Commercial fishing study (aka Gill nets)

Travis, Thanks for bring that up. I did read that somewhere in the proposed changes in the current law. I had forgotten all about that. It would most certainly allow an increase in the numbers of nets. That would promote potential over harvesting.

[Catch & Release]

At this time, there is a bill going before the Tennessee legislation which is trying to EXPAND the use of commercial nets to some sacred striper waters in East Tennessee. As a part of the bill, $750K is to be apportioned from the sales of SPORTFISHING licenses to study the effects of allowing the expansion of commercial gill netting. WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN. In this economy, where every penny is needed to maintain the system that is hanging on by a thread, the system which maintains our sport fisheries, the LAST thing it needs is this unnecessary burden!


WE CAN STOP THIS. But you MUST act quickly. All you have to do is send an email. But it must be sent within the next 3 days as the vote is on Jan 12th. Sadly, there have only been 78 comments sent to the TWRC (TN wildlife resources commission) speaking against this misuse of funds and resources to benefit the spread of commercial fishing. I hope every one of you sends your comment, and we fishermen, united, can prevent this loss.


Here is the list of emails, all you have to do is copy and paste:
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lt.gov.ron.ramsey@capitol.tn.gov, sen.mark.norris@capitol.tn.gov, sen.bill.ketron@capitol.tn.gov, sen.jack.johnson@capitol.tn.gov, sen.mae.beavers@capitol.tn.gov,sen.jim.kyle@capitol.tn.gov, sen.lowe.finney@capitol.tn.gov, sen.andy.berke@capitol.tn.gov, sen.beverly.marrero@capitol.tn.gov, speaker.beth.harwell@capitol.tn.gov,rep.judd.matheny@capitol.tn.gov, rep.steve.mcdaniel@capitol.tn.gov, rep.gerald.mccormick@capitol.tn.gov, rep.kevin.brooks@capitol.tn.gov,rep.debra.maggart@capitol.tn.gov, rep.ryan.haynes@capitol.tn.gov, rep.barrett.rich@capitol.tn.gov, rep.vince.dean@capitol.tn.gov, rep.mark.white@capitol.tn.gov,rep.tony.shipley@capitol.tn.gov, rep.joey.hensley@capitol.tn.gov, rep.craig.fitzhugh@capitol.tn.gov, rep.joe.towns@capitol.tn.gov, rep.mike.turner@capitol.tn.gov,rep.joe.pitts@capitol.tn.gov, rep.gary.moore@capitol.tn.gov, rep.barbara.cooper@capitol.tn.gov, rep.lois.deberry@capitol.tn.gov, rep.sherry.jones@capitol.tn.gov,TWRA.comment@tn.gov
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Here is a suggested body to your letter, or you can choose write your own:
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I’m writing in regard to the recent undertakings of Senator Jim Summerville and Representative Frank Niceley regarding the promotion, expansion and endorsement of commercial fishing in the lakes of Tennessee.

I, like hundreds of thousands of other Tennesseans, am an avid recreational angler. The time that I spend on the water is of immeasurable personal value and I maintain a tremendous appreciation for our beautiful and magnificent lakes.

I’m very concerned and highly disappointed in the actions of Senator Summerville and Representative Niceley as their desire to increase commercial harvest in our waters could prove devastating to our fisheries. Commercial nets are not selective about what species are harvested and they will catch anything that swims, and everything they catch, they kill. The by-catch of commercial netting has devastated fisheries all over America and is only beneficial to those few that engage in the practice. In Tennessee specifically there are approximately 250 commercial fishermen, opposed to over 800,000 recreational anglers. This legislation is glaringly engineered to the benefit of very few, at the expense of many.

I’m writing to ask that you please help the recreational sportsmen and women of Tennessee and help defeat any legislation that expands commercial fishing in our state. The thought of seeing hundreds of thousands of dead “by-catch” sport fish floating on the shores of our pristine waters is sickening, and I’m asking for your help to defeat any legislation that promotes this activity.




With my sincerest appreciation for your time and consideration,
[FONT='Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]

[/FONT]

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Please send this quickly. We all need support and we need it fast!


Thank you,

Alan,

I am replying to your e-mail from December 29 concerning the deadline for comments on the proposed plan to study the opening new waters to paddlefish harvest in Tennessee. We would like to have these comments by January 11 so that they can be presented to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission at their meeting on January 12. These comments, along with the Plan, will then be submitted to the Tennessee General Assembly as requested. We will however still accept public comments after January 11 as well.

I also read your e-mail from December 22nd and I wanted to thank you for taking the time to provide your comments.

Sincerely,

Bobby Wilson
Chief of Fisheries

Originally Posted by Catch & Release

At this time, there is a bill going before the Tennessee legislation which is trying to EXPAND the use of commercial nets to some sacred striper waters in East Tennessee. As a part of the bill, $750K is to be apportioned from the sales of SPORTFISHING licenses to study the effects of allowing the expansion of commercial gill netting. WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN. In this economy, where every penny is needed to maintain the system that is hanging on by a thread, the system which maintains our sport fisheries, the LAST thing it needs is this unnecessary burden!


WE CAN STOP THIS. But you MUST act quickly. All you have to do is send an email. But it must be sent within the next 3 days as the vote is on Jan 12th. Sadly, there have only been 78 comments sent to the TWRC (TN wildlife resources commission) speaking against this misuse of funds and resources to benefit the spread of commercial fishing. I hope every one of you sends your comment, and we fishermen, united, can prevent this loss.


