RFA- MA: Striped Bass Action Alert

Sent in by Finchaser, thanks.


[Stripers_FED] Urgent - Massachusetts Striped Bass Action Alert!

Stripers Forever has proven to members of the Massachusetts Senate that the jobs, taxes, and economic activity created by the Commonwealth's recreational striped bass fishery are far greater than is produced by removing these fish commercially. Senators Richard T. Moore and James E. Timilty have filed an amendment to the Senate budget which will require that all decisions made by the Division of Marine Fisheries concerning the striped bass fishery take into consideration the impact on the recreational fishery, including the economic activity and the tax revenue generated. It also requires the DMF to provide this economic justification to the House and Senate Ways and Means, Natural Resources, and Economic Development Committees for the decisions they make and the impacts they will have on the recreational fishery, the economy, and tax revenue.

We need your help to make this amendment law and force the fishery managers to be legally accountable for allowing the continued destruction of this resource. The continued decline of this fishery and the subsequent loss of recreational anglers participating in it mean less tax dollars for the Commonwealth. This recreational fishery is an important source of revenue for Massachusetts, and it is crazy to throw it away as we are witnessing with the decline of the bass. Please take the one or two minutes required to do the following:

• Go to this link and find your MA state senator (of course you can also send this message to all MA senators)

Send them the message in italics below or something similar

If you are so inclined, please place a phone call to this senator's office with the same instructions

Please do it right now! This legislative session will be over in a matter of days, and everyone is preoccupied with the state's financial problems. It takes a loud voice to be heard at this moment. Let's get this one done and take a solid step forward towards protecting striped bass.

Send this message:

Dear Sen.

My name is (name) and I'm a resident of (town) Massachusetts. The Moore and Timilty Amendment would make the Division of Marine Fisheries accountable to the taxpayers of Massachusetts on decisions they make about the striped bass. I am strongly in favor of this amendment. Professional socio-economic studies show that the recreational striped bass fishery provides far more jobs, taxes, and economic activity to the Commonwealth per allocated fish than does the commercial fishery, and the commercial fishery is destroying the quality of recreational striped bass fishing. The Moore and Timilty Amendment requires that the Division of Marine Fisheries provide economic justification to the Ways and Means Committee and other committees for all harvest and allocation decisions it makes about striped bass. In these difficult economic times, we need to look very carefully at how our natural resources will be used. Please give your vote to The Moore and Timilty Amendment.

Don't Live in Massachusetts?

If you are not a resident of MA, but fish in the Commonwealth anyway, look up the state senator for the area that you fish and let them know that you come to Massachusetts and spend money fishing for striped bass. The more detail the better; tell them the name of the hotel, guide, and restaurants that you patronize.

A copy of The Moore and Timilty Amendmentis posted under general news on the home page of the SF website at www.stripersforever.org.

Please, do not put this off, send your e-mail now to help the future of striped bass fishing!