Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
Earlier this year, the state of Massachusetts announced a new specialty license plate available through the Registry of Motor Vehicles to promote conservation of striped bass. The plate has been custom designed by a Cape Cod artist named Janet Biondi, and it depicts a striped bass in pursuit of alewives.
“The purchase of these specialty license plates will enhance efforts to conserve and restore striped bass, river herring, and other marine fisheries that are vital to the Commonwealth’s coastal ecology, economy, and culture,” said Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides.
After a campaign by the Massachusetts Environmental Trust and Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to gather support for the plate through pre-registrations, the plates are now being issued at a cost of $40 every two years. The disbursement of the funds for the striped bass plate will be overseen by a review panel that includes striped bass experts from DMF, academia, a conservation organization, and recreational and commercial fishermen.
Funds raised from the new Massachusetts striper plates are expected to be used for new grants and programming that supports studies and conservation initiatives, including studies of striped bass populations, stock structure, movements, and local ecology; habitat improvements to enhance passage of diadromous fish like river herring and eels; studies of angler practices to improve hook-and-release survival; and angler education to improve the conservation of marine fisheries resources.
New Jersey of course doesn’t have a specialty striped bass license plate, yet we all know about the woeful lack of funding for our coastal fisheries in the Garden State. The last time I wrote about this was in the fall of 2019 (Editor’s Log: Square Dancers Unite!) when I detailed how Teamsters, Kiwanis, Rotarians, NASCAR fans and even square dancers could get their own specialty license plate, but not striper fishermen. Yet in Massachusetts, as well as Delaware and New York, you can get a striped bass plate on the back of your vehicle while helping fund saltwater fishing in those states.
In New York, the Marine and Coastal District plate depicting a striped bass in the surf at Montauk requires registrants to pay an additional renewal fee every two years, a portion of which goes into a separate fund called the Conservation, Education, and Research Fund of the Marine and Coastal District of NY. By law, monies from that fund after appropriation, “may be expended only for conservation, research, and education projects relating to the marine and coastal district of New York.”
There have been efforts over the years to secure a striped bass license plate in New Jersey. I was personally involved in the effort while working full-time at the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA). That was when the New Jersey legislature had passed the free angler registry, and our hope was to implement this and a few other programs to allow sportsmen to opt in to supporting marine resources, free from political plundering.
Suffice to say, it was shocking to see how many folks turned out in opposition to fight against the plate, including one high-ranking member of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) who has since left the state. Each department in Trenton blamed another for the inability to launch the initiative, from the DEP on out to the Division of Motor Vehicles and Department of Transportation.
The “blame game” is a popular pastime in Trenton, as is “passing the buck,” “beating around the bush,” and “watching the clock.” But the next time some state bureaucrat tells you all about his or her money woes in an attempt to make you feel some sense of guilt or sympathy, remind that person that you’ve been more than willing to “step up to the plate” for quite a few years.
