More Fishery Closures Coming in 2012 if Congress Doesn't Act

Marine anglers should get ready for even tougher times in 2012, courtesy of closures imposed by the federal government. And freshwater anglers should be concerned as well. The same anti-fishing agenda is going to move inland as well, unless we stop it.

Passage of the Fishery Science Improvement Act (FSIA) by Congress before the end of 2011 could minimize the closures in our oceans. But, sad to say, don’t count on Congress during these times of political chaos in Washington, D.C.

“While other legislative amendments to MSA (Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act) have been offered to address a variety of federal fishing issues, we need Congress to understand that there is an immediate need to address the specific problem that FSIA solves,” said Mike Nussman, president and CEO of the American Sportfishing Association.

“Unless Congress passes this legislation before the end of this year, come January 1, 2012, anglers and commercial fishermen alike will be facing hard new annual catch limits on numerous stocks of fish that are based on nothing more than guesswork.”

Learn more about the FSIA here.

Meanwhile backlash continues against Recreational Fishing Alliance (see previous posts) for criticizing the proposed legislation.

John Mazurkiewicz, public relations counsel for Shimano and a member of ASA and many other angling groups says:

“It's not hard to see that following the lead of the Congressional Sportsman's Foundation, ASA, The Billfish Foundation, IGFA, NMMA, Coastal Conservation Association and the Center of Coastal Conservation is the right way to go.

“I applaud the efforts of those involved with these organizations --- a large number of smart people who understand all these issues and know what's best for the sportfishing industry.”

And Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano, issues this warning:

“The campaign against fishing is spreading inland to fresh water and being advanced by the same bogus rationale that the only way to ‘protect’ fish and fish habitat is to ban recreational fishing regardless of what hard science and decades of fishery management success clearly shows to the contrary.

“The recreational fishing community has been slow to recognize that we are in a North America-wide battle for the very future of our sport that will determine whether our kids and grandchildren can continue to go fishing.

“Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, American Sportfishing Association, International Game Fish Association, Coastal Conservation Association, Center for Coastal Conservation, National Marine Manufacturers Association, and The Billfish Foundation deserve the support and sincere thanks of everyone who cares about the future of fishing.  They are all dedicated, competent and the best professional representation we have in the halls of power where many of these issues will be decided. 

“As for the very few who take gratuitous cheap shots at the efforts of these fine organizations, they rightfully deserve our contempt.”

Senate Introduces Bill to Reign in NOAA, Stop Unnecessary Fisheries Closures

Legislation has been introduced into the Senate to slow down the anti-fishing agenda of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

 With its heavy-handed enforcement of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), it already has unnecessarily closed recreational fisheries and decimated coastal communities.

 The Fishery Science Improvement Act is intended to reign in NOAA by requiring management decisions to be made on sound science instead of ideology.

The bill states that if NOAA Fisheries has not done a stock assessment on a particular stock in the last six years, and there is no indication that overfishing is occurring, an annual catch limit on that stock is not required.

“The legislation is critical to sportsmen from coast to coast to coast,” said  Jeff Crane, president of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. “NOAA Fisheries needs this discrete legislative fix to ensure that recreational and commercial fishermen are not left at the dock because of the agency’s lack of science.”

Read more here.

House Members Seek to Shut Down Catch Shares, Protect Recreational Fishing

Members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) have sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee, opposing new Catch Share programs for the Gulf of Mexico.

“If enacted, this (Catch Shares) could have a crippling effect on recreational angling along the Gulf Coast,” said Jeff Crane, president of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), which works closely with the CSC on issues of concern for anglers and hunters.

Signed by 23 members of the House, the letter requests that language be used to restrict new Catch Share programs for Gulf fisheries in the fiscal year 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Just a few days before, other CSC members sent a similar letter for Atlantic fisheries.

“Just as members who have Atlantic coastlines in their districts desire to keep new job-killing Catch Shares programs from being implemented, so too do we, the undersigned Gulf coast members desire to prevent new Catch Share programs from wrecking our costal economies,” the letter says.

“We are alarmed by the crippling job losses experienced along Atlantic Coast as a result of these Catch Share programs. A similar disaster can be avoided in the Gulf of Mexico by preventing the establishment of new programs in our region until several conditions have been met, including requiring the use of better scientific research and data collection from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and economic impact statements.

“These tools are necessary to accurately measure the economic impact of Catch Share programs, and we believe it is in the best interests of our coastal industries to restrict funding for Catch Share programs until these common sense conditions are met.”

Since she took over NOAA in 2009, Jane Lubchenco, along with her friends in the Environmental Defense Fund, have been determined to implement Catch Shares, a scheme for limiting access and turning a public resource into a commodity managed by the federal government, in which only a few favored interests benefit.

By the way, the CSC and the CSF are possibly the best friends that anglers have these days in Washington, D.C. Check out the CSF website to learn more.

“We are in a sustained fight for survival of our outdoor heritage. One does not win a fight by backing up, and this is why we have such strong respect for CSF. They don't compromise our basic interests,” says Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano.

Angling Groups Fear Feds Will Close Fisheries

B.A.S.S. has joined with six other organizations to voice concern about the possibility of recreational fisheries closures being implemented by the National Ocean Council, based on recommendations from the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee (MPA FAC).

Let’s be honest here: We’re playing against a stacked deck. Jane Lubchenco at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and others in this administration are determined to force us off the water, if not all at once, then a little bit at a time. And they’re going to keep relentlessly pushing that agenda until they no longer are in power.

The best that we can hope for until then is a holding action, anchored by organizations like B.A.S.S., the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and others who sent a letter to NOAA and the Department of the Interior.

In that letter, they expressed the following concerns about the MPA committee’s recommendations document:

• The lack of recognition for the importance of recreational fishing to conservation efforts and the need to establish it as a national priority.
• The potential for the designation of large aquatic areas as MPAs that unjustifiably restrict or eliminate recreational fishing access.
• The need to define conservation as “the wise use of the Earth and its resources for the lasting good of men” to ensure that the reader understands that conservation is concurrently achieving the multiple objectives for sustained natural resource use.

They also said this:

“The treatment of recreational fishing throughout the MPA FAC document troubles our community and reflects an apparent misconception about the importance of recreational fishing to conservation efforts. Recreational use of our public waters is compatible with – and in fact is essential to – sound conservation and natural resource stewardship, as is highlighted by contributions made to such successful conservation programs as the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund.

“Since 1950, recreational anglers and boaters have (through this unique user tax on motorboat fuel, fishing tackle, and other sportfishing equipment) generated more than $5.7 billion in funding for fishery conservation and enhancement, habitat restoration, clean water programs and boating safety programs. In addition, fishing license sales generate nearly $650 million in annual revenues for state conservation and education programs.”

Read the entire letter here.

And tell your representatives and senators to defend recreational fishing against the threat posed by the National Ocean Council and its Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning.

Support Fishery Science Improvement Act

A reminder: Be sure to ask your representatives and senators in Congress to support the Fishery Science Improvement Act. The bipartisan bill is intended to ensure that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) uses sound science to set catch limits.

As it promotes its “catch and trade” Catch Shares scheme and closes Atlantic and Gulf fisheries, NOAA has shown that it more intent on implementing a preservationist ideology than properly managing recreational and commercial fisheries.

"The sportfishing community is facing an unacceptable situation in which arbitrary deadlines are being allowed to trump the essential need for science-based management of our marine resources," said Congressional Sportsman's Foundation President Jeff Crane.

Here’s a fact sheet about the bill from the American Sportfishing Association.