NOAA ignores input from recreational fishing community “fatally flawed” data used to keep America from fishing.
As reported in the Asbury Park Press of New Jersey on October 2, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) is exploring legal options to block a federal shutdown of the black sea bass fishery along the Eastern Seaboard. “This is unprecedented, absolutely unprecedented,” RFA’s Jim Donofrio told the Press just hours after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced its intention to close the fishery in federal waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from Cape Hatteras, NC north to the Hague Line in Maine beginning Monday, October 5 for a period of 180 days.
NOAA’s decision to immediately close the sea bass fishery is based on the “best available information” coming from the recreational harvest surveys for 2009 which shows that recreational fishermen “may have” over harvested their allowable catch this season. “It’s abuse on the part of the federal government to use this data for a complete shutdown,” Donofrio said, explaining that a precautionary approach would’ve been emergency bag limit restrictions, not a complete closure. “NOAA has really showed their hand on this decision, making it quite clear of their disdain for our recreational industry,” Donofrio added.