The Billfish Foundation today joined a coalition of marine recreational fishing, boating, and conservation organizations and businesses to call on the Obama administration to take immediate action to deal with a crisis in federal fisheries management that has been growing for two decades because federal regulators failed to collect accurate and timely fisheries data or conduct sufficient and frequent stock assessments.
Ellen Peel, President of The Billfish Foundation said, “We believe had the National Marine Fisheries Service received more funding for stock assessments and collection of recreational fishing data over the past ten years, the current crisis would not have evolved. This current situation is an example of passing legislation and not funding the essentials to make it meaningful, not punitive.”
In a letter to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the American Sportfishing Association, The Billfish Foundation, the Center for Coastal Conservation, the Coastal Conservation Association, the International Game Fish Association, and the National Marine Manufacturers Association laid out an initial framework to immediately address serious and escalating problems resulting from inadequate implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the chronic problems that exist within the federal marine fisheries management system.