For Immediate Release: Contact: Michael Doebley
May 23, 2002 (609) 294-3315

RFA to Congress:
Recreational Parity on Fishery Council a Priority

In 1976, when the Magnuson Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act was written into law,
lawmakers recognized the importance of fair and
balanced representation for both commercial and
recreational interest on the eight regional fishery
management councils. Unfortunately, the wording
addressing this issue (16 U.S.C. 1852 Section 302) was
ambiguous and allowed a politically charged
appointment process to circumvent any semblance of
balance on the majority of the Councils. The
Recreational Fishing Alliance is asking for an
amendment in the pending reauthorization that would
change the wording to require parity in the
distribution of seats held by recreational
representatives on all eight Councils.

“The lack of parity between the two resource user
groups has lead to failed management plans and slowed
efforts to rebuild fisheries by Councils dominated by
certain commercial fishing interests,” said Jim
Donofrio, Executive Director of the RFA. “Councils
with a more balanced voting membership have a better
track record of halting overfishing and rebuilding
stocks, something that benefits both commercial and
recreational interests in the long run.”

The appointment process can remain basically unchanged
with each state within a Council district provided a
seat for its director of marine fisheries or his
delegate. However, the persons holding the remaining
seats, which are selected from a list of qualified
candidates provided by the Governors of member states
by the Secretary of Commerce, would have to conform to
a provision requiring equal representation of voting
members. To accomplish this a wording change in the
Act requiring the Secretary to assure parity is
necessary. Properly crafted, the amendment will not
diminish a governor’s purview in providing candidates,
but it will mandate that final selections be made with
balance as a major consideration. It will also remove
the onerous political pressure placed on the Secretary
when making final selections.

“The RFA is working with a number of key members of
the House and Senate to see such an amendment become
part of the reauthorization process,” Donofrio added.
“Recreational fishermen and the multi-billion dollar
industry that exists to provide goods and services to
them see this as critical to improving the performance
of the Council system in managing fisheries for
sustainability and for the greatest economic benefit
to the nations.”

For more information on this and other pressing issues
call 1-888-JOIN RFA.

Mike ...Thank You for keeping us informed

I didn't know about any of that. Thanks for the info Mike

Wow there's actually a group that supports the weekend angler. I never knew, i thought all these groups were just like PETA. Mike thanks for the link and knowledge. I plan to join as soon as i get paid.

Spokey,

The RFA is a great organization that counteracts the sometimes extreme overbalance of power that commercial fishermen have all over the country. Not only that, but Mike G. is a very cool guy who does indeed have your interests in mind, assuming you'd like to have increased angling opportunity and more fish to go after, especially in the salt.

There are other groups that are working on the same ideals around here, some with broad missions, some with narrow. Check these out...

Puget Sound Anglers (http://www.pugetsoundanglers.org)
Wild Steelhead Coalition (http://www.wildsteelheadcoalition.com)
Trout Unlimited (http://www.tu.org)
Federation of FlyFishers
Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association

The ones above without web addresses do have them, I just don't have them handy. A quick search would likely come up with them.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and there are others. These are just a few that I'm quite familiar with.

While they could all use financial support, membership in them is a lot more important than that. The political power that comes from sheer numbers is the most important thing that they bring to the table when working on behalf of recreational fishers.

If we don't all hang together, then eventually all of us (and our fisheries) will hang separately.

Fish on...

Todd

All this talk of other groups reminds me of something important about another issue in DC right now.

Of all the organizations working on the Magnuson Re-authorization process, only a few are actually representing recreational fishing (RFA and Coastal Conservation Association are all I actually know of). But their are a bunch of enviro organizations running around DC pushing thier agendas, some of which are good, but often completely counter to what we are trying to accomplish as a user group.

What has been a problem is that many sportfishing clubs have in some way affiliated themselves with these groups on some issue and these groups have now been claiming to represent sportfishers when lobbying for thier own agenda. The problem has become significant enough that we have put up a section of the RFA website dedicated to distributing information about certain enviro groups that are causing grief.

I would encourage all of you who belong to any fishing club or organization to review any associations you may have and ensure that your views are really being passed along correctly. RFA has gotten to the point where we have asked all of our affliate groups to send in letters to our main office to name RFA as the organization who should be representing them specifically for the Magnuson re-authorization process. That option is available to non-affialiate groups as well.