I know that much has been said in The Standard-Times regarding environmental group pressure, particularly through the Environmental Defense Fund, on the commercial fishing industry in recent months; however, I would like to add several facts and experiences that readers can use to determine themselves whether or not industry claims are valid. First, I'd like to describe my personal experience with EDF.
About a month ago, I had the opportunity to meet with a new East Coast EDF representative, a very nice person with whom I have no personal issues whatsoever. However, I was told things such as "EDF wants/tries to work with fishermen" and "EDF doesn't have as much power as you think it does."
Now, when I, along with other fishing industry advocates and fishermen, have had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., for meetings with congressmen, senators and their staffers, or to attend congressional hearings for the purpose of representing, amongst other things, industry opposition to catch shares, I have been told by congressional staffers that EDF personnel have actually been meeting with the same offices before or after our visits, for the purpose of promoting catch shares. They basically try to undo all that we, the industry members and representatives, try to do.
That does not sound like "working with fishermen" to me. EDF tells Congress the complete opposite of what we tell it. In fact, from what I was told by organizers, at the very times when national pro-fishing groups made specific trips to D.C. for the purpose of opposing catch shares before Congress, EDF launched targeted "counterattacks" of pro-catch share propaganda.
In fact, EDF has on-site paid personnel in Washington, on a continual basis, to lobby Congress for its own agenda. I have seen its employees repeatedly at congressional fishery hearings in D.C. At one such hearing, I witnessed EDF pay to have a few, select "poster children" fishermen, whose airfare, lodging and total expenses were paid by EDF, come and sit in a congressional hearing room before a House subcommittee, and wear red T-shirts that said "Fishermen for Catch Shares."
The rest of us from the fishing industry who attended, in order to oppose catch shares, did not have any of those luxuries. We, as the majority of the industry, had to take unpaid time off of our own jobs, away from our own businesses and boats, and money out of our own pockets and those of other cash-strapped industry members who wanted their voices heard, to pay for hotels, food, travel, etc., in order to defend our own interests against groups such as EDF who would lead Congress to believe that we "wanted" catch shares in our region. My experience has been that EDF works against the majority fishermen, not with them.
Read the complete opinion piece from The Standard-Times