Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force Interim Report Ignores Recreational Fishing

 
October 7, 2009 (Washington, DC) - The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, created by President Obama in June, released its interim report September 17 under a 30-day public review and comment period, and the report failed to include specific issues of concern to the recreational fishing and boating communities.
The Task Force, led by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), was created to develop a draft national policy and implementation strategy for conserving and managing the oceans, the Great Lakes, and the coasts of the United States.
The draft policy, the Interim Report of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, would potentially govern federal Pacific and Atlantic Ocean waters and Great Lakes resource conservation and management and assist in the coordination of these efforts among federal, state and local agencies.
In a July 1 stakeholders meeting with the task force, CSF and other sportsmen's groups discussed issues of interest and concern to the recreational fishing community. On July 15, the group followed up with a written submission (HERE) to Ms. Nancy Sutley, Chairwoman of the White House Council, specifically detailing recommendations to the task force and emphasizing the recognition and promotion of recreational angling in any such federal policy.
Other key points made by CSF and the other organizations submitting comments included:
• The need for differentiation between commercial and recreational fishing in any strategy dealing with oceans and Great Lakes conservation.• A new national ocean policy should recognize the unique contributions of the recreational fishing community and re-affirm President Bill Clinton's Executive Order #12962 and amended by President Bush (E.O. 13474) on recreational fishing, which requires that recreational fishing be managed as a sustainable activity in federal waters.
• A successful and balanced national ocean policy would promote a balanced-multiple use approach to ocean resource management which focuses on compatible uses. It would recognize the beneficial economic and societal role of sustainable fisheries, as well as other uses, and deem them just as important as conservation-not any less.
• Responsibly regulated recreational fishing is a highly compatible activity with most, if not all, potential ocean uses (with appropriate safe guards for national security).
• Efforts should be made to attain all necessary scientific information (biological, statistical, socio-economic) prior to making management decisions that would unjustifiably impact coastal economies and the uses on which they depend. This scientific information should then be used as part of an adaptive management model.
Disappointingly, in the interim report, many of the oral and written contributions of the community were not found. Specific references to issues of concern to the sportfishing community, including the need for differentiation between commercial and recreational fishing and the critical role that recreational angling contributes to fisheries conservation in the United States were completely missing.
"Important contributions that members of the recreational fishing community made to the Ocean Policy Task Force communicated at our meeting and in our letter were largely ignored in the interim report," said CSF President Jeff Crane. "It is hard to comprehend how the voice of recreational anglers, who were requested to advise the task force and represent such an important constituency on this issue, was so minimized on some very important issues."
Recreational anglers and the equipment and fishing licenses they purchase are crucial aspects of conservation management in the United States. Funds generated through this user-pay/user-benefit program through the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund generated $720 million in revenues in 2008, of which $402 million was distributed to the 50 states specifically for sport fish restoration.
"We are completely baffled as to why the Task Force failed to acknowledge or include any mention of the key aspects of recreational fishing which were presented to them in detail on more than one occasion," said CSF Board Member Phil Morlock. "The significant number of jobs and the economy which over 60 million American anglers support, and the major conservation efforts by people who fish in all regions of the country were completely ignored. No distinction between the obvious dramatic differences between recreational fishing and commercial harvest methods was made."
CSF and other members of the recreational fishing and boating groups, who provided recommendations to the Task Force, support a healthy and abundant ocean, coastal and fishery resources to sustain vibrant coastal communities and also support expanding the scientific basis by which management decisions affecting the oceans, the coastal regions of the United States, and the Great Lakes are made.
Due to the lack of inclusion of recreational fishing issues and concerns in the interim report and the rushed nature of its development, CSF believes that it may be time for enhancing Congressional oversight through the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus of this Administration initiative in formulating ocean policy.
To submit comments to the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, visit the Task Force website www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans/