5/23/2005 For Immediate Release by Stripers Forever
U. S. Congressman Frank Pallone Introduces Striped Bass Game Fish Bill and Cites Southwick Study by Stripers Forever
Stripers Forever, a national organization of recreational anglers, announces its support for HR 2059, a bill introduced last week by U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Fisheries and Oceans. The bill would prohibit the commercial harvesting of wild striped bass in Atlantic coastal waters and in federal waters up to 12 miles offshore known as the exclusive economic zone.
“The Atlantic striped bass is a valuable resource along the Atlantic coast and is one of the most important fisheries for recreational anglers in New Jersey,” Pallone said. “I have a long history of involvement in protecting, preserving and enhancing the striped bass fishery, and I know how critical it is to take action now so we can avoid the potential threat of a collapse in the future. It is in this spirit that I would like to designate the striped bass as a federal game fish.”
Pallone’s legislation would prohibit the commercial harvesting of striped bass and reserve the resource exclusively for recreational fishing. New Jersey is one of six states along the Atlantic Coast that already classify the striped bass as a game fish.
In his introduction of HR 2059, Congressman Pallone cited the Southwick Study, The Economics of Recreational and Commercial Striped Bass Fishing, commissioned earlier this year by Stripers Forever. The landmark study concluded that if commercial fishing for striped bass were eliminated, "…future harvest levels would produce greater returns for coastal economies and the national economy…" since "…fish captured by the recreational sector are far more valuable on a per-pound basis than when harvested commercially.”
“The Southwick Study specifically forecasts 14,400 new jobs and a $1.79 billion increase in economic value to the U.S. economy by making wild striped bass a gamefish coast-wide,” says Brad Burns, president of Stripers Forever. “Striped bass raised through aquaculture, which already account for 60 percent of all the stripers consumed in America and could replace the wild harvest within a year or two, offer a more consistently available product than seasonally available wild fish. The Southwick Study shows that wild striped bass and stripers raised through aquaculture command almost identical retail prices.”
Game fish status for wild stripers would mean more jobs, a stronger economy, and a more consistently available food source for the public. “It’s a win-win situation,” says Burns.
For more information on Stripers Forever, and to view a copy of HR 2059, visit the Stripers Forever website at
www.stripersforever.org.
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