CSPA has received a leaked draft bill!

Is a state legislator planning to introduce a bill to destroy the striped bass fishery?

February 23, 2009 - CSPA has just received a file of what appears to be a piece of legislation intended to destroy the California striped bass fishery. The document, in PDF format, methodically deregulates the protections the striper has had for 120 years as a California resident  and  gamefish, including allowing all methods of take, no size or bag limits, and the end of all other protections that the current DFG regulations provide. The legislator that may propose this bill is unidentified at this time

Of interest are the scribbled notes on the first page of the file. These short scribbles reveal the real intent behind the legislation, WATER.

It appears that the water vendors have an assemblyman or senator in their pocket and plan to open a second front in an attempt to destroy the delta's fisheries for the sake of additional water.

Stripers are already threatened by a suit filed against DFG by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, a group of southland water districts, charging that the striper is the prime reason for the decline of the state's salmon fisheries. CSPA has already filed as an intervener in this suit, representing the state's fishermen and providing oversight to DFG's defense of this extremely popular game fish.

We, as anglers, will have to mount a strong defense to defeat this piece of legislation once proposed. It will most likely be accompanied by a series of lies and misinformation designed to secure the public's support. CSPA will need angler's support in letters, appearances and donations to fight this latest assault on our fisheries for the sake of water for marginal, subsidized farming.

The draft bill with the scribbled notes can be viewed on-line.

Draft of proposed section 2305 of the California Fish and Game Code