MV Fishermen meet with state reps about stripers

[Cape Cod 19]

January 22, 2008

Last night a meeting took place at the Cornell theater on MV, the meeting was actually the all island selectmens' meeting but a group of Island fishermen were there to see two state officials who were there, Senator Rob O'Leary and newly elected Representative Tim Madden, to discuss a piece of legislation to make striped bass a game fish here in Massachusetts that is being sponsored by the group Stripers Forever.

The fishermen who attended were a diverse group, which include the brothers John and Greg Mayhew, famous charter captain Buddy Vanderhoop, Tom Osmers
who is well known by most Island fishermen as well was Lev Wlodka who is a commercial bass fisherman and also a charter captain. Several other fishermen were there also. The message that these different fishermen shared and conveyed to the legislators was that they did not want to see this legislation ever get approved. All the fishermen who attended agreed that it was ridiculous to even consider game fish status considering that Ma. angler already enjoyed approximately 80% of the access to striped bass. Island selectman, Pat Parker also pointed out the fact that recreational anglers had recently been given twice as many striped bass to keep when the state changed the bag limit from 1 to 2 stripers per day.

The issue of making striped bass has been brought up from time to time here in Ma. by Stripers Forever, but hasn't been successful or very popular, even with most recreational fishermen here in Ma.. The last time they attempted this the overwhelming majority of fishermen, including recreational, told them that the commercial guys had lost enough access to this and other fisheries and this wasn't right and they wouldn't support it.

Apparently that wasn't enough for the folks at SF and now they are attempting to slip this legislation by everyone by getting it attached to another bill, which they think will be approved, sort of like "pork". Last fall SF got state rep. Frank Smizik of Cambridge to sponsor this, but it seems as if their plans got delayed until now. In a posting at their site they elude to there being a bill that has been submitted but for "whatever reason" will be unavailable to the public for a few weeks? Typically legislation which has been filed is available the day after the day it was filed, but this bill which no one has seen is mysteriously unpublished?? Smoke and mirrors? We'll see.

Senator Oleary told those in attendance that he will never sign onto any legislation to make stripers a game fish, but newly elected rep, Madden said he was on the fence and he was still gathering information. I would suggest that Mr. Madden needs to hear from anyone who is concerned with this and have the issue clarified.

[Cape Cod 19]

http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?19796

Members of the Island commercial fishing industry were on hand to express concern over a bill currently at the state house which would put harsher regulations on commercial fishing of striped bass.

Buddy Vanderhoop, a longtime Island fisherman who said he makes 100 per cent of his income from the trade, said commercial fishing has nothing to do with a dip in striped bass stocks, something he blamed instead on off-shore trawlers.

“It’s the pair trawlers, they’re devastating the forage fish causing the stripers to have to go eat something else,” he said, adding that the trawlers aggravate the issue by dumping tons of fish caught over their quota. “The reason we had no bass here last fall was because the midwater trawlers were off the Cape and the striped bass population was coming down from Maine and millions and millions of pounds — which was documented on the Internet — of bass were killed because they can’t keep them. There was literally miles and miles of dead striped bass on the surface of the water and until something is done with these trawlers the striped bass population is in trouble. You can’t let the recreational people pass this bill, that’s totally ridiculous,” Mr. Vanderhoop said.

A diplomatic Mr. Madden said it is important to keep an open mind on the subject.

“I’ll just echo what Rob said. I sat down with Matt Patrick last week, I told him I couldn’t sign on to it,” Mr. Madden said. “I told him I would listen, but we need some alternative ideas on how to approach the issue because I don’t think anyone wants to see striped bass disappear from the market. So with that I think we need some alternatives, rather than just saying ‘No, we don’t support the bill.’ ”

Jonathan Mayhew pointed to a lack of a reciprocal agreements with other states or towns whose commercial fishermen can fish Island waters, cutting into the Vineyard quotas.

Mr. O’Leary asked how the fishermen were organized. Pointing to the example of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, he suggested that Vineyard fishermen consider forming their own organization to lobby on issues of interest.

“We’re a pretty disorganized group,” answered Mr. Mayhew. “We’re fishermen.”

[Cape Cod 19]

Striped Bass Bill Divides Fishermen

Just go read it. Matt Patrick is a douche bag.