Update:
the initiative has received the endorcement of Stripers Forever. (
www.stripersforever.org) Here is a letter to the MSSA:
Quote:
I read Candy Thomson’s column today that your organization is calling for the commercial quota of striped bass to be reallocated to recreational fishing, but then set aside for conservation. We at Stripers Forever strongly support this view. In our work to make striped bass a game fish we have also repeatedly asked to have the commercial quota set aside for conservation.
Stripers Forever will be reintroducing legislation in Maasachusetts again this winter to designate striped bass as game fish, thus eliminating the commercial fishery in that state. Massachusetts commercial fishermen kill over 100,000 breeding sized stripers a year – a number which includes a modest estimate for commercial discards and the well recognized unreported catch. It is heartening to know that officials in other jurisdictions will be getting the message from a respected organizations like MSSA that striped bass are simply too valuable as a recreational or personal use resource to be squandered.
Please let us know if there is anything that we can do to help you.
George Watson, Treasurer
for the board of Stripers Forever
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