Culled outObama administration will accept no more public input for federal fishery strategyEmail Print Comments 193By Robert Montgomery
ESPNOutdoors.com
The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.
AP/Luis M. Alvarez
One sign at the United We Fish rally at the Capital summed up the feelings of recreational and commercial fishermen. This announcement comes at the time when the situation supposedly still is "fluid" and the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force still hasn't issued its final report on zoning uses of these waters.
That's a disappointment, but not really a surprise for fishing industry insiders who have negotiated for months with officials at the Council on Environmental Quality and bureaucrats on the task force. These angling advocates have come to suspect that public input into the process was a charade from the beginning.
"When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) completed their successful campaign to convince the Ontario government to end one of the best scientifically managed big game hunts in North America (spring bear), the results of their agenda had severe economic impacts on small family businesses and the tourism economy of communities across northern and central Ontario," said Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano.
"Now we see NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the administration planning the future of recreational fishing access in America based on a similar agenda of these same groups and other Big Green anti-use organizations, through an Executive Order by the President. The current U.S. direction with fishing is a direct parallel to what happened in Canada with hunting: The negative economic impacts on hard working American families and small businesses are being ignored.
"In spite of what we hear daily in the press about the President's concern for jobs and the economy and contrary to what he stated in the June order creating this process, we have seen no evidence from NOAA or the task force that recreational fishing and related jobs are receiving any priority."
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Fisheries In Danger
Consequently, unless anglers speak up and convince their Congressional representatives to stop this bureaucratic freight train, it appears that the task force will issue a final report for "marine spatial planning" by late March, with President Barack Obama then issuing an Executive Order to implement its recommendations — whatever they may be.
Led by NOAA's Jane Lubchenco, the task force has shown no overt dislike of recreational angling, but its indifference to the economic, social and biological value of the sport has been deafening.
Additionally, Lubchenco and others in the administration have close ties to environmental groups who would like nothing better than to ban recreational angling. And evidence suggests that these organizations have been the engine behind the task force since before Obama issued a memo creating it last June.
As ESPN previously reported, WWF, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Pew Environment Group and others produced a document entitled "Transition Green" shortly after Obama was elected in 2008. What has happened since suggests that the task force has been in lockstep with that position paper.
Then in late summer, just after he created the task force, these groups produced "Recommendations for the Adoption and Implementation of an Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes National Policy." This document makes repeated references to "overfishing," but doesn't once reference recreational angling, its importance, and its benefits, both to participants and the resource.
Additionally, some of these same organizations have revealed their anti-fishing bias by playing fast and loose with "facts," in attempts to ban tackle containing lead in the United States and Canada.
That same tunnel vision, in which recreational angling and commercial fishing are indiscriminately lumped together as harmful to the resource, has persisted with the task force, despite protests by the angling industry.
As more evidence of collusion, the green groups began clamoring for an Executive Order to implement the task force's recommendations even before the public comment period ended in February. Fishing advocates had no idea that this was coming.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, the New York Times reported on Feb. 12 that "President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities."
Click here for archiveMorlock fears that "what we're seeing coming at us is an attempted dismantling of the science-based fish and wildlife model that has served us so well. There's no basis in science for the agendas of these groups who are trying to push the public out of being able to fish and recreate.
"Conflicts (user) are overstated and problems are manufactured. It's all just an excuse to put us off the water."
In the wake of the task force's framework document, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation (CSF) and its partners in the U.S. Recreational Fishing & Boating Coalition against voiced their concerns to the administration.
"Some of the potential policy implications of this interim framework have the potential to be a real threat to recreational anglers who not only contribute billions of dollars to the economy and millions of dollars in tax revenues to support fisheries conservation, but who are also the backbone of the American fish and wildlife conservation ethic," said CSF President Jeff Crane.