Here is the list of emails, all you have to do is copy and paste:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lt.gov.ron.ramsey@capitol.tn.gov, sen.mark.norris@capitol.tn.gov, sen.bill.ketron@capitol.tn.gov, sen.jack.johnson@capitol.tn.gov, sen.mae.beavers@capitol.tn.gov,sen.jim.kyle@capitol.tn.gov, sen.lowe.finney@capitol.tn.gov, sen.andy.berke@capitol.tn.gov, sen.beverly.marrero@capitol.tn.gov, speaker.beth.harwell@capitol.tn.gov,rep.judd.matheny@capitol.tn.gov, rep.steve.mcdaniel@capitol.tn.gov, rep.gerald.mccormick@capitol.tn.gov, rep.kevin.brooks@capitol.tn.gov,rep.debra.maggart@capitol.tn.gov, rep.ryan.haynes@capitol.tn.gov, rep.barrett.rich@capitol.tn.gov, rep.vince.dean@capitol.tn.gov, rep.mark.white@capitol.tn.gov,rep.tony.shipley@capitol.tn.gov, rep.joey.hensley@capitol.tn.gov, rep.craig.fitzhugh@capitol.tn.gov, rep.joe.towns@capitol.tn.gov, rep.mike.turner@capitol.tn.gov,rep.joe.pitts@capitol.tn.gov, rep.gary.moore@capitol.tn.gov, rep.barbara.cooper@capitol.tn.gov, rep.lois.deberry@capitol.tn.gov, rep.sherry.jones@capitol.tn.gov,TWRA.comment@tn.gov
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a suggested body to your letter, or you can choose write your own:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’m writing in regard to the recent undertakings of Senator Jim Summerville and Representative Frank Niceley regarding the promotion, expansion and endorsement of commercial fishing in the lakes of Tennessee.

I, like hundreds of thousands of other Tennesseans, am an avid recreational angler. The time that I spend on the water is of immeasurable personal value and I maintain a tremendous appreciation for our beautiful and magnificent lakes.

I’m very concerned and highly disappointed in the actions of Senator Summerville and Representative Niceley as their desire to increase commercial harvest in our waters could prove devastating to our fisheries. Commercial nets are not selective about what species are harvested and they will catch anything that swims, and everything they catch, they kill. The by-catch of commercial netting has devastated fisheries all over America and is only beneficial to those few that engage in the practice. In Tennessee specifically there are approximately 250 commercial fishermen, opposed to over 800,000 recreational anglers. This legislation is glaringly engineered to the benefit of very few, at the expense of many.

I’m writing to ask that you please help the recreational sportsmen and women of Tennessee and help defeat any legislation that expands commercial fishing in our state. The thought of seeing hundreds of thousands of dead “by-catch” sport fish floating on the shores of our pristine waters is sickening, and I’m asking for your help to defeat any legislation that promotes this activity.




With my sincerest appreciation for your time and consideration,
[FONT='Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT='Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT='Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][/FONT]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Please send this quickly. We all need support and we need it fast!


Thank you,

Please help keep commercial fishing out of our TN waters so our children and grandchildren can continue to enjoy this wonderful recreation sport.

[Catch & Release]

I know that probably 99.9% of Tennessee sportsman(and women) are against this proposal, but I am afraid unless we get a whole lot of comments to the TWRA website so they can present them to the general assemby that is will go through. I know everyone is busy with work and life in general, but please get ahold of everyone you know and have them respond asap. This is our only chance to stop this from happening...
Thanks everyone for your help.....
Todd Smith

I got this from Doug Markham. He had made a reply to me on my Face Book. I had ask if he had heard anything and if he would let me know how the meeting went. If I hear any more I will post it here. This was from yesterday 01-12-2012

Alan, I'll learn more tomorrow. But, what I heard is that we made the presentation to our commission and now one of our executive directors will take it to the legislature and ask them to provide the money. We'll see what happens from there. About 200 anglers responded to our call for comments, which isn't bad. There's still a bunch of folks that don't know or understand what is going on. Anyway, I think about 99 percent opposed the study, or at least sporstmen paying for it. We'll see what happens. Have a good weekend.

[Catch & Release]

Senator Beavers will not be supporting expanding commercial fishing.

Patti Saliba
Office of Senator Mae Beavers
Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee
7 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, Tennessee 37243
615/741-2421 or 1-800-449-8366 x 12421
Fax: 615/253-0205

From: Todd Smith [mailto:dtsmith@nctc.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 9:59 PM
To: Mae Beavers
Subject: commercial fishing

Mrs Beavers, I am a proud supporter of yours and appreciate you very much,I am a business owner and avid fisherman residing in Smith county. I am writing in regards to some legislation that concerns fishing in our district. I understand that the commercial fishing industry is lobbying to allow commercial fishing on Old hickory(above 109 bridge) and Cordell Hull. I believe this would be a great travesty on the trophy striper waters we have here. I would like to know what can be don't to stop this. There are only about 70 licensed commercial fisherman in Tennessee, I don't know the exact number of sport fisherman, but I am sure it is substantial. Please stop the wheels in motion to allow this. I would love to talk to you about this,
Thank you for your time,
Todd Smith
615 418 6675
dtsmith@nctc.com