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President's Reportby Bruce Smith (from Jersey Coast Anglers Association June 2005 Newsletter) The High Roller Raffle winners were drawn at the general meeting April 26. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who participated. The following are the High Roller Raffle drawing winners for 2005: 1 Jim Keane, NJ Beach Buggy member 2 Belmar Fishing Club, Belmar, NJ 3 Randall Ziegler, Silverdale PA 4 Ron Rogers, Toms River, NJ 5 Gary Ristaino, Clifton NJ 6 Barbara Gates, Abescon, NJ 7 Berkeley Striper Club 8 Barry & Susan Gabler, Manahawkin, NJ Entries to the JCAA Fluke Tournament are running as anticipated. There is still time to register for this great event at the $100 entry fee. The entry fee increases to $125 June 1st. Assemblyman Sean T. Kean’s bill, A-3790, is now bipartisan with several co-sponsors. Senator Palaia has introduced a similar bill, S-2450, 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 only logical option. . In the meanwhile, we will all have to suffer with the current regulations. It is the angler’s responsibility to know the regulations and to obey them. It is the DFW conservation officers’ duty to enforce the regulations regardless of their opinion of the fairness of the regulation. Failure to observe the regulations and being apprehended in possession of an illegal (28” to 34”) striped bass could be expensive. This week, I personally observed two anglers with very sad faces. Each had one fish slightly over 28” and one fish slightly under 34”. I believe that they received four $135 citations. Add that to the cost of bait, tackle, ramp fees, fuel, registration, etc. and you can attain a new record cost per pound of fillets. That is, if you could keep the fish. Obviously, there are a lot of unhappy striped bass anglers out there. The results of the second RFA Striped Bass Survey are still unknown. In my opinion, it is of little consequence at this point. On the brighter side, after a winter flounder run that was slow to develop and over too quickly, things are picking up with striped bass, bluefish, weakfish and fluke catches improving as the water temperature increases. Get in on the action now. I have attended some very interesting meetings on a range of subjects; public access, windmills and wind energy and wildlife. These will be the subject of separate articles in this or future issues. In the May Issue of the JCAA Newspaper, Tom Fote authored an article entitled, “NJ State’s Funding Problems and the Saltwater License.” If you didn’t read it, please do so. It pleases me to inform you that, at a meeting on April 25th at Assunpink Wildlife Refuge, representatives of several organizations and interested individuals formed the OUTDOOR RECREATIONAL ALLIANCE for the purpose of obtaining additional state funding for The Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Parks and Land Management The organizations that answered the call are: Conservation Resources, Jersey Coast Anglers Association, NJ Audubon Society, NJ Conservation Foundation, NJ Environmental Federation, NJ Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, NJ Outdoor Congress, NJ Public Interest Research Group, Sierra Club, and The Nature Conservancy. This is an affirmation that these groups acknowledge common and overlapping interests in New Jersey’s natural resources and their importance to the quality of life of all citizens and the reality that our collaborative voice is stronger than our individual voices. It was decided to undertake a lobbying effort at the State House in Trenton on May 16th to address this concern. An attractive, powerful, concise information sheet was developed. This handout was presented, along with verbal explanation, to legislators at the State House. About a dozen people, representing many of the Alliance organizations, participated in this activity. We were encouraged by the reaction of the legislators with whom we spoke. For a copy of the handout contact go to conservation@njaudubon.org .
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