RF's Fish-A-Thon Funds Local Conservation Projects

Recycled Fish (RF) is providing more than $7,000 for local conservation projects as a result of September 24 Hour Fish-A-Thon Presented by Berkley.

For example, funds will go to help restore urban waterways in the Philadelphia area and in Alaska they will go to stop a dam. In Iowa, they will benefit the state’s Resource Enhancement and Protection program.

Money also will go toward restoration of the Mississippi Delta through Vanishing Paradise and for local distribution of RF’s Stewardship Kits through the One Million Stewards program.

Learn more here.

And go here to see how funds were distributed.

And if you don't know about Recycled Fish, you should. It's not just about catch-and-release. It's about being a good steward in all aspects of your life because we all live downstream.

Your Help Needed Now to Save Sportsmen's Act of 2012

The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 isn’t dead yet. But your help is needed if it is to be enacted. Right now, go to this link at Keep America Fishing (KAF) and voice your support for the legislation.

As I reported yesterday, the Senate failed to move the bill because of the dysfunctional government that we now have in Washington, D.C.  But KAF says there’s still a chance that we can save this legislation:

“The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 may yet again come up for vote in the U.S. Senate as members are working hard to craft a solution to the procedural problem that stopped the bill from passing the Senate. A diverse coalition of angling, hunting and conservation organizations is working hard to support this effort and eventual passage, but time is running out.

“On Nov. 26, in a surprise upset, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 (S. 3525). The bill failed to pass over a party-line vote on a procedural motion, following months of discussion with Senate members by a large and diverse coalition of angling, hunting and conservation organizations who worked to create a historic bill containing 17 key provisions for anglers, hunters and fish and wildlife conservation.

“You can still make an impact and Keep America Fishing provides an easy way to send an effective message to Senate members. We need everyone’s support to help pass this essential piece of legislation.

“This link takes you to a Take Action Now page.

“Please help us convince the Senate to bring this bill back to the floor and vote YES for fish and wildlife conservation!”

Anglers, Conservation Suffer Because of Dysfunctional D.C.

Score another victory for political gridlock in Washington, D.C., and this time anglers and hunters are the losers.

In an argument over procedure, the U.S. Senate failed to move The Sportsman’s Act of 2012 (S. 3525) forward. Vote was almost strictly on party lines, with Republicans responsible for this one.

Republicans support most of what the bill would do, but blocked the legislation because of objections about spending on conservation programs, which would violate budget rules. Democrats pointed out that the bill also would raise money.

“The shocking aspect of this bill’s defeat – one that would have such a positive impact on anglers, hunters and fish and wildlife conservation - is that it occurred over a budget argument giving the Secretary of the Interior the ability to increase the duck stamp price $10, thus pumping more dollars into wetland conservation for both fisheries and wildlife benefits” said Gordon Robertson, vice president of the American Sportfishing Association (ASA).

“Adding salt to the wound is that the increase is strongly supported by waterfowl hunters who champion the user pay-user benefit concept for fish and wildlife conservation along with all sportsmen and women as well as the fishing and hunting industries,” said Robertson. “The Congressional Budget Office has stated that overall, S. 3525 would reduce the nation’s deficit by $5 million.”

“It’s a cruel twist that the Senate failed to move S. 3525 over a budget procedural question when in the end the bill adds to conservation and would most certainly have a positive impact on the nation’s economy,” he continued. “It would truly be a tragedy if this historic piece of legislation went down in flames due to partisanship and simmering disputes over Senate rules and procedures that have nothing to do with the merits of the bill.”

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership added this:

“With their backs up against the so-called fiscal cliff, elected officials from both sides of the aisle locked antlers again. American sportsmen are paying the price.

“Hunters and anglers are experiencing the fallout from congressional inaction as access dwindles, development diminishes opportunities for sportsmen and funding for conservation disappears.”

Read more from TRCP here.

Keep America Fishing shows you how your senators voted.

Here’s a news story about the vote.

