| House Bill H796 An Act relative to the conservation of
Atlantic striped bass. Personally I rather see our state marine fisheries director establish a reduction in both the the commercial and recreational catches. But in lieu of that happening, we have the Stripers Forever proposed bill H796. There are many who are trying to get this bill voted down so that conservation is not put in place. We need Conservation NOW (whether by the legislature or by marine fisheries) before it is to late...This bill proposes prohibiting the following:
1..."Commercial harvesting and sale of wild striped bass shall be prohibited in the commonwealth" Please send him and your own reps an email SUPPORTING H796 or other State means of conservation.....It is Now or Never! | ||||
| 2009 Young-of-Year Striped Bass Survey Shows Below Average Reproduction  | ||||
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| Dear Paul, I know I speak for the majority of striper anglers, rec’s, charter caps and some com guys when I say that the current stock of stripers is on the decline, for sure. And with the less than stellar spawn cycles of the past 7 or 8 seasons, we need to put the brakes on for awhile so that we do not experience a devastating collapse in this most valuable saltwater fishery. The economic effects of the loss of this fishery will without doubt put many mom and pop tackle shops, small tackle manufacturers and charter captains out of business. My catch logs for past 7 years have displayed an almost 55% drop in total (all sizes) numbers stripers landed (and mostly released) aboard my charter boat and that of many colleagues. Please strongly consider reducing the rec and com catch in our state until spawn cycles begin to rebound. I am not suggesting we shut it down, but simply reduce the kill numbers. And please vote against the outrageous amendment that will allow targeted dragging of big nets for stripers in NY and elsewhere. Please take a leadership role for the concerned anglers in Massachusetts. Please let’s not return to a situation that will quickly devastate this incredibly valuable fishery as was the case in the 80’s into the 90’s. I really thought we all learned our lesson about conservation. Thank You for reading this. Sincerely, Capt. Skip Montello Dear Skip, Thanks for your thoughtful comments about striped bass management. The Massachusetts delegation opposed the ASMFC motion to move forward with development of an addendum to the fisheries management plan that would allow increases to the current commercial quotas. I feel strongly that this is not the time for increasing any harvest levels. The Northeast heavily depends on good recruitment from Chesapeake Bay. Even though the spawning stock remains at relatively high levels, you are correct, we have not had better than average juvenile production there for several years. This means that even if a "boomer" year class is produced in 2010, we will be facing several future years with low availability of smaller fish common close to the coast. These are the fish that support our popular catch and release fishery. Additionally, there are signs that the larger stripers are distributing themselves further from shore in fderal waters, perhaps as reaction to changes in prey availability and climate. My staff and I have reviewed the situation carefully and agree that without better than average juvenile production in 2010, we should push the intersate process to reduce harvest levels across the board in 2011. Obviously, we will continue to oppose any harvest increases considered by the current addendum to the plan. Best Regards, Paul Dear Paul, Thank you for your quick reply. It is good to hear that our state delegation opposes any new harvesting from commercial interests, but it appears that other members of the council believe that more harvesting is appropriate. That being said, the opposing council members must work to convince the proponents not to allow any escalation in quotas, especially via netting. In light of the less than average spawn cycle, and even though some believe that the spawning stock of mature striped bass is healthy, why wait until the 2010 spawn data comes in to at least begin a conservation effort by reducing our recreational daily bag limit back to one fish per day? The commercial quota can be left as is, but shorten the duration of the season by a few weeks and then assess the new spawn data when it becomes available. I doubt that your office would encounter too much opposition to those measures, since most Mass anglers understand the current population decline. So, why wait? I totally agree that the coastwise population of striped bass is in decline (and has been for the past 7 or 8 years) due in part because the forage base is better offshore. The offshore (particularly, Stellwagon and other closed waters) striped bass and forage fish populations have been and continues to be healthy because of federal protection from people. However, the inshore situation fishery is becoming close to a collapse, primarily because of over fishing (and extremely high incidental “by-catch”) from the “foreign fleet” of mid-water trawlers working (sometimes within eye shot) close to our shoreline. I know you have seen this data and realize that this type of fishing if allowed to continue, will ultimately destroy our herring, American Shad, menhaden, and mackerel populations, and as such, will eventually devastate our ground fish, tuna and striped bass populations. If I am not correct in what I believe to be factual, please set the record straight for me and a whole lot of angry anglers and other conservation minded residents who believe that the mid-water fleet should be stopped now. Again, thank you for reading this and I would be happy to do what I can to help promote conservation and support your efforts. Sincerely, Skip here is Paul's email address Send him an email and ask him to take a responsible leadership role for the vast majority of striper anglers...please!
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