This article is right on the money . The economy is creating forced conservation , so we don’t need the folks with the bad data to tell us what we can do so much anymore and take away our recreation and livelihoods.

Marc

Recreational fishing groups unite behind fishing legislation

By IBI Magazine

Leaders of the recreational, charter and commercial fishing industries met with members of the US Congress to propose new regulations for fisheries. The groups said they represent over 100 fishing organizations.

HR 5425, the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fishery Act of 2008, according to a statement, would provide flexibility into the fisheries management process without compromising conservation goals.

US law now requires a rebuilding of “overfished” species within 10 years, but the statement noted that requires drastic reductions in fishing quotas and sometimes a complete shutdown of the fishery.

“The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and its members continue to fight for fishing organizations nationwide,” said James Donofrio, executive director of the RFA, in a statement. “I am encouraged by the level of bipartisan support we have received for this legislation. HR 5245 is the first step to managing fish populations for both recreational and commercial purposes without compromising our conservation efforts or the rebuilding efforts initially established by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.”

Some members of the coalition predict that current laws could force about 25 per cent of the country’s sportfishing charter fleet to go out of business this year. “The inflexibility of the current Magnuson-Stevens Act along with a slow economy and increasing fuel prices is causing unprecedented reductions in fishing effort every day,” said Captain Bob Zales, II, executive director of the Conservation Cooperative of Gulf Fishermen (CCGF), in the statement.

TFM

I took some time today to smell the roses and they actually smelled like Golden Tilefish .

Ill explain , I get quite caught up [no pun intended] in my work and sometimes pass on opportunities that I mighta oughta took.

I was invited [ strongly suggested , thanks!] to go fishing with my partner on his vintage sportfisher and assemble a few guests that would appreciate the experience of the boat and meeting each other. At the last minute I was able to get 3 guys that I know , who had never spent time together nor had been on a big game fishing boat.

It was a longshot for trolling from the beginning with the water temps in the under mid seventy range but the weather was good , the water was fairly blue with a few flying fish showing and we gave it a good shot .

Nothing was happening on the surface , so we decided to fish for anything we could catch on the bottom , except of course for the endangered Red Snapper in federal waters. I mean , whats the point of even trying with the fish racing towards certain extinction .

After seeing miles of fish on the bottom machine which we are sure were not and could not have been Red Snappers [ or red groupers] , we dropped baits in a place we thought would be safe from accidentally harming one of these “California Condor” like fish .

As luck would have it we found Triggerfish, Beeliners , Porgies , and even met some trained Porpoises that loved to eat any fish you accidentally dropped overboard . Wasnt that a treat ! Ill bet they miss the snappers of years gone by ….

But to get back to the fishy roses , I reeled in something new to me as a result of our efforts to protect the downtrodden species , and of great importance to my cat’s ever growing “fishes, dad has brought to me that I’ve eaten from around the world” spreadsheet . I caught my first Golden Tile Fish today.

That made my day .

I will cook it with great care .

My cat was ecstatic with her portion and was proud of me for finding her a sustainable fish.

Marc