Jim Donofrio Archives - Saving Seafood

Donofrio Steps Down as RFA Executive Director

July 7, 2021 — The following was released by the Recreational Fishing Alliance:

After 25 years at the helm of one of the very first and most effective political action organizations fighting for the rights of U.S. saltwater anglers, Jim Donofrio will officially step down as Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) on December 31, 2021.

In a letter submitted to the RFA Board of Directors (Board) dated July 2, Donofrio announced his plan to retire at the end of the year, saying he was looking forward to fishing, hunting with his dog Joplin, and spending time with family and friends. His official letter of resignation outlines many of the RFA victories in the recreational fishing community since RFA was first established in 1996, while thanking the Board for their guidance and crediting national members, sponsors and supporters for work on behalf of the RFA’s quarter-century old mission, “To safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs and ensure the long-term sustainability of U.S. saltwater fisheries.”

Donofrio is credited with creating the first IRS recognized 501(c)(4) political action organization focused squarely on the needs of saltwater anglers, the recreational fishing industry and our marine resources. His unique vision to provide the community with a political voice at the state and national level was something unique to the legislative and regulatory process that governs how recreational fisheries, and fishermen, are managed.

“No one has fought harder for the rights of the saltwater angler,” said Viking President and CEO Pat Healey. “Jim has been an incredible asset for us, and the RFA wouldn’t be what it is today without him. We can’t thank Jim enough for all he has done,” Healey added.

A full-time professional captain in the 1990’s, Donofrio was logging hundreds of onboard hours per year when he became intimately aware of how regulations impact coastal fishermen, businesses owners, manufacturers and retailers. The value of his experience as a captain became apparent as he and the RFA grew into a disruptive force while engaging in battles over pelagic longline gear, a proposed endangered species listing for white marlin, and passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act which led to the reauthorization to the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson) in the late 1990’s.

“I remember when the concept of the RFA was nothing more than an idea along the docks with fellow captains, when the concept of an advocacy group for recreational fishermen by recreational fishermen was first discussed,” said Nick Cicero of the Folsom Corporation, a former Jersey Shore captain himself and now a member of the RFA Board. “Jim’s vision and dedication to that cause will never be forgotten.

“From day one, Jimmy was a bulldog in our corner. No one fought harder for the recreational fishing industry than Jim Donofrio,” said RFA board member and White Marlin Open tournament director Jim Motsko. “He was effective because he did it and saw it; he was on the water. He is going to be deeply missed.”

“Jim’s greatest legacy is his unique ability to effectively voice the needs, concerns and rights of both those of lesser economic status and those who own an 80-foot sportfisherman,” said RFA general counsel and US ICCAT commissioner Ray Bogan. “He has always maintained a ‘no man left behind’ approach to fishery management and access. He doesn’t just remember where he came from, but he cherishes it and has fought incessantly to project the voice of those who wouldn’t otherwise have a voice.”

After founding RFA in 1996, Donofrio went on to establish and maintain strong working relationships with members of Congress – on both sides of the aisle – as well as with fishery managers and scientists during a 25-year political career. Recognizing that coastal fishing issues were non-partisan in nature, Donofrio worked effectively alongside democrats and republicans alike and was invited to testify before Congress numerous times on behalf of the recreational fishing community.

“There’s no better advocate for New Jersey’s fishing industry than my friend Jim Donofrio,” said Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ). “In the 27 years that I’ve known him, he’s always been dedicated to fighting for the recreational fishing industry in our state. He has worked to make sure that fishing regulations were based on facts and were fair to the hardworking fishing communities along the Jersey Shore. I wish him all the best for a relaxing retirement.”

“I am sad to see Jim Donofrio leave the RFA after many years of serving fishermen in the state of New Jersey and across the nation,” said Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ). “He was a vital resource for our fishermen, and we had the good fortune to work on issues that beneficially impacted the state of New Jersey. I wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”

Richard Pombo, former republican Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, called Donofrio “a trusted friend” on federal fisheries issues. “I have worked with Jim for over 20 years on every issue impacting the RFA. He has always been a passionate advocate for fishermen and extremely well versed in very complicated Federal laws.”

As someone who made a living on the water for much of his career, Donofrio was also able to maintain close working relationships with members of the commercial fishing sector, even as the two sides battled over gear and fish allocation issues. After spearheading national rallies on Capitol Hill attended by thousands of commercial and recreational fishermen seeking Magnuson reform, even those on the opposing end of RFA efforts came to respect his tenacious but fair approach in fighting for the recreational community.

