House Natural Resources Committee Hearing on SB 869 today at noon

[djkimmel]

Wish us luck. Senate Bill 869 to remove all the old bass season limiting language from Michigan state law is up for hearing today (May 6th) at noon before the House Natural Resources Committee. I will be speaking in support on behalf of Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation. I expect the MDNR will once again speak in support and MUCC will probably be there or submit a paper in support I believe.

I have heard things are looking pretty good for the bill but we'll know for sure sometime shortly after noon if and when the committee takes a vote. I have asked that they please consider a favorable recommendation including immediate effect out to the full House.

If that occurs SB 869 has to be read 2 more times (normally they just read the title) before the full House before they can vote on it. I think we have the votes to send SB 869 to the Governor in a week or so but you can never take these things for granted.

I believe if SB 869 gets to Governor Snyder he will sign it but I will be checking on that further as soon as I'm sure I need to. There are other people with more clout than me who can help there too and I will definitely ask them. There may be a 'fishing' meeting in there somewhere... (though not with the actual Governor although he told me last May he likes to fish for bass - if anyone knows him personally, make sure you offer to take him bass fishing! )

I'll report back later tomorrow assuming there's something worthwhile to report. Hopefully I can report that SB 869 was passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee to the full House.

I'll be fairly happy too if I can find a cheaper place to park downtown. Those parking lot companies are getting ridiculous.

[mikesmiph]

Great work Dan, and others.

[djkimmel]

MUCC noted their support for SB 869 again today. Trevor VanDyke, the MDNR Director of Legislative and Legal Affairs again spoke in support of SB 869, scientific management of bass populations, more bass fishing opportunity and more bass tournaments.

Senator Hansen spoke before the House Natural Resources Committee in support of his SB 869 and in favor of more bass fishing and the benefits of creating a bass season that helps us attract more bass tournaments.

I handed out a more detailed 2-page paper but kept my comments short to helping Michigan boost our natural resources economy and provide more opportunity for bass anglers of all kinds since bass fishing is a big sport and industry for Michigan, and considering the abundance of our water, the widespread bass populations, Michigan can increase our attractiveness to bass anglers to fish in Michigan, and attract more bass tournaments.

I shared that bass fishing is the 2nd most popular fishing in Michigan after panfish, and that bass anglers fish more days in Michigan than any other fish according the latest 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey, accounting for almost $400 Million per year to Michigan's fishing economy in daily trip-related spending alone. I also mentioned how happy Muskegon was last year with the 15,000 persons who attended that single Bassmaster tournament. I mentioned how each individual national bass tournament event directly adds $750,000 to $3 Million in additional economic impact.

Representative McBroom had asked Trevor about the amount of bass planting Michigan does. Trevor was not aware of that information and no MDNR fisheries persons were in attendance so I also shared that bass are rarely planted in Michigan, usually only after a water is treated with the rare total fish kill. I shared that bass are the largest member of the panfish family and generally produce an abundance of new little bass. Rep. McBroom said thank you stating that he was under the impression bass populations are self-sustaining and wanted to confirm that.

The House Natural Resources Committee voted unanimously 9-0 to pass SB 869 to the full House with a favorable recommendation!

[djkimmel]

Now there will be two more readings of SB 869 (probably title only) before the full House, hopefully a move to add immediate effect, and then the vote of the full House. After that SB 869 can go to the Governor if it passes.

I can't promise or say for sure but the feedback through channels is that we have strong support to pass SB 869.

If you would like to help you can contact your state representative and ask him or her to please support SB 869 with immediate effect. I've attached my full comments (PDF) to Representative LaFontaine and the Natural Resources Committee if you would like to see some of the points I am sharing regarding SB 869. Though we seem to have good support it is important for our elected officials to hear from us on our various opinions.

[TimH]

That's very good news Dan!  Thank you for all your work on this issue as well as all the other fishing/conservation work you do.

[djkimmel]

Thank you for saying so. There's been lots of help. More this time than ever before.

I got to say thanks personally to Senator Hansen today just before the hearing. That was good! Did some brainstorming with MUCC staff after the hearing for a few minutes about other things we'll be needing to work on. That was good too.

I missed an opportunity to say thank you personally to Rep. LaFontaine. I did thank the entire committee a couple times.

[LAPORTE]

Dan thanks for all of the work on helping getting this done.

Food for thought..Maybe a list of "things we need to work on" is something you could share with us?
If they are just some little things we could change in our daily fishing routine it could help some... just a thought 


DL

[Jefferson]

Great job!

[djkimmel]

Thanks.

And good point LAPORTE. We need to make sure bass tournament anglers and tournament directors know and follow Keeping Bass Alive. Find it at Bassmaster.com.

A personal favorite of mine also - be friendly to other anglers and boaters (I forget too). Set the example for everyone else to follow.

[djkimmel]

As far as what I meant in my comments in regards to MUCC, we have work to do and money to raise yet to win our petition drive against the radical animal rights groups, we have work to do on local and state public access issues and we need to continue strengthening the cooperation and partnering of all the outdoors groups. We have more in common with each other. I think I helped convince a muskie group to join MUCC and get more involved in citizen committees.

We can fix a few fishing-specific issues too. Drop shot comes to mind. Getting more kids into fishing is a big one too.