Massachusetts Anglers Offered Cash to Abstain from Fishing for a Year
Mike Bolton 03.05.12
It is a decision that is no doubt trying some men’s souls and causing others to scratch their heads.
In a bizarre experiment being tried only in Massachusetts, the federal government is offering cash to 1,900 anglers to turn in their fishing licenses and abstain from fishing for a year. Anglers can get anywhere from $15 to $500.
Officials from the NOAA say the experiment is not intended to lessen fishing pressure but rather to study the worth of recreational saltwater fishermen in that state. The study is to calculate the economic consequences should an environmental disaster put an end to recreational fishing. More than 1.2 million Massachusetts residents and visitors fish in saltwater in that state annually.
Mike Bolton, 56, served as the outdoors writer for the Birmingham News for 25 years until his retirement in 2009. He won the AP Sweepstakes Award for best sports story in Alabama on eight occasions and his stories on the Cahaba River were nominated for a Pulitizer Prize. He has also contributed to Sporting Classics, Bassmaster Magazine, Buckmasters Magazine and other national pubications.
