All Stripers Forever Members - Over the last month we have sent our 2007 fishing survey to our entire membership state by state. We have already received a record number of responses but we want to give everyone who hasn't replied one last opportunity to participate. The brief survey gives you an opportunity to highlight your fishing success, or lack thereof, as well as soliciting your opinions on desired regulatory changes for striped bass.This is the fifth
annual survey we've conducted and this year will be particularly important because in 2007 the ASMFC is doing its first stock assessment in two years, and it will be interesting to see how their observations compare with what anglers are actually experiencing.
Our surveys sent to members in MD, DE, VA and the Carolinas were the last we sent out and we hope to get a greater response from those critical states. We know the fishing season is still in full swing in those areas and that the holidays are always hectic, but if you haven't taken a moment to fill in the survey, please do it now. You'll be glad you did. SF needs your help!
We can only accept surveys until Wednesday night, December 19th.
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There are two easy was to fill out the survey; just follow these steps:
EITHER
1. Go to our website www.stripersforever.org and click on Fishing and Opinion Survey under Recent News on the right side of the home page.
2. From there just double click the attached fishing survey Word document, save it to your computer desktop and fill it out.
OR
You can just click "reply" and fill out the survey that you’ll find below in this e-mail and then send it back to us. We'll take care of the rest on this end.
If you have already submitted your survey and have received an acknowedgement from us, your job is done. There is no need to respond more than once. Thank you!
Your input is valuable. Please take 10 minutes and do this for the striped bass. Brad Burns
P.S. We have not used hot links in this message since many e-mail servers will then block our e-mail. Just highlight and copy the web address right into your internet browser. www.stripersforever.org
Stripers Forever 2007 Survey (click reply then fill out and send)
Delete the wrong answers leaving your final answer, except for #1,2,3 and #16
My Name - e-mail -
Town - State –
State of the fishery:
1. I fish mostly in the following town of in the state of .
2. I fish from a boat what percentage of the time %.
3. I have fished regularly for stripers for this many years .
4. In my opinion striper fishing in the past five years has changed as follows: much worse, worse, stayed the same, improved somewhat, improved greatly
5. The average size of the stripers that I catch now has changed as follows:
much smaller, somewhat smaller, no change, somewhat larger, much larger
6. The number of stripers I catch per hour of fishing time on the water is:
many fewer, fewer, about the same, more, many more
7. Because of the changes in the striped bass fishery my inclination to take a professionally guided striped bass trip has changed as follows: less likely, about the same, more likely
Bag and size limits, conservation:
8. Forgetting for a moment current striped bass regulations, and starting with a clean sheet, I think that recreational anglers should be able to keep at least one school striper (possibly different from state to state, but probably between 18 and 28 inches in length) per day for personal consumption. Yes, No
9. If you answered yes to #8, should this smaller fish be allowed instead of, or in addition to, a bass of some larger size? Instead of, In addition to
10. If you answered no to #8 what should the minimum size be? 28”, 32”, 36”, 40”
11. Do you think we should have a slot limit for recreationally caught stripers? Yes, No
12. If you said yes, indicate the slot size that is closest to your preference. 20”–26”, 22”– 28”, or 24”-30”
13. When commercial fishing is ended, what percentage of the current commercial quota should be saved from harvest as a conservation buffer? The rest would be used to liberalize the recreational harvest. 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%
14. Would you favor legislation that creates a striped bass stamp costing between $10.00 and $25.00 per year with the funds earmarked to buyout the current commercial fishery? Yes, No
15. If you answered yes to #14, should this stamp program end after a fixed number of years, or should the fee continue to fund enforcement and striped bass enhancement programs.
end, continue
16. My personal comments on striped bass management that you have not covered are?
Guides Section: note that your answers above are also appreciated.
17. How has your guiding business for striped bass changed because of the fishery in the last five years? worsened considerably, worsened a little, not changed, improved somewhat, improved a great deal
18. How important is keeping a striped bass to your clients?
not very important, somewhat important, very important
19. How important to your clients is catching a lot of stripers per trip? not very important, somewhat important, very important
20. How important is catching a really large striper to your clients? not very important, somewhat important, very important
21. Which is more important to my clients, catching big fish or catching a lot of fish? big fish, many fish
22. I am more likely than I was 5 years ago to make new investments in equipment for my striped bass guiding business? Yes, No
23. My comments as to how the management of striped bass is affecting my guiding business:
We'll let members know the highlights of the survey results as soon as possible and we'll post the full results on our website. We'll also send the full survey report to state and federal fisheries managers and issue a press release.
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