Stripers Forever Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is holding public hearings to air possible changes to the 2005 commercial striped bass fishery. The first is Monday, 10/18/2004 7:00 PM at Gloucester High School in Gloucester MA, the other is Tuesday, 10/19/2004 7:00 PM at Plymouth North High School in Plymouth, MA. Additionally, the department is asking for written comments until 10/22, to be sent to: Striped Bass Comments, Div. of Marine Fisheries, 251 Causeway St. Suite 400, Boston, MA 02114. They can also be faxed to 617-626-1509.
We have cut and pasted in below the letter that Stripers Forever is sending in as our testimony. The letterhead document can be found attached to the announcement on our website. You will see reference by us to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission stock assessment of striped bass for 2003. This report was still in draft form at a workshop that George Watson attended in October, but it is expected to be accurate. The results are not good. Essentially mortality on the segment of the striped bass that the coastal fishery targets has gone out of sight, and the spawning stock biomass is dropping like a rock. This information is also more than a year old and the current situation with striped bass is likely to be far worse.
We just found out about these hearings earlier this week, so we are not providing you with much notice. Remember that the deadline for written comments is next Friday. MA DMF still does not have a procedure for taking comments by e-mail.
Striped bass stocks along the coast are now being overfished, and the mortality on young stripers in the Chesapeake is rising alarmingly. It is increasingly important that we end the outdated and damaging commercial fishery for striped bass in Massachusetts. Take this opportunity to send in your written comments, and perhaps to attend one of the public hearings. Let them know that the only change that should be implemented is to end the commercial fishery for striped bass and not just tinker with it.
Stripers Forever testimony follows:
10/14/2004
Stripers Forever, on behalf of its board of directors and approximately 1,500 members in Massachusetts, submits the following comments in support of closing all commercial fishing for striped bass in Massachusetts:
· The most recent stock assessment reports from the ASMFC scientific committee clearly show that the striped bass population is in serious trouble. The spawning stock biomass has dropped to mid-1990’s levels and is declining rapidly; significant over-fishing is occurring on the large stripers that the coastal commercial fishery is focused on; and disease issues and other factors not yet identified threaten the survival of young stripers in Chesapeake Bay. This is a time for extreme caution, not continued plunder of the resource.
· The MA commercial fishery is unfair to the many recreational anglers who fish from or near shore and seldom catch the large minimum sized fish that they must catch to keep one to eat.
· The MA commercial fishery degrades the quality of the striped bass fishery and is therefore harmful to the charter and recreational tourist fishing industries, which are far more valuable to the state’s economy. A collapse of the striped bass fishery would have significant social and economic repercussions for Massachusetts. Conversely, ending the commercial fishery would actually provide economic and social benefits for the state.
· The design of the MA commercial fishery inadvertently promotes an illegal catch of unreported stripers, both in terms of under-the-table cash sales and by using the commercial license as a way to circumvent normal recreational bag limits.
· The commercial striper fishery in MA allocates a very significant portion of the striped bass catch to a relatively insignificant number of participants compared to the general fishing public.
For the good of the fishery, and in fairness to the recreational fishers and industries they support in Massachusetts, we urge you to simply end all commercial fishing for striped bass in Massachusetts
Sincerely;
Brad Burns President, Stripers Forever
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