length or 40 inches and greater total length"
3..."It is unlawful to take or possess more than one (1) striped bass each day"
Many Months ago, the membership of the 60 Year Old MA Striped Bass Association voted unanimously to oppose this bill because of many reasons, the following is but a partial list:
1. The Commonwealth of MA has an established fisheries rulemaking process that includes the expert input of both it's Citizens, the MA Marine Fisheries Commission and The MA DMF. The management actions contained in H 796 should be vetted through that process so that peer reviewed science and vigorous public debate controlled by MEPA rules will ensure maximized public interaction be part of any proposed management action.
2. If the legislature is to set this precedent and begin including details of species management in legislation; anagement based on reacting to new and better data will be almost impossible to create. The uncertain amount of time it takes to move legislation through the State House process will cause all management actions to include large conservation buffers that will potentially limit access of the citizens to even a seemingly healthy resource such as Striped Bass.
3. An even more problematic result of the legislature getting into fisheries management details is the likely hood that at least one Commercial, Recreational and ENGO written bill will be introduced for each fisheries issue, and that can be dozens per year. The first three the MA Striped Bass Assn would like to introduce will be an "Act to Protect River Herring from at Sea Fishing Mortality", an "Act to Prevent Ecosystem Damage Caused by the Proliferation of Dogfish", and finally "An Act to Protect Atlantic Menhaden".
4. The already predicted scientific example of the proposed slot shows that this slot will cause a very large increase in Striped Bass fishing mortality as was seen when the same slot limit was enacted in the State Waters of Maine. When regulations allow anglers to harvest small, agressive and hungry juvinile fish the fishing mortality numbers rise sharply.
5. This legislation calls for all farm raised Stripers to bear a tag when displayed for sale. The measures contained in this legislation will cause a steep decline in the market for farm raised Striped Bass. There will be no need for farm raised Stripers if the ethnic populations that make up the majority of the farm raised Striped Bass market are able to harvest 20 inch fish from every bridge over every salt water estuary in the state.
Obviously, MSBA urges that all opposed to this legislation make time to attend the Hearing.
For more information check out
http://www.msba.net/