Morlock, a member of the CSF board, added, "There are over one million jobs in America supported coast to coast by recreational fishing. The task force has not included any accountability requirements in their reports for evaluating or mitigating how the new policies they are drafting will impact the fishing industry or related economies.
"Given that the scope of this process appears to include a new set of policies for all coastal and inland waters of the United States, the omission of economic considerations is inexcusable."
This is not the only access issue threatening the public's right to fish, but it definitely is the most serious, according to Chris Horton, national conservation director for BASS.
"With what's being created, the same principles could apply inland as apply to the oceans," he said. "Under the guise of 'marine spatial planning' entire watersheds could be shut down, even 2,000 miles up a river drainage from the ocean.
"Every angler needs to be aware because if it's not happening in your backyard today or tomorrow, it will be eventually.
"We have one of the largest voting blocks in the country and we need to use it. We must not sit idly by."
SFSC -East Coast Events Coordinator
this is messed up what happened to freedom of speech. its come to were a humans rights are f****** writein by a goverment guy sitting behind a desk and dont even know what a fishing rod looks like . its time to stand up for our right for freedom of speech. if we just sit around and wait to see what happens they will take every thing we love. already have taken to much. yeah right time for a change. its coming down to were a person cant even speak out there feeling. land of the free or sould we say land of your a prisoner of the goverment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Shannon.. were'd you find this? I want to look up the details. I'm all for bag limits and stuff like that which is actually backed up by real research and I understand that every once in a while there is a need to close a couple things down even when we aren't 100% sure of the stocks condition (at the same time this shouldn't be the end of this issue the stock should be assesed and if it is found to be in good condition then it should be reopened sustainably). I dont know the exact details of this because they aren't very specific in what they are talking about in this article. I release most of the fish I catch, heck half of the time I'm to lazy to keep fish that I have the legal right to keep and eat, because not only am I to lazy to clean it but I wana be there next time and catch him even bigger. There are way to many peoples lives based on this sport, to many industries, way to much money in both the commercial and recreational fishing industries for it to be just abolished. I see no way for this to happen and I feel that this article is sort of too broad to say anything real.. but I tell you this... I would like to meet the army that tries to touch my fishing rods and tries to stop me from fishing everyweekend.
Colby Uva : Bullbuster Team Captain
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107013063084498996341/
SFSC-Tagging/Fishing Science Coordinator
The Islands less then 50 miles off Florida's coast or maybe a free Cuba within the next 10 years are starting to pop up in my mind more and more ,,,,,,why not Ernest Hemingway made fishing history at both places and lived extensively there also.Just thinking as a survivalist willing to adapt to whatever a goverment that has lost touch with reality can throw at me.Exiled,or immigrant whatever I may have to become once again is ok I only seek to live my life the way I see fit, and pursue happiness freely and if that means being able to fish well I will fish here or wherever that may be.This goverment , the president,and the nation will be in deep crap if things don't take a Right Turn back to "Goverment by the People ,for the People".
I see the writing on the wall it's happening all over the nation and has been taking place for a while now our right to fish hunt are under attack by one goverment agency or the other and we need to respond in intelligent ways to these threats to our way of life.Al Gore and his movement ,,,what a joke -go sell it to the Chinese or India the same nations that will eat our lunch if we don't smarten up. The enviromentalist have there hidden agendas and slowly thay will take away what they deem to be sensitive areas like the Dry Tortugas,and other reef areas that they feel are threatened by fisherman and there anchors ,then the stocks of fish they deem diminished will have to be forever banned ,like the Jewfish which have been outlawed 1989,despite the fact they have rebounded and are aboundant to the point of being a nuisance to anglers in many parts of Florida.
This year the Shorebound Anglers Alliance will reach out and align ourselves with organizations such as the Recreational Anglers Alliance who are fighting fire with fire by taking to court and suing the agencies that are wrongfully attacking the fishermen.Here is an article by them in the Florida Sport Fishing magazine March 2010 edition.
