Take Action: Recreational Fishing Threatened in Lake Erie Basin

   05.07.12

Send a message to your state Senator to protect Ohio’s fishing heritage.

Your state senator is about to cast a decisive vote – a vote that could hurt walleye, steelhead trout, smallmouth bass and other important fisheries in Ohio’s Lake Erie watershed.

Legislation is currently in front of the Ohio state Senate that threatens Ohio’s waterways, sportfish and your rights as an angler and citizen. If passed, HB 473 could:

  • Allow large-scale water withdrawals that would destroy critical spawning habitat for popular sportfishing like walleye, steelhead trout and smallmouth bass.
  • Reduce stream flows, risking toxic algae blooms and increased pollutants that already plague other states.
  • Eliminate your right as an angler to challenge water withdrawals that threaten the sport you love.

Take Action Today!

The Ohio Senate is expected to vote on this harmful legislation early next week, making it important that your state Senator hears from you today! Click here to send a message to your Senator asking that they oppose HB 473 and protect Ohio’s sportfishing heritage.

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KeepAmericaFishing is the fastest growing community of anglers united with one common goal -- to protect our right to sustainably fish on our nation's waterways. As the voice of the American angler, KeepAmericaFishing works to keep our public resources – our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams – open, clean and abundant with fish.

Across the country, preventing or limiting recreational anglers’ access to public waters fisheries is being touted as a new way to manage fish populations. This unprecedented shift undermines the achievements of proven fisheries management methods that focus on conservation and promote sustainable fishing. As a result, the past 10 years have seen a dramatic increase in bans on recreational fishing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Texas to Minnesota.

In an effort to combat access restrictions around the country, the American Sportfishing Association launched KeepAmericaFishing to unite the nation’s 60 million anglers under one voice. Through policy, science and conservation, KeepAmericaFishing works to minimize access restrictions, promote clean waters and restore fish populations. With its conservation partners, KeepAmericaFishing works to limit and provide for review and revision science-based closures to areas in which they are clearly beneficial to the health of the fishery.

At KeepAmericaFishing, we are working to give voice to the millions of American recreational anglers who share one thing in common - a passion for fishing.

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