Killing Dolphins Is a Crime, But It Is Not Murder

Six Flags photo.

Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is offering $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for killing dolphins along the northern Gulf Coast.

I applaud him for that. If I were king, I’d lock up these despicable human beings and throw away the key. These miscreants shot, stabbed, and otherwise brutalized  friendly, playful, and intelligent mammals.

(Read the story here.)

But here’s where I part company with Watson:

“I regard the killing of a dolphin as murder,” he says.

Murder is the unlawful killing of one human being by another. No matter how heinous and illegal the act, the killing of another species is not murder.

What Watson is engaging in with that assessment is “mutualism,” a practice that I warned about in my Sept. 5 post, “Fishing for Sport Viewed as Cruel by Growing Number of People.”

Here’s the pertinent portion:

Anglers and hunters view fish and wildlife as resources to be used, while being managed wisely and treated with respect. Traditionally, most Americans have agreed with that “utilitarian” philosophy.

But as people become more urbanized (and often more affluent), some begin to favor a “mutualism wildlife-value orientation, viewing wildlife as capable of relationships of trust with humans, as if part of an extended family, and as deserving of rights and caring.”

Mutualists, the authors say, “are more likely to view fish and wildlife in human terms, with human personalities and characteristics.”

What’s coming down the road in the United States if mutualism prevails?

The Swiss Animal Welfare Act of 2008 highlights the nightmarish possibilities. The legislation makes catch-and-release illegal because “it is in conflict with the dignity of the fish and its presumed ability to suffer and feel pain.”

A similar rule has been in place since the 1980s in Germany, where anglers also must take a course in fish handing before they can obtain a license.

“The argument runs that it is legally acceptable to go fishing only if one has the intention to catch fish for food,” the study says.

“Wider economic benefits created by angling are usually not considered a sufficient justification --- it all boils down to the individual benefits experienced by the angler, and here food provision is currently the only acceptable reason.” 

In other words, recreational fishing as millions of Americans now enjoy it is not allowed.

That’s why I disagree with Watson’s use of the word “murder” for the killing of dolphins, no matter how horrible the acts. This comes perilously close to the arguments of those who believe that pets are slaves, that livestock facilities are genocide factories, and that animals should have equal rights before the law.

You think that I’m exaggerating? I wish that I were. Check out this at JWeekly.com:

“The stance is well captured by Newkirk's earlier declaration, ‘Six million Jews died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses," and in her infamous aphorism "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.’”

 Protecting dolphins from atrocities is one thing. An ideology that doesn’t differentiate between a boy and a rat is quite another.

BP Funds to Benefit Gulf of Mexico Fish and Wildlife

About $2.4 billion of BP’s recent settlement agreement of $4.5 billion will go to benefit fish and wildlife habitats along the Gulf Coast. Those funds will be funneled through the National Fish And Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), an independent non-profit conservation groups chartered by Congress in 1984.

"Ducks Unlimited applauds the decision to direct a significant portion of the settlement funds to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation," DU CEO Dale Hall said.

"NFWF is the appropriate organization to manage these funds and determine how they can best be used to benefit Gulf Coast fish and wildlife and the people who depend on these resources for their livelihood and recreation. NFWF's role in managing these funds is good news for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast."

Under this agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, BP pled guilty to several criminal charges for its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which discharged an estimated 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

“All of us at BP deeply regret the tragic loss of life caused by the Deepwater Horizon accident as well as the impact of the spill on the Gulf coast region,” said Bob Dudley, BP’s Group Chief Executive.

“From the outset, we stepped up by responding to the spill, paying legitimate claims and funding restoration efforts in the Gulf. We apologize for our role in the accident, and as today’s resolution with the U.S. government further reflects, we have accepted responsibility for our actions.”

The $4.5 billion settlement does not resolve penalties that could result from violations of the Clean Water Act. These penalties could range as high as $20 million if BP is found guilty of gross negligence.

To learn more, check out Ducks Unlimited and this BP press release.