Ostensibly, the Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and Management Act (MSA), signed into law by President Bush in 2007, was supposed to right the wrongs of decades of poor management while helping to restore and sustain fisheries.
Instead, asserts Jim Donofrio of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, it has been used to bludgeon recreational anglers and the economies of coastal communities dependent on sport fishing. Two of the most damaging blows were delivered by closing black sea bass and red snapper fisheries.
"Black sea bass was at 200 percent over its projected biomass, and yet NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) closed it down because we may overfish it," Donofrio said. "Some in NOAA are career people and there's some balance there, but these actions (fishery closures) are being driven by the administration, which is carrying out the Pew agenda and that is to close the oceans down."
The Pew Oceans Commission is a private, independently funded, organization. Jane Lubchenco, who served on that commission, now is head of NOAA.
To combat what it perceives as an assault against both recreational and commercial angling, RFA is leading a Feb. 24 "United We Fish" rally on the steps of the Capitol.