“I remember the day back in 1996 when Jim cold-called me at the magazine to tell me about a new organization he was forming that he said was going to become the ‘NRA of salt water fishermen’,” said Barry Gibson, former editor of Salt Water Sportsman and now RFA’s New England Director. “I was initially kind of skeptical, but from the get-go he tackled some pretty thorny controversies and I was impressed with the results. Few people have the understanding of both the management and political sides of recreational fishery issues he has, and that’s why he’s been so effective.”

“It’s still remarkable to me that Jimmy went right from captain to Capitol Hill, launching what pretty much became the NRA for recreational fishing while creating a model for political action at the grassroots level,” said Jim Hutchinson, Jr., managing editor of The Fisherman Magazine. “Jimmy always understood the huge impact politics has on recreational fishing, and not being what you’d call a shy man, his persistence at all levels of government staved off a lot of dangerously restrictive regulatory measures.”

As Bogan noted, “Jim has ruffled a lot of feathers in the process, but he’s been committed to calling out inequities, hypocrisy, and unacceptable compromises that limited recreational fishermen’s access to fishery resources.”

According to the RFA, Donofrio will continue to lead the political action team through the end of 2021, and will further assist the Board with the organizational transition into 2022.

Will Modern Fish Act do anything for New Jersey fishermen?

January 4, 2019 — One of the last actions taken by Pres. Donald Trump in 2018 was to sign the Modern Fish Act into law.

The act amended some of the recreational fishing management rules in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, or MSA, the principal body of fisheries’ laws. The MSA however, didn’t receive a full reauthorization, which is something the fishing industry will try to accomplish this year with the new Congress.

As its full name the “Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act,” may imply, the act was geared for the recreational fishing industry.

Except for where commercial fisheries relate to recreational access in mixed-used fisheries in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, such as red snapper, commercial fishing was basically left out.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Trump’s plan for the oceans? More business, less protection

June 26, 2018 — Sea levels are rising, fish are chasing warmer waters north, $300 billion worth of goods are coming into or departing from American ports every year. It’s a dynamic time for coastal communities.

But with the stroke of a pen last week, President Donald Trump put the brakes on a comprehensive plan — years in the making — to balance the environmental, recreational and economic interests competing for the future of the oceans surrounding the U.S.

The Trump Administration is presenting a new executive order as a fundamental adjustment away from unnecessary levels of bureaucracy and toward an ocean policy that puts national security, job creation and corporate aspirations above all else.

The shift has been warmly received by fishermen and other business groups. Conservationists, however, are anxious that attitudes about ocean use will regress.

It’s quite a change of direction from the two terms under President Barack Obama.

Commercial fishermen have been strong critics of the previous policy and were happy to see it sink.

John Connelly, president of the seafood industry’s National Fisheries Institute, said in a statement that the Obama plan “excluded the perspective of the men and women who work the water.”

The National Ocean Policy created “additional levels of bureaucracy and uncertainty that threatened to reduce the overall productivity of our industry by forcing small business owners to divert limited resources away from their operations in order to deal with this unnecessary and ambiguous regulatory maze,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, which is based in Bass River.

Garden State Seafood Association executive director Greg DiDomenico told the Press that “it’s safe to say we are encouraged” by Trump’s attitude toward ocean policy.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Under President Trump, changing political tide opens water for anglers

March 21, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is known for hitting the golf course but his administration is now putting the power of the presidency behind another favorite American pastime: fishing.

During his little more than a year in office, the president has promoted the iconic, multi-billion-dollar recreational fishing industry that felt marginalized under the previous administration. Barack Obama routinely sided with environmental advocates concerned about long-term damage from overfishing but Trump, the father of two avid anglers, has tacked in a new direction.

“President Donald Trump was the best thing that ever happened to fishermen,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance which fought the Obama administration to overturn limits on what private anglers could catch in federal waters. “Some of them don’t realize it but they will.”

Almost from the beginning, Trump made it clear the ocean was a frontier to be exploited not only for its energy potential but also for recreational and food sources.

“The fisheries resources of the United States are among the most valuable in the world,” the president declared last year in a White House proclamation designating June 2017 as National Ocean Month. “Growing global demand for seafood presents tremendous opportunities for expansion of our seafood exports, which can reduce our more than $13 billion seafood trade deficit.”

In contrast, a similar proclamation by Obama in 2016 warned about “jeopardizing marine populations and degrading oceanic habitats.”

