Hearing on Massachusetts striped bass bill this Thursday

The legislative hearing for H796, a bill that would protect striped bass in the waters off Massachusetts happens this week.

Stripers Forever has all the details and will be there in force. LINK

The opposition will be there as well.

You can help make a difference by becoming a member of Stripers Forever, it's free and only takes a minute to register. Stripers Forever’s only goal is to make striped bass a game fish, which means it would be managed for the benefit of the recreational fishing public, now and for future generations.

Become a member

Comments

[John Rice]

SF is the only tangible group calling for gamefish in Ma., the MSBA is against it, the Plymouth league of sportsmen is against it, the Cape Cod charter assosiation is against it, the list of non-comm'l folks against this is long.

34% (2,072,334 fish!) of the annual allowable take of striped bass (coastwide) were killed by rec'l releases in 2006, source: http://www.asmfc.org/speciesDocuments/stripedBass/profiles/speciesprofile.pdf
So who exactly do these fish need protecting from? Anglers comprise less than 1% of the US population, so the claim of a benefit to the public is rather incredible. In fact it the general public who would lose if stripers were made a gamefish, because they would no longer be available to buy in the market contrary to SF's claims. SF tells us that farm raised striped bass would be available, but this is disingenuous, because farm raised bass are not striped bass at all, they are a hybrid and they do not compare to wild fish in taste.

This call for gamefish is selfish, it would ultimately place access to stripers in the hand of the group who has and is doing the most damage to the resource with the least restrictions.
Commercially striped bass is managed through a quota, when it is reached, fishing ends for the season, recreational fishing for stripers is open year round.

Think about it folks, 34% of the TAC, killed for fun. Who is the real villain?