Below is a shortened version of a bill that is gaining steam in CA legislature that will encourage anglers to basically fish out all of the striped bass in their waters. You can find the entire bill here
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset2text.htm
Here's just a few lines of the bill:
AB 1253, as introduced, Fuller. Striped bass.
Existing law regulating fishing imposes various restrictions on
the take, transport, and sale of specified fish, including striped
bass.
Existing law, until January 1, 2010, requires the funds generated
by the imposition of a Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp or
validation to be deposited in a separate account in the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund, to be used solely for the long term, sustainable
benefit of the primary Bay-Delta sport fisheries, as specified,
including the striped bass fishery.
This bill would prohibit a person from possessing, importing,
shipping, or transporting in the state, or placing, planting, or
causing to be placed or planted in any water within the state,
striped bass. The bill would subject any person who violates that
prohibition, or who resists, delays, obstructs, or interferes with
its implementation, to a civil penalty of not less than $500 and not
more than $10,000. The bill would require the Department of Fish and
Game to adopt regulations to carry out those provisions. The bill
would delete striped bass from various existing provisions
restricting the take, transport, and sale of specified fish. The bill
would delete the striped bass fishery from the fisheries for which
Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp revenues are to be used.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) Fish of the genus Morone (striped bass) are a
harmful and highly invasive species that is not native to this state.
(b) Striped bass, including hybrid species commonly referred to as
sunshine bass, palmetto bass, wiper, Virginia bass, Maryland bass,
and paradise bass, are native to the eastern coast of the United
States, and are typically found from Florida to the St. Lawrence
Seaway. Striped bass were intentionally introduced to California in
1879 from the Navesink River in New Jersey.
(c) Striped bass are common in the San Francisco
Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and are estimated to have a
population that has fluctuated from a low of 600,000 to a high of
3,000,000.
(d) Striped bass are known to prey upon and consume a variety of
native fish species valued by the people of this state that are
protected under the state and federal endangered species acts,
including Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley
spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, and delta smelt.
(e) The predation habits and diet of striped bass are contributing
to the decline and extirpation of native fish species populations
from the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
(f) In order to protect and preserve the existing populations of
native fish species that live in and migrate through the San
Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, it is the
intent of the Legislature to establish an effective program to
prevent additional striped bass from entering the state, to
discourage the promotion of the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta as a striped bass sport fishery, to immediately
end any existing program for the enhancement, expansion, or
improvement of striped bass populations and their habitat, and to
eliminate any and all legal restrictions regarding the size or number
of striped bass that may be taken, and the season or location in
which striped bass may be taken, pursuant to a valid California
fishing license.
Bill to Wipe-Out Striped Bass in CA!
