| More News More letters needed, new instructions!AB 1253 the bill to wipe out striped bass: Have you written your letter yet?April 7, 2009 -- AB 1253, the bill introduced by Assembly woman Fuller (Bakersfield) to deregulate and remove all support for the striped bass is still on the agenda to be heard by the Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee. CSPA has sponsored a letter writing campaign to kill the bill in committee and we understand our supporters are having an impact. However, this is no time to slack off. Each and every letter received by the committee is counted as pro or con and the totals are reported on the date of the hearing. We want to make sure that the pile of letters in the pile recommending the bill be killed overwhelms those in the pile recommending its passage. You can track the bill on-line at the following site, http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset2text.htm The bill will be heard by committee on April 28th. The committee secretary states to be the most effective we should do the following: Here are the NEW instructions to send your letters to the committee. Send ONE letter to the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee either snail mail or FAX.The committee does NOT want e-mail!The address of the committee is: Sample letters and letters to individual committee membersTwo sample letters follow. You are encouraged to cut and paste as you see fit and add your own comments as well. You are still encouraged to send snail mail or e-mail responses to individual assembly members IF YOU LIVE IN THEIR DISTRICT. The list of committee members, their addresses and districts follow the sample letters. Sample letter #1 Dear Assembly member __________________, As a California angler, voter and taxpayer, I strongly oppose passage of AB 1253, the bill to delist and remove support of the striped bass as a California game fish.. Please vote this bill down when it comes before you as a member of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. Sincerely, Your name Sample letter #2 Dear Assembly member __________________, As a California angler, voter and taxpayer, I strongly oppose AB 1253, the bill introduced by Assembly member Fuller, intending to delist and remove support of the striped bass as a California game fish. The striped bass, a fish legally introduced to the State by the California Fish and Game Commission, established itself as one of the state's premier game fish and coexisted in harmony for over 130 years with the state's native fishes. Even in the 1930's when the striped bass population was believed to exceed 12 million adult fish and the species was fished commercially, the fish did not impact the state's salmon stocks or the health of the delta's fisheries including the delta smelt and the longfin smelt. The striped bass fishery along with the chinook salmon, steelhead, delta smelt, longfin smelt, American Shad, green sturgeon, white sturgeon fisheries only began to decline with the operation of the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project in the late 1960's. As exports have increased, the populations of all of these fishes has crashed to all time historical lows with the delta smelt now on the endangered species list, the longfin smelt threatened, the chinook salmon run the lowest in history. The current striped bass popluations is also at historical lows. The striped bass is a fish of legend and has been a part of California's angling heritage for 130 years. AB 1253, a bill sponsored by a number of water districts is an obvious attempt to transfer the blame of the decline of California's once great fisheries to one of the species that made the California Delta one of the greatest fisheries on earth instead of their insatiable demand for larger and larger amounts of delta water. They realize that if the delta's fisheries can be destroyed, it is one less reason to obstruct the draining of the delta for subsidized agribusiness farming. Please vote this bill down when it comes before your committee. If passed, it will do nothing to restore California's once great fisheries and will cause the destruction of one of California's greatest game fish. Sincerely, Your name Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee
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