The Trump administration also increased recreational fishing access to three fish stocks protected under tight catch limits.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross personally approved a plan in June extending the recreational fishing season for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico from three to 42 days last summer even though his own agency warned it would lead to significant overfishing.
In July, Ross once again intervened. This time, he sided with New Jersey to loosen restrictions on the harvest of summer flounder, known as fluke, over the objections of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Commission Chair Douglas Grout said he was “very much concerned about the short and long‐term implications of the Secretary’s decision on interstate fisheries management.”
In the fall, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council working closely with the Trump administration allowed recreational snapper fishing from Jupiter Inlet Florida to the North Carolina- Virginia for the first time since 2014. Kellie Ralston, Florida Fishery Policy Director of the American Sportfishing Association, called it “a victory” for anglers while Environmentalists called it a “risky move” given that red snapper in the South Atlantic is still recovering.

Read the full story at USA Today

Alaska Sen. Sullivan Schedules Next Magnuson-Stevens Hearing for Sept. 12

September 11, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is continuing his series of hearings regarding reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, with another one scheduled for next week in Washington, D.C.

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation member Sullivan, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, will convene the hearing, “Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act: Oversight of Fisheries Management Successes and Challenges” at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 12, in Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The hearing is the third of the series and will focus on the perspectives of commercial, charter, and recreational fishermen on the state of our nation’s fishery laws.

The first panel of witnesses include: Phil Faulkner, President, Nautic Star Boats; Jim Donofrio, Executive Director, Recreational Fishing Alliance; and Chris Horton, Senior Director, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation.

The second panel of witnesses includes: Lori Steele, Executive Director, West Coast Seafood Processors Association; Capt. Robert F. Zales, II, President, National Association of Charterboat Operators; and Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director, Garden State Seafood Association.

The hearing coincides with the National Fisheries Institute’s Annual Political Conference, when many seafood company representatives will be in Washington, D.C.

Witness testimony, opening statements, and a live video of the hearing will be available on www.commerce.senate.gov.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Trump administration steps in on fishing limits, and the implications could ripple

July 25, 2017 — [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross earlier this month dismissed the findings of the 75-year-old Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which concluded that New Jersey was violating a conservation plan for summer flounder that all the other states in the compact approved. Many conservationists thought that New Jersey, while following protocols, was bowing to the fishing industry.

The decision, which effectively allows New Jersey to harvest more summer flounder, marked the first time the federal government had disregarded such a recommendation by the commission, and it drew a swift rebuke from state officials along the East Coast.

Officials in New Jersey, which has one of the region’s largest fluke populations, had drafted an alternative plan that they said would do more to protect the fishery, but it was rejected by the commission, whose scientists concluded the plan would result in nearly 94,000 additional fish being caught. Ross, who oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, overruled the commission, allowing New Jersey to proceed.

“New Jersey makes a compelling argument that the measures it implemented this year, despite increasing catch above the harvest target, will likely reduce total summer flounder mortality in New Jersey waters to a level consistent with the overall conservation objective,” Chris Oliver, assistant administrator of fisheries at NOAA, wrote the commission in a letter on behalf of Ross.

“This is the first time that no one asked me for a formal recommendation,” said John Bullard, NOAA’s Greater Atlantic regional administrator. “The secretary’s decision goes against long-standing protocol, and there’s a cost to that.” He added: “There’s a reason to have regional administrators, because their experience and knowledge is valuable in making decisions like this one. This is an unfortunate precedent.”

“Ross was brilliant in his decision,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance in New Jersey, which represents thousands of recreational fishermen across the country. “The Trump administration has challenged a broken fishery management system in this country, and I applaud them for doing it.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

Flounder controls set to tighten, despite South Jersey pleas

December 19th, 2016 — A federal regulatory council voted this week in favor of drastically cutting next summer’s flounder harvest, despite strong protest from South Jersey fishermen and politicians.

No final state bag or size limits were decided at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meetings in Baltimore, but the organization did approve a 40 percent reduction in the coast-wide summer flounder catch for 2017.

The number is subject to change pending data still coming in from this season’s catch, but fishermen targeting fluke will likely face much stricter controls on the fish they can keep next summer.

“The stock is currently in a state of overfishing,” said Kiley Dancy, a fishery management specialist at the council. “It’s not looking great right now.”

Local government leaders and fishing-related business owners fear the new regulations could hurt South Jersey’s economy.

“Basically, I came out of there understanding that they want to shut down fishing,” said Robin Scott, owner of Ray Scott’s Dock in Margate, who attended the meetings.

Jim Donofrio, executive director of the New Gretna-based Recreational Fishing Alliance, has even vowed to appeal the decision by asking President-elect Donald J. Trump’s incoming administration to strike down the restrictions.

Bob Martin, the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said he was “greatly disappointed” by the decision to tighten controls on flounder.

“In effect, these actions will result in a moratorium on one of our most important recreational fish species,” Martin said in a statement Thursday.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City