BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

MASSENA -- A fishing promoter for Massena says the town's efforts in 2020 should focus on conservation as they hold more frequent and bigger tournaments.

Dr. Linda McQuinn has been promoting the town along with Don Meissner for the last several years. The town is paying them annually for the service.

After several years of their efforts, Massena hosted a Fishing League Worldwide tournament in September and they are hosting a big outdoor sports expo in February.

"We also should think about conservation, and as the community contemplates new tournaments ... (we have) the best bass river in the nation and we want to preserve that," McQuinn said.

Bassmaster Magazine named the St. Lawrence River the "best bass fishery in the nation" for 2019.

"It's really critical to preserve and protect what we have here in Massena," McQuinn said.

She said she learned from one of the FLW anglers that bass can live 20 years or more, and they want to make sure those survive.

The Town Council is amid budget talks and considering renewing the promotion contract with Meissner and McQuinn for 2020. They paid $25,000 for their services in the 2019 budget.

McQuinn said she believes the town's fishing tournaments have benefitted the local economy.

"We had approximately 500 anglers. If you begin to look at the amount of money each visitor brought into Massena ... it really was very beneficial," she said. "The economic impact I saw when I went through the community ... people were there and they were shopping, so Massena really stood at the forefront of driving the economic process and making things better for this community."