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
Article by Jeffrey Weeks
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... html?cat=9
In what may be the worst example of outdoor sports reporting in the history of America, ESPN has claimed that President Barack Obama is on the verge of banning recreational fishing.
ESPNOutdoors.com writer Robert Montgomery posted an article today claiming that the administration's decision to end the public comment phase of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force means that
Obama is likely preparing to issue an executive order outlawing recreational fishing in America.
As a sportsman who covers fisheries management and politics I do think there are many issues surrounding the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force and its eventual recommendations that all fishermen should be aware of and concerned about.
But to go from concern to suggesting that President Obama is about to ban fishing in America is the most absurd and irresponsible thing I have ever seen a major news outlet publish. There is not even a remote possibility that a standing president of the United States will outlaw fishing in America.
And yet, Robert Montgomery presents his case that it is about to happen as if it is the most likely thing in the world.
ESPN should have to provide some answer for why they allowed this irresponsible article to be published under their logo.
Let me try to walk you through what is happening, and where this crazy ESPN story came from, so that you can see how a legitimate news source could so irrationally let something like this go public.
The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force was created to study things like fishing and how it is regulated, and how we as fishermen we are managing our interaction with the environment.
To a sportsman like me, this is certainly a cause for attention and concern, as some fringe environmental groups have expressed foolish and extreme ideas about fishing which responsible anglers and sportsmen would certainly like to counter.
Most environmental groups, however, have legitimate concerns which recreational fishing groups can understand and work with to keep fishing open throughout America and still be wise stewards of the resource.
However, the conflicts between commercial fishing groups and environmental groups throughout the country have been much more rancorous, and it is certainly not all the environmentalists' fault.
In state after state for decades commercial fishermen have made poor choices and overharvested species of fish. Meanwhile both recreational anglers and environmentalists have fought to stop fish or other wildlife from
being threatened or endangered due to unwise fishing practices.
Instead of attempting to find a compromise, commercial fishing groups have fought these efforts every step of the way. Because of that, the feud between the environmental groups and the commercial fishing groups has become harsh and bitter, filled with ugly, unethical politics on both sides.
What does this have to do with recreational fishermen? Right now, not a lot. In fact, recreational fishermen in many states have long been complaining themselves that commercial fishermen are not following proper and responsible species management procedures.
In fact, recreational anglers have often had to organize efforts like the Florida inshore gill net ban in 1994 to stop commercial fishing abuse, and in doing so environmental groups (far from being the green wackos they are portrayed as) have proven valuable allies to recreational fishermen.
Yes, some extreme groups are not liked by recreational anglers because their agenda really is extreme and, frankly, about as un-American you can get for a responsible southern sportsman like me. PETA is the biggest and best-funded example. I have no love for PETA or its allies. I do, however, appreciate many of the other more mainstream and sensible environmental organizations and support their efforts.
Most environmental groups have demonstrated the understanding that we must retain our nation's outdoors sports tradition while still protecting our natural resources. That is why the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force was created.
Am I going to agree with everything that this task force does? Probably not. Issues like access to fishery grounds and over-regulation of species without sound scientific data are legitimate concerns. However, in no way shape or form is the task force President Obama created about to ban recreational fishing. That is silly. ESPN should be ashamed.
No, it is the commercial fishermen who have much to fear. Many commercial fishermen are fine and responsible individuals, but as a group in state after state they have allowed short-term mismanagement of fish
stocks in exchange for short-term profits.
I have been writing about these issues in North and South Carolina for over 15 years and I can tell you without hesitation the worst enemy of commercial fishermen has been commercial fishermen. I have been pleading with them for years to explore compromise on these issues, and they will not.
Now, they are in trouble and commercial groups know in a direct fight against environmentalists they will lose. So they are clinging to an amazingly brazen life line: they have decided to scare recreational fishermen in an effort to get recs like me to fight the environmentalists with them.
