Saving Seafood

Congress Reauthorizes National Harmful Algal Bloom Program

January 7, 2019 — The following was released by the American Sportfishing Association:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (HABHRCA) of 2018 before the holiday break. The vote was the final step toward sending the bipartisan legislation to the President’s desk.

“This legislation is critically important to advancing the scientific understanding and ability to monitor and assess harmful algal blooms,” said American Sportfishing Association (ASA) Policy Director Clay Crabtree. “With the ongoing frequency of harmful algal blooms and their devastating impacts on fisheries, we are grateful that Congress moved this bill across the finish line.”

In August, the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard held a hearing on harmful algal blooms and discussed this legislation. ASA Member Patrick Neu, President of the Future Anglers Foundation and Executive Director of the National Professional Anglers Association testified before the subcommittee about the impact harmful algal blooms have on anglers and fisheries habitats, and highlighted the risks posed to businesses, like local fishing tackle shops.

“Given what we’ve witnessed this year in South Florida, the Great Lakes, and in many other parts of the country, this legislation is crucial in providing federal resources to communities as more local businesses that depend on access to healthy aquatic systems are negatively impacted,” said Kellie Ralston, ASA’s Southeast Fisheries Policy Director. “We applaud Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and the other bill authors for championing this important legislation and securing its passage through Congress.”

Read the full release here

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