The National Aquaculture Association (NAA) has submitted letters to the New Hampshire and New York ban live bait importation bill sponsors and referral committees. The letters point an effort by foreign trained and foreign funded animal rights activists and the several flaws in their study of pathogens in bait fish.

Click here to download NAA's Letter to the NH's Legislature

Click here to download NAA's Letter to the NY's Legislature

Upstream Policies, Delaware-based front for animal rights activists, used their flawed bait fish pathogen study to trigger the introduction of legislation to ban live bait fish imports:

•  The New Hampshire legislature is holding a public hearing on Feb 12^th to consider HB720 introduced on January 9, 2025 to ban bait fish importation by Representatives Patrick Long and Ellen Read.

• New York legislation, A03330, to ban baitfish importation was introduced January 27, 2025 by Assembly Member Alex Bores.

The NAA recommends:

• Check your state for new, introduced legislation banning bait fish importation.  This is simple to do.  Search for your legislature website and use the provided search box to find introduced bills using the search terms “bait fish” or “fish.”
• Inform the bill sponsors of the importance of live bait to recreational fishing and the questions surrounding the Upstream Policies study.
• If you find ban live bait fish legislation, contact your state fishery and agriculture agencies to inform them of the legislation and emphasize the bill supporters are not concerned with farmed aquatic animal care or improved farmed animal health management.
• Be familiar with pathogen reporting procedures established by state authorities and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Please visit: National Animal Health Surveillance - National List of Reportable Animal Diseases.
• Contact the NAA Office, naa@nationalaquaculture.org, to inform us of the legislation.

If you have questions, please contact the NAA Office at naa@nationalaquaculture.org.