To the Editor:

I am writing to ask a question that needs an answer for residents in St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties: Who gave Massena the right to hijack 100 miles of the St. Lawrence River so it can profit from a very lucrative Bass Pro Tour fishing tournament?

Massena is basically taking over a shared natural resource— the beautiful, irreplaceable St. Lawrence River — so it can pollute the river with high speed bass boats, drive away wildlife with ear-splitting noise and turn our cottage river decks into front row seats at a nautical Daytona 500 — all in pursuit of the all-mighty dollar. 

Just read the Bass Pro fishing tournament’s rules and you can see the water grab: Bass boats can race up the St. Lawrence from Massena to Western Tibbits point and Kingston, Ontario, a distance of over 100 miles one way. On practice days Aug. 3-4, all competitors can be on the water 30 minutes before sunrise at 5:48 am to 30 minutes after sunset at 8:22 p.m., or 15 hours and 35 minutes of racing around so loudly they can be heard from 10 miles away. This also goes for practice day Aug. 5, but they need to be back by 2 p.m. Over the years I have had dozens of morning swims engulfed by the noise these drag bass boats produce and have taken to wearing a bright red cap to make sure bass boats racing close to shore to avoid the current in the Shipping Channel can see me.

The actual competition runs from Aug. 6-11 and is open to 80 boats. Its like the Daytona 500 goes on next to us for 9 days, not 3 and 1/2 hours.

I am not against fishing at all. Members of my family are keen on fishing, and fishing licenses support important wildlife conservation efforts. But this Bass Pro Tour is more of a drag boat race than a fishing contest. Everyone knows the bigger fish are closer to Lake Ontario than Massena, so instead of fishing skill taking command, it’s simply horsepower. The best thing for the river itself would be to move the fishing tournament to Clayton and cut out the long-distance boat racing.

If Massena wants to host a fishing tournament, of course they have that right, but keep it within 10-20 miles of their town, not in my front river yard. That would stop thousands of gallons of gas from unnecessarily polluting the St. Lawrence River and give homeowners upstream of Massena some of their sanity back. It is not right or fair to grab shared natural resources just because your town built the biggest parking lot.

Sheila Norman-Culp
Morristown