President's Editorial

Since early February more than 2000 signatures have been attached the petition that solicits support to change the regulations to two fish at 28 inches or over.  JCAA club delegates should bring their petitions to the next general meeting or mail them to the JCAA office.  The petition is obtainable on the JCAA web site.

Assemblyman Sean T. Kean’s bill, A-3790, is now bipartisan with several co-sponsors.  Senator Palaia has introduced a similar bill, S-3790, and we expect this bill to have bipartisan support as well. These bills provide for changing the regulation to two striped bass at 28 inches or larger.

The JCAA released a position statement on the Bonus Program.  It was included in the April Newsletter and is available on the JCAA website.  The JCAA, among others, requested a public hearing on striped bass regulations and the bonus program.  This was not to be and, in fact, the DFW brought to their Striped Bass Advisory Committee meeting on March 29 their predetermined 2005 Striped Bass Bonus Program. I was personally led to believe, the previous evening, that the DFW wanted advice and input on the SBBP development. It is disappointing that the DFW professionals are inhibited or restricted from candid discourse.

The bottom line is that because of the current regulations and the constraints that they impose on any SBBP, there are already many unhappy bass anglers.  What will be the public outcry when the striped bass fishery breaks open and angling effort increases?

J.B. Kasper’s  April 10, 2005 article, “New stripped bass plan not as good as it looks” in The Times of Trenton is reprinted in this issue.  In my opinion, J.B.is right on the mark in documenting a sad state of affairs.

The High Roller Raffle winners will be drawn at the upcoming meeting April 26, 2005.

Good luck to all and thanks for your support.

P.S. The second RFA striped bass survey was received about five weeks after anticipated.  This survey, as previously reported, asks the respondent to make a choice between one fish 24 to under 28 inches and one fish over 34 inches or two fish over 28 inches. Again, we note that this is what the JCAA delegation advised the RFA was appropriate in mid-December, 2004. We encourage all who are eligible to vote their preference.

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