# No fishing allowed, anywhere.



## oldenred (Mar 9, 2010)

Saw this over in freshwater and thought some might want to know about it







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



By 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.

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.
Anglering for access
Click here for archive
"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.

Anglering for access united we fish rally capitol washington fishing
AP/Luis M. AlvarezOne sign at the rally of recreational and commercial fishermen summed up the feelings.
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."


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## fishtail (Mar 9, 2010)

hope and change











How's that workin' out for ya?


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## dgr416 (Mar 9, 2010)

*No fishing*

Yep I hope it changes in 2012 for the better.They need to empty out the nut house and start over!!!!


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## Parker Phoenix (Mar 10, 2010)

My wife found this on Fox news and came running to tell me. Told her we knew it was coming. No fishing anywhere except in ponds. Gonna be alot of outlaws in the USA.


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## oldenred (Mar 10, 2010)

just curious how many fisherman gonna vote for obama next time??? he didn't go after our guns (YET), he stole our fishing heritage instead


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## bird_dawg (Mar 10, 2010)

I really find it hard to believe that this will pass. I know that there are a lot of quacks up there in the Capitol that don't have a clue, but I just don't think that this can pass. There are too many people that hunt and fish in this country that would not speak out to their representatives to let this thing go by. I really hope it won't pass. I know that I'll still go fish'n.


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## oldenred (Mar 10, 2010)

bird_dawg said:


> I really find it hard to believe that this will pass. I know that there are a lot of quacks up there in the Capitol that don't have a clue, but I just don't think that this can pass. There are too many people that hunt and fish in this country that would not speak out to their representatives to let this thing go by. I really hope it won't pass. I know that I'll still go fish'n.



it doesn't have to pass..... obama can make it so via executive order


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## sea trout (Mar 10, 2010)

i have an example i've used for years of how we live in a country where the squeaky wheel gets the grease!
example: 100 thousand people go to a bar in a city on friday night.
50 thousand smoke. 50 thousand do not.
out of the 50 thousand who do not, 49 thousand dont care.
1 thousand hate smoking and complain about it. 
99 thousand say absolutly nothing
so 1 percent out of100 percent friday night bar people get their way. 
so fisherman......and people who don't fish but don't mind...all need to know that this is another stab in the heart for people who love being an american fisherman. we work all week and purchase fishing supplies with our hard earned money, wait anxiously all month for that weekend fish trip!!!
i bet more than a million jobs will be disturbed by no more fishing!
no we shouldn't give lead sinkers to our children to put in their mouth, but lead is of this earth, i don't think the lead in fishing tackle is going to turn the porpous belly up.


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## bouymarker (Mar 10, 2010)

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## Parker Phoenix (Mar 10, 2010)

oldenred said:


> it doesn't have to pass..... obama can make it so via executive order



I'll be like the band Judas Priest I'll be "Breakin' the Law"


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## mauser64 (Mar 11, 2010)

Congress has the power to overturn any executive order. That does not exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling but I don't think those guys are ready to fight the whole country on this issue...yet, after all the no. 1 job of every politician is to get re-elected and this issue would get alot of em un-elected. We have to be aware of every move this govt. makes with our hunting and fishing and gun rights but this one ultimately is a non issue I think.


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## oldenred (Mar 11, 2010)

mauser64 said:


> Congress has the power to overturn any executive order. That does not exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling but I don't think those guys are ready to fight the whole country on this issue...yet, after all the no. 1 job of every politician is to get re-elected and this issue would get alot of em un-elected. We have to be aware of every move this govt. makes with our hunting and fishing and gun rights but this one ultimately is a non issue I think.



better think again... the tip was the snapper closure...... but what people don't know is everything else they plan on closing and the general public has no clue because the only way to get the information is to do an intense research.... it hasn't hit headlines virtually at all and none of it has been voted on. just been passed by the NOAA who has had the authority to do so under the unwathcful eye of the american public. this way the politicians can stay out of the way and act like it wasn't there fault and won't harm them during election. people better act fast and make noise or they won't know it happened until it is done


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## grouper throat (Mar 11, 2010)

oldenred said:


> just curious how many fisherman gonna vote for obama next time??? he didn't go after our guns (YET), he stole our fishing heritage instead



I still find this hard to believe, BUT I guess he doesn't realize what industries would fall and the economics based around the fishing industy. As if he hasn't caused enough damage to the economy already

Hopefully, in 2012 we will have some CHANGE...


