Tom Fote and I spