June 17, 2014 — In April, NOAA Fisheries announced plans to develop a national recreational fishing policy. Earlier this month, the federal fisheries arm of the Department of Commerce began taking that recreational fishing policy from door to door to solicit input and opinion from recreational fishermen and fisheries managers across the country.
The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) today commended NOAA Fisheries for coordinating this effort, and particularly for scheduling meetings with stakeholders outside of the Washington DC area.
"One problem in the past was that NOAA Fisheries would hold invitation only meetings in the Washington DC area, but the saltwater anglers and marine business owners are going to their state and regional council meetings to express concerns, and that's where these types of sessions should be held," said RFA executive director Jim Donofrio. "Kudos to NOAA for coming out into the public arena for public input, and especially for being able to face angler frustration head-on."
The first in a series of Public Town Hall meetings was held on June 9th in Ponte Verde, FL at a meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, a second one last week in Freehold, NJ at the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting. NOAA Fisheries staff is distributing a national saltwater recreational fisheries policy discussion guide, as well as a one-pager that explains the overall concept.
"NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for the stewardship of our ocean and coastal resources, is asking for your help in developing an Agency-wide saltwater recreational fisheries policy," the agency describes online. "We are creating this policy to institutionalize within NOAA the key tenets of recreational fishing. The policy will be a thoughtful set of principles to guide agency actions and decisions over the long-term."
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