Report: MA gamefish bill meeting

[DarkSkies]

**** Russel wrote the book Striper Wars. I think it was published in 2005, chronicling the timeline.



One of the chapters in there is dedicated to Bob Pond. A little about his book:





[Mr. Pond, a resident of Attleboro and North Attleboro, was an avid fisherman who revolutionized striped bass fishing in the 1940s after discovering a method for catching the fish on the surface. He turned his knowledge into a business manufacturing multi-hooked swimming lures that the game fish found irresistible.
His Attleboro-based Atom Manufacturing cranked out wooden and plastic lures beginning in 1945 and continuing after he sold the business in 1998.
Mr. Pond was also a visionary in conservation, pointing out the threat to the fish from coastal fish traps and diseases.
Founder of the conservation group Stripers Unlimited, Pond's work, alongside that of the late Rhode Island Sen. John Chafee, is widely credited with helping save striped bass from extinction along the East Coast.
Mr. Pond persisted in his efforts despite being scoffed at by many sportsmen and scientists. Today, bass fishing constitutes a $1 billion a year business, said New York writer Frank Pintauro, who noted that Pond's vision helped open America's coastlines to a new, populist sport.
"At the end of World War II, when America's beaches were becoming a playground for everyman, rather than just the wealthy, Bob was a pioneer lure maker for what some have called the golden age of surf-casting," he said. "He was an extraordinary guy."
So influential was Mr. Pond's role in molding the sport, that some of his original lures have fetched up to $750 apiece from collectors.
But Mr. Pond's efforts in awakening the need for conservation is perhaps his most important legacy.
"Bob Pond was way out ahead of all the experts in sounding the alarm in the 1960s about dangers facing the striped bass, and without his tireless efforts on this magnificent fish's behalf, we wouldn't be out there catching them today," said **** Russell, environmental journalist and author of "Striper Wars: An American Fish Story. "He was a pioneer in ocean conservation, long before the impacts of overfishing and coastal pollution became topics of widespread concern." Russell's book contains a chapter about Pond's work. ]


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I didn't get a chance to personally meet Mr Russell or any of the other sf guys.

However, I did read up on some of his articles. I thought they made sense. I also looked for a hidden agenda. I went to his web site and looked for any PETA or PEW Trust affiliations. I can tell you that if I found any of those, I wouldn't be talking about him here.

I did read that he was an "environmentalist".

I don't like that term, and don't consciously associate with anyone who's described like that. I feel I have nothing in common with tree huggers.

Even though I care deeply about striped bass, I would never want to be labeled an environmentalist. The word has too many elite connotations for me.

Anyone who can share anything else about Mr Russell, positive or negative, please let me know.


Here's a link to his site. It talks about how he was involved in striped bass conservation in the 1980's when the stocks collapsed. If he still has the same passion for striped bass 25 years after the stocks collapsed and were brought back, I have to give him some credit:

His testimony and statement:
http://www.dickrussell.org/index.htm


Saving stripers will require tighter net of regulations 2-6-09
http://www.dickrussell.org/articles/savingstripers.htm


Striped bass in trouble again? 12-13-08
http://www.dickrussell.org/articles/trouble.htm