"United we fish" will be the rallying cry for both recreational and commercial fishermen as they gather Feb. 24, from noon to 3 p.m., on the steps of the Capitol. They will be there to protest a snowballing avalanche of fisheries closures prompted by revision of Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and Management Act (MSCCA).
"We need to let Congress and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) know that we are the collective voice of the recreational fishing community and the collective voice does not accept the current broken management system, which wreaks such havoc on all of us and our businesses," said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA).
Those within the recreational fishing industry point out that a big part of the problem exists now because the NMFS, with oversight from NOAA and the Department of Commerce, did little to properly manage ocean fisheries before revision of the MSCCA. Now, in the face of legislation that requires cessation of overfishing by 2011, the federal agency is overreacting. In other words, the law is a good one because of its intent, but past and present mismanagement is resulting in hardship and chaos.