It is such a hypocritical stance I can't even begin to express it in words. It goes back to years and years of backroom good old boy politics that kept sensible fishing laws out of many places in the US (my home state of North Carolina is a great example, but there are plenty more).
Now, after attacking recreation fishermen for years and fighting them tooth and nail against any efforts to have responsible fisheries management in this country, commercial fishermen are trying to make us their best friends because they are so scared of the environmentalists.
Well, I'm scared too. I'm scared responsible recreational fishermen are going to get lumped together with irresponsible commercial fishermen. That is exactly what folks like Robert Montgomery want to see happen.
Recreation anglers give commercial fishermen more credibility and respect, because in almost every state responsible recreational fishermen have worked hard at things like reasonable size and creel limits on fish and keeping harmful interaction with wildlife to a minimum. Recs have done exactly what the commercial industry as a whole has not done: be responsible.
But if you lump all fishermen together and recs take on the sins of commercial fishermen then we are in trouble indeed. No, it will not be Obama banning fishing but it will be tougher regulations on anglers, I can assure you.
Many anglers may not understand and may do the same thing ESPN writer Robert Montgomery is doing: blame environmental groups and President Obama for the problem. And the
commercial fishing industry will happily encourage them to do so. As recreational fishermen, we need to avoid that at all cost.
I have been fighting with commercial fishermen for years over their lack of responsibility and self-management. To think that I will now be blamed for their actions infuriates me.
But I am not mad at environmental groups or President Obama, I am angry at the people who caused the problems in the first place and now hang like an albatross around a simple recreational fisherman's neck.
No, Obama is not about to ban recreational fishing. We are about to see, however, commercial fishermen answer for past decades of abuse of our natural resources.
I, for one, do not want to see all commercial fisherman lose their businesses. I think they are a valuable and important part of our nation. But I can tell you this (from long experience): the leaders of the commercial fishing lobby are irresponsible and poor stewards of the environment. And they are now playing desperation politics, trying to get responsible recreational anglers to take the bait.
That makes all fishermen look bad, including folks like me who have actually been calling for commercial fishing reform for years.
President Obama may not be about to ban fishing but there are more difficult times for fishermen ahead. Before we start pointing fingers at environmentalists and believing wild conspiracies we need to look at fisheries management history and put the blame for this all where it really belongs.
............
Colby Uva : Bullbuster Team Captain
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107013063084498996341/
SFSC-Tagging/Fishing Science Coordinator
Obama Fishing Ban:To Ban Sport Fishing? – Obama fishing ban hoax is spreading like wild fire on the internet.Earlier today few media outlets including ESPN decided to report a false story that claimed Obama was planing to ban fishing as a sport.The truth of the matter is that the administration has decided to back a worldwide ban on fishing or trade in Bluefin Tuna in hope to preserve the stocks that remain.The New York Times has more on the story:
Colby Uva : Bullbuster Team Captain
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107013063084498996341/
SFSC-Tagging/Fishing Science Coordinator
if you joing one camp you will never fish again,if you joing the other there are no fish to catch.seem's to me both are crazy extremes.so witch is the less of two evil's,let's look at another experiment gone wrong,The North American Wolf.once shot to few numbers then protected now,a menice to everybody.this is the problem with humanity,we think that we know better than a million years of evolution,now i don't think that wise (WISE),i MEAN WISE and sound caretaking of our world is not possible,but you cannot have either extreme.yes you can have comercial fishing and keep healthy stock's of fishery's,we see it all the time on TV and yet knowone say's why can they do it and we can't, ever watch THE DEADLIEST CATCH.how can the crab fishiry reproduce and maintain itself year after year.it is because it is well managed and ENFORCED,what we have down here is
people just collecting a salary,there are boat's in the keys that bring in 1000 lbs a day of yellowtail,and i cant keep 10.So here is my cure for the problem,stop all comercial fishing for 5 years,that is forieng and domestic.that is enforce a no fishing withing 60 miles of any US teritory,we have the coast gaurd put it to good work.then let dose who pay for the protection of the fishery's enjoy it,that's me and you,niether the comercial fisherman or the enviromentalist,niether pay's as much as the average joe,license,taxes,fuel,boat tax,equipment,just to catch a few snapper's.the way i see it the comercial fisherman is going the way of the buffalo hunter,killed to the brink and so were they,shot themselves out.the poor indian's who took a few 100 a year where left suffer. good lesson!
