Stripers Forever MA - as a follow up to our response the other day to a letter from the Massachusetts Director of Marine Fisheries, we received the following e-mail from former MA CCA representative, Mike Spinney. We thought
Mike's observations were important and asked if he minded us sharing them, and he did not. We know that years ago many fishermen sold their catch, and if this were still years ago, and if there were fish enough to go around without placing undue pressure on the stripers, we’re sure that neither we nor Mike would object to folks covering expenses by providing some fresh fish for the market.
However, as the song goes, “Yesterday’s gone”, and stripers, especially the large breeders, are being overfished, while the fishing public is required by too-high minimum size limits to give up its historic fishery for the better eating school sized bass. In addition, many thousands of bass are being killed by commercial bycatch in non-directed fisheries (like groundfish dragging); dead fish that are uncounted against commercial quotas. Meanwhile, the very presence of a legal market for stripers allows an illegal market for cash sales to proliferate, and the critical Chesapeake stock is not only ravaged by gillnets, but strong evidence suggests that greatly elevated mortality is taking place there due to disease. The result of all this is that guides and recreational anglers are finding it increasingly
difficult to catch large fish. This will eventually take a grave toll on angler participation and the industries it creates and supports. Director Diodati is playing with a very old play book, and we think it’s time for him to throw it away and come around to some new thinking. Write him a letter, and let him know that. Copy his bosses to keep them in the loop too. Brad Burns
Here is what Mike Spinney had to say -
Michael Spinney on Friday, January 20, 2006 at 12:45 PM +0000 wrote:
Dear SF -
You guys are right on with your assessment of Mr. Diodati. ~In spite of
the data available to he and the Mass. DMF, it has been my experience
that he is influenced mostly by opinion and a bias toward the vocal
community of striper clubs in Mass.
These clubs, for what it is worth, are not sporting clubs as they would
have us believe. ~They include a large contingent of members who sell
their rod & reel catch ("to pay for gas...") and, therefore, have a
STRONG interest in maintaining the status quo.
In 2003 I represented the Mass chapter of the CCA before the Mass DMF
while new size and bag limits were under consideration. ~I was stunned
to observe the "recre-mercial" striper clubs ~argue for more liberal
provisions than even the commercial fisherman wanted! ~Even the
commercial fishermen recognized that the club anglers represented a
threat to their interests. ~At the time (and I'm sure things haven't
changed), the largest catch during the commercial season was always
recorded on Day One. ~The commercial guys will tell you that it is
because the recre-mercial anglers illegally stockpile their catch in the
days immediately prior, then flood the market as soon as they are able
to sell their catch. ~So much for law, sport, or conservation.
In spite of the evidence, and in the face of logic, Diodati and the Mass
DMF always seem to favor the recre-mercial angler.
He does not represent the views of a majority of Mass anglers, nor does
he acknowledge the fact that the economic impact of sport fishing for
striped bass, and of recognizing the striped bass as a game fish, far
outweighs bowing to the pressure applied upon him by the selfish
interests of the club anglers.
Keep up the good work.
Mike
P.S. from Stripers Forever - please ask all of your fishing friends to go to the SF website www.stripersforever.org and join free on line. There is strength in numbers.
| 