Any Word On How The Freedom To Fish Bill Went At The State House Yesterday???

[BigFish]

Just curious how things went at the State House yesterday??? Did anyone here attend??? I was unable, had a dentist appointment scheduled but wound up canceling that because I was sick!

[JohnR]

Yeh - I have not had a chance to write up something formal but I think it was overall a success.

Basically the hearing on Bill 2043 - Mass Freedom to Fish, was heard in commitee in front of several state reps and I believe on senator.

Extreme Environmental (EEs) groups against the bill like the Ocean Conservancy and some scientists from WHOI (but, ahem, not representing WH ) as well as Sierra Club, and some other orgs were trying to persuade against. Its interesting to note that Basic Patrick stated how many of these people were being paid to be there and were the same people presenting opposition in the other states - whereas 95% of the proponents were local and not being paid and had to take a day off of work. I think the only 2 out of staters were Mike Doebly from the RFA and me, from Rhody (formerly of Mass).

The testimony went OK. The EEs went on how this was bad for management, bad for the environmanet, and a just plain awful bill.

We pretty much said that fisheries management does not lose the ability to close off areas or parts of the watercolum within an area, just they need to prove that fishing was the cause and other methods will not bring a return. And IF an area absolutely had to be closed it would be reviewd constantly for when it could be reopened. Not a forever closed "park" where someone could boat thru (or perhaps just sail ) and leave bubbles and not hooks. Smells like user group denial & reallocation to me.

This a bill to prevent INSHORE Mass Waters from being closed. As the Ocean Conservancy has stated they would like to see 5% of all US (including state) waters to be "National Parks". These "National Parks" might be able to support sail boats under wind but would likely exclude everyone else. Imagine if they closed from Marshfield/Scituate line to Scituate/Cohassett - no one would be allowed to leave Scituate harbor, work or pleasure. Or if they closed off Rockport, or Bourne, or P-Town, or Falmouth, New Bedford....


Basic Patrick gave a pretty stinking good testimony in favor of the bill and by the fact that he was the only one able to illicit an applause from 90% of the people there, it went well. Funny thing is about half of the EEs left once they were done, not even listening to the testimony of the anglers.

We'll see & time will tell. As for people from here that were there; me, Basic Patrick (MSBA President) and Flatts (MSBA F2F Lead), Mike Doebly (RFA dude). Others were alot of charter captains and Stellwagen Clubs, some commercial groups, Barry Gibson from SWS, and a lot of individuals from varius clubs in Mass

[BigFish]

I think that BasicPatrick (Patrick Paquette, Pres. of MSBA) and Flatts1 (Mike Flaherty, MSBA Political Chair) deserve all the credit in the world for all the hard work and time that they put in to all aspects of protecting the rights of those who fish both commercially and recreationally. If it were not for guys like these, we would have these enviro morons running roughshod on those trying to enjoy the simple act of getting out by the water, casting a line, and trying to catch a fish. Thanks Flatts1 and BasicPatrick.

[flatts1]

Thank you Bigfish

And thank you to John R. and all other webmasters who allowed the posting of these F2F messages to help get the word out.

We still have a lot of work to do. So if you couldn't make it to the State House yesterday then don't worry because we could sure use everyone's help by sending letters to your state reps when asked.

Thanks Again,
Mike Flaherty
MSBA Political Committee Chairman

[BigFish]

BasicPatrick...heard you were quite the influential speaker, sorry I missed it. I am not surprised though, you always hit the right note when needed. Nice job BP.

[flatts1]

The following is an excerpt of a letter by MSBA President, Patrick Paquette, to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture. It was submitted by Mr. Paquette after his testimony at the Massachusetts State House on November 13, 2003

The full text may be found at

http://www.msba.net/f2f/msba_statehouse_letter.htm

Best,
Mike Flaherty
Proud Member of MSBA

...

Way back in February I learned of a few “Environmental” organizations that were able to get prime-fishing waters in the state of California permanently closed to all fishing. This closure was accomplished by using an extreme definition of the management tool known as a “Marine Protected Area”. More commonly known as “MPAs”, Marine Protected Areas have been used for years and in some cases have been supported by recreational and even commercial communities. A closer look at the California situation revealed a national strategy by some fringe or extreme environmental groups to do the same in the waters of each and every coastal state, including Massachusetts. Just in case you are not aware, the area in California that was closed is called the Channel Islands. The only fair comparison in Massachusetts would be the Elizabeth Islands. What would happen if the Elizabeth Islands were closed to all fishing? Representative Turkington could answer that question better than any of us standing in the audience today. After learning about this situation, MSBA in conjunction with our national affiliate, the Recreational Fishing Alliance, formed the Massachusetts Freedom to Fish Coalition. Our vision was to put together a group of both recreational and commercial organizations and bring forth a Bill in the MA Legislature that would both allow for the traditional use of a Marine Protected Area, and protect the rights of both recreational & commercial fishermen to do what we do, to fish. Standing here we have accomplished that goal. Our coalition is made up of Recreational Fishing Organizations including the Plum Island Surfcasters, The Marblehead Surfcasters, the Cape Cod Salties, the Green Harbor Tuna Club and the Massachusetts Striped Bass Assn. We also have groups with commercial interests as well, groups including the Cape Cod Charter Boat Assn, The Stellwagon Bank Charter Captains Assn, and The North East Charter Boat Assn. In addition, we have also been working with the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fisherman’s Assn, the Massachusetts Fisherman’s Partnership and the Massachusetts Seafood Coalition in order to bring forth a slightly amended version of the bill at hand. The fact that the recreational and commercial communities are working together should in and of itself prove that the need for this bill to go before the State Legislature is valid.

[flatts1]

It should be noted that the Massachusetts Beach Buggy Association (MBBA) is also a key member of the MA F2F coalition. I know that Patrick did mention MBBA in his verbal testimony but somehow it was missed in the letter to the committee. This letter was sent to me for printing at 2:36am the morning of the hearing and I apologize for not catching it then.

Indeed, MBBA has been very helpful since the beginning with MA F2F. Several MBBA members did attend the hearing on Nov 13 and MBBA President, Peter Murray, spoke passionately to the committee in support of bill S2043, the Freedom To Fish Act.

We are very grateful for MBBA's support and I apologize for not noticing that they were not included on the letter in the list of groups supporting MA F2F.

Best,
Mike Flaherty
MSBA Political Committee Chairman

P.S.
MBBA is also (and has always been) listed on the MA F2F website as an organization supporting MA F2F.