Anglers’ Voices Are Heard By California Legislature
Thanks to your action, potential impacts of anti-fishing bills were mitigated.
KeepAmericaFishing™, in anticipation of the end of California’s legislative session, urged you to contact your state legislators to oppose bills SB 1148 and AB 2402. These bills would have significant negative impacts on California’s recreational fishing community. Although modified versions of these two bills were signed into law by Governor Brown on September 25, rest assured our efforts were not in vain.Due in large part to strong outcry from California’s anglers such as you, provisions in SB 1148 that would have had a devastating impact on recreational fishing in California were removed prior to its passage in the California legislature.
This bill was introduced into the California legislature with the intention of improving how the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) functions. The bill was hijacked by anti-fishing groups who added provisions that would have stripped the Department of its authority for fishery management in marine closures and placed authority of marine closures in the hands of the Ocean Protection Council, a body effectively controlled by anti-fishing groups who would seek ever greater closures. This significant threat was averted thanks to the thousands of anglers who let their legislators know – through KeepAmericaFishing – that this was unacceptable.
Despite thousands of messages from California’s anglers, AB 2402 did pass in the last hours of the session and will allow private organizations to directly fund programs within the DFG. Passage occurred only after the bill was brought up for a sixth vote.
While passage of AB 2402 is of great concern, the efforts of KeepAmericaFishing, with the support of anglers like you, lessened what could have been a much more harmful end to the legislative session.
Our opposition in the state is powerful, but our efforts have clearly demonstrated the potential impact that the recreational fishing community can have when mobilized and making their voices heard.
With your help, KeepAmericaFishing will continue to work on your behalf to ensure that the recreational fishing community is well positioned to face current and future threats to your right to fish. To learn more about KeepAmericaFishing’s work to keep our nation’s waters open, clean and abundant with fish, visit www.KeepAmericaFishing.org