They want to fix the problem. All they have to do is take the bounty off there head. I cant sell deer. The bleeding hearts fo the world will see to it that no animal be made a sport of.
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They want to fix the problem. All they have to do is take the bounty off there head. I cant sell deer. The bleeding hearts fo the world will see to it that no animal be made a sport of.
I agree totally
omg let them take our fishing then all the damn young kids will be in gangs and drug dealer omfg how stupid can these freaking peolpe be
ill tell you fishing kept me out of a lot of stuff growing up
and what are we as shark fisherman spose to do these so dang stupid it pisses me off
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It's starting...
Brother's they will take it all from us. There is a hidden agenda in this Green Movement that few have come to realize. They told us in 2001 that our enemies were a group of resourceful terrorists that attacked us, now they preach that we are terrorists not only to ourselves but to all humanity, robbing our natural resources and destroying the planet. We are being conditioned for their hidden agenda. Their agenda is to bring the entire world into chaos using fear and propaganda, which will prepare us for the new order. They are creating hate with their propaganda, turning certain groups of people against other groups of people. This is nothing new, and has been done before.
What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.
~ Ecclesiastes 1:3-5/8-11
"Only when the last tree has died, and the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money."
~ Chief Seattle, 1854
Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. Even the king milks the land for his own profit!
~ Ecclesiastes 5:8-9
"...History is replete with whispers of secret societies... The oldest is the Brotherhood of the Snake, also called the Brotherhood of the Dragon, and it still exists under many different names. The Brotherhood of the Snake is devoted to guarding the 'secrets of the ages' and the recognition of Lucifer as the one and only true God... It's secret symbol is the all-seeing eye in the pyramid.
~ William Cooper (Author of "Behold a Pale Horse")
"Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught in falsehoods school. And the one man that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool"
~ Plato
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters who rule them with lies. They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like right in their eyes."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
~ Margaret Mead
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."
~ Julius Caesar
"The great masses of people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. Especially if it is repeated over and over."
~ Adolf Hitler
"Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death."
~ Adolf Hitler
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
~ Thomas Jefferson, American Declaration of Independence
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both and deserve neither."
~ Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States
"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order."
~ David Rockefeller
"It is precisely this hope and this concept of solidarity that must ever inspire all men and women -- in the Holy Land and elsewhere -- in working for a new world order based on harmonious relations and effective cooperation between peoples. This is mankind's task for the new millennium, this is the only way to ensure a future of promise and light for all."
~ Pope John Paul II, June 2 2003
"Further global progress is now possible only through a quest for universal consensus in the movement towards a new world order."
~ Mikhail Gorbachev, in an address at the United Nations
My advice to you all is live your life today and let tomorrow worry about tomorrow.
"He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction" (Proverbs 13:3).
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I doubt recreational fishing will be banned. Recreational fishing supports businesses like marinas, Bass Pro Shop, Cabelas, boat manufacturers, gun manufacturers, tackle manufacturers, hotels, etc.
Tourism in Florida, Louisiana, Alaska, Colorado, etc. would suffer without sport fishing.
Many people involved in politics are/were sportspeople too, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roossevelt, Harry Truman, Hubert Humphrey, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama. I doubt they'd want to deprive themselves and those who vote for them.
The increased #s of "NO FISHING" signs is a worry though. Does this come from government at the city level ?
Sharkinmiami's post seems informed and cool headed.
I wish you all the best of health and luck fishing this year.