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## asimm85 (Mar 11, 2010)

This is just the start of what is to come, but i can tell you one thing no government or law officer is going to tell me that i cant go fishing or hunting since it is my GOD given right and I am not going to be controlled like a slave in the United States of America. It is the people that control this country and not the radicals we have in office now. We need to stand up and fight for it is ours.


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## mauser64 (Mar 11, 2010)

I hear ya oldenred. I just don't think the sky is fallin yet.  No matter what some obscure regulatory group may be able to sneak in, if at all, the voices of 75 million or so hunters, fishermen and gun owners in this country won't be ignored much less policed. I don't know enough about the snapper situation to comment on it except that there are two sides spitting out facts and figures and that each side claims to be right. I do know that no one govt entity has totalitarian rule over this country and never will. To think that fishing is going to be banned in this country is more than I am prepared to believe. Certain species of fish and game have been "protected" over the years and this will continue in both directions. I'm at the front of the line when it comes to burning the ears of my rep. and sen. and always will and I will ALWAYS hunt and fish. As I said we need to keep a watchful eye on our govt and I'm glad people like you are out there on the pointy end of the stick being prepared for the worst case scenario, afterall I could be wrong!


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## bouymarker (Mar 12, 2010)

I'm saw where the ESPN source was suppossed to be in the opinion column. http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/saltwater/columns/story?columnist=bowman_steve&id=4982359

Firestorms get started in a variety of ways, especially on politicized issues. 

ESPNOutdoors.com inadvertently contributed to a flare-up Tuesday when we posted the latest article in a series of stories on President Barack Obama's newly created Ocean Policy Task Force, a column written by Robert Montgomery, a conservation writer for BASS since 1985. Regrettably, we made several errors in the editing and presentation of this installment. Though our series has included numerous news stories on the topic, this was not one of them -- it was an opinion piece, and should have been clearly labeled as commentary.

And while our series overall has examined several sides of the topic, this particular column was not properly balanced and failed to represent contrary points of view. We have reached out to people on every side of the issue and reported their points of view -- if they chose to respond -- throughout the series, but failed to do so in this specific column.

This series started in October and has included several updates on how the creation of the task force and its actions could impact recreational anglers. ESPNOutdoors.com should have made it clear to all readers that this was part of a larger series, and -- even though this was Montgomery's opinion, and those of the sources quoted in the column -- we should have taken more care to fairly represent opposing arguments. 


We do feel it is our duty to cover issues surrounding outdoor sports to the best of our abilities, and given the nature of this task force and the potential impact on all fisherman, this was an appropriate topic to address for our audience. We take seriously the tenets of journalism that require we take an unbiased approach, and when we make mistakes in the presentation of a story or a column, it is our responsibility to admit them.

Any confusion on that part rests entirely on my shoulders as the executive editor of this site. 

We have appended the original column to note that it was in fact a commentary, and we will institute more rigorous editing safeguards in order to prevent such issues in the future.


Other installments from the series: 

United We Fish rally at Capitol 
Groups call to address fishing issues 
Fishing interests rally in Washington 
Group works to bypass management plan 
Task force supporters 
RFA pushes for flexibility bill 
Recreation anglers see task force as threat 
Anglers protest fishery closures at Capitol 
OPTF acknowledges "recreational fishing" in doc 
Decision from Ocean Policy Task Force in Dec. 
Rec Fishing Alliance sues over NOAA closings 
Recreational anglers to be considered 
Task Force questioned on accepting input from recreational fishermen 
Why anglers aren't environmentalists



this doesnt mean not to worry somewhat... go to keepamericafishing.org and vote.


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