ESPN Article re federal fishing strategy - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

j mo · 03-09-2010, 06:44 AM

Culled out

Obama administration will accept no more public input for federal fishery strategy

By Robert Montgomery
ESPNOutdoors.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/s...ory?id=4975762

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.
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."

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."

Morlock 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."

Billy V · 03-09-2010, 09:13 AM

When does the Revolution begin ?

I predict a big run on the paint stores for Camo Paint.

peguinpower · 03-09-2010, 11:32 AM

Stop it! Stop it, already. Stop treading on us

/bing

Kirk · 03-09-2010, 03:14 PM

I just saw this CS review article on my google news.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/03...ng-under-Obama

It has a link to the executive agency document about it:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/defa...Task-Force.pdf

Billy V · 03-09-2010, 04:17 PM

Nice link - more crap.

IF you can't dazzle them with brilliance - Baffle them with bullsh*t.

Willy · 03-09-2010, 04:39 PM

This forum is amazing...

I logged on to post the link to this article, and here is this thread at the top of the list.

Hopefully we can keep this kind of passion and energy going, because the fight of our lives is coming.

Our constitution is being overthrown by the enemy within, without firing a shot, specifically the 10th amendment in this case;

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Alas, even if the issue is left to the states, as it should be, our state is stabbing us in the back as well.

Sigh.
Hang on folks, it could get ugly.
Forever vigilant,

Willy

dos ballenas · 03-11-2010, 12:07 PM

if you look closely you may recognise the current president of the Sportfishing Association of Ca in the pic on the home page...

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/

response to the espn article...

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mediacenter...waa_031010.pdf

peguinpower · 03-16-2010, 06:17 AM

It may or may not make a difference, but they heard us....

Dear Mr. Peguinpower:
Thank you for writing to express your concerns about the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force's recommendations for a comprehensive national policy for our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you know, the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force was established by President Obama on June 12, 2009. The Task Force is responsible for developing recommendations for protecting and restoring the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. After hosting more than 20 meetings with a broad range of stakeholders and interest groups including commercial and recreational fishing groups, the Task Force released its Interim Report on September 17, 2009 and its Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning on December 14, 2009. The Task Force is expected to provide a final report with all of its recommendations later this year.

I understand that you are concerned that the Ocean Policy Task Force does not explicitly recognize the role of recreational fishing in the stewardship of ocean and coastal resources and that you oppose the issuance of an executive order adopting the Task Force's recommendations. Executive orders are issued by the President of the United States. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to contact President Barack Obama to express your concerns about the Task Force's recommendations.

President Barack Obama

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Please know that I recognize importance of balancing the protection and restoration of our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes with access to recreational and commercial fishing opportunities, and I will keep your thoughts in mind should this matter come before the United States Senate in the 111th Congress.

Again, thank you for writing. I hope you will continue to keep me informed on issues of importance to you. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

Tman · 03-16-2010, 09:35 AM

I just sent a letter to the prez...telling him we fisherpeople are the ones that are losing our rights and our freedom...

Hope I wasn't too harsh on the enviros and I sure hope nobody comes knocking on my door in the middle of the night...

The irony though...after you finish your post, you have to type in that verification process...

Mine was 'right uncorked'

j mo · 03-16-2010, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tman

Mine was 'right uncorked'

funny mine was "about extorted"

peguinpower · 03-16-2010, 12:10 PM

somebody is having fun with that stuff.

mine was "the outcry"

/bing

03-09-2010, 06:44 AM	#1
j mo Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Encinitas Posts: 600	ESPN Article re federal fishing strategy Culled out Obama administration will accept no more public input for federal fishery strategy By Robert Montgomery ESPNOutdoors.com http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/s...ory?id=4975762 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. 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." 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." Morlock 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."

03-09-2010, 03:14 PM	#4
Kirk Junior Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 9	Here is another article about it and the government document. I just saw this CS review article on my google news. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/03...ng-under-Obama It has a link to the executive agency document about it: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/defa...Task-Force.pdf

03-11-2010, 12:07 PM	#7
dos ballenas Vampyroteuthis infernalis Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 585	if you look closely you may recognise the current president of the Sportfishing Association of Ca in the pic on the home page... http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ response to the espn article... http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mediacenter...waa_031010.pdf __________________ ____________________________________________

03-16-2010, 09:35 AM	#9
Tman BRTF...bought & paid... Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,247	I just sent a letter to the prez...telling him we fisherpeople are the ones that are losing our rights and our freedom... Hope I wasn't too harsh on the enviros and I sure hope nobody comes knocking on my door in the middle of the night... The irony though...after you finish your post, you have to type in that verification process... Mine was 'right uncorked' __________________ Adios Tman Gaffer for Clay the Fishcatcher

03-09-2010, 09:13 AM	#2
Billy V Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bay Ho Posts: 1,382	When does the Revolution begin ? I predict a big run on the paint stores for Camo Paint.

03-09-2010, 11:32 AM	#3
peguinpower bing! Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: socal Posts: 246	Stop it! Stop it, already. Stop treading on us /bing

03-09-2010, 04:17 PM	#5
Billy V Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bay Ho Posts: 1,382	Nice link - more crap. IF you can't dazzle them with brilliance - Baffle them with bullsh*t.

03-09-2010, 04:39 PM	#6
Willy Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: La Jolla Posts: 189	This forum is amazing... I logged on to post the link to this article, and here is this thread at the top of the list. Hopefully we can keep this kind of passion and energy going, because the fight of our lives is coming. Our constitution is being overthrown by the enemy within, without firing a shot, specifically the 10th amendment in this case; "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Alas, even if the issue is left to the states, as it should be, our state is stabbing us in the back as well. Sigh. Hang on folks, it could get ugly. Forever vigilant, Willy

03-16-2010, 06:17 AM	#8
peguinpower bing! Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: socal Posts: 246	It may or may not make a difference, but they heard us.... Dear Mr. Peguinpower: Thank you for writing to express your concerns about the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force's recommendations for a comprehensive national policy for our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond. As you know, the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force was established by President Obama on June 12, 2009. The Task Force is responsible for developing recommendations for protecting and restoring the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. After hosting more than 20 meetings with a broad range of stakeholders and interest groups including commercial and recreational fishing groups, the Task Force released its Interim Report on September 17, 2009 and its Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning on December 14, 2009. The Task Force is expected to provide a final report with all of its recommendations later this year. I understand that you are concerned that the Ocean Policy Task Force does not explicitly recognize the role of recreational fishing in the stewardship of ocean and coastal resources and that you oppose the issuance of an executive order adopting the Task Force's recommendations. Executive orders are issued by the President of the United States. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to contact President Barack Obama to express your concerns about the Task Force's recommendations. President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact Please know that I recognize importance of balancing the protection and restoration of our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes with access to recreational and commercial fishing opportunities, and I will keep your thoughts in mind should this matter come before the United States Senate in the 111th Congress. Again, thank you for writing. I hope you will continue to keep me informed on issues of importance to you. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards. Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein United States Senator

03-16-2010, 12:10 PM	#11
peguinpower bing! Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: socal Posts: 246	somebody is having fun with that stuff. mine was "the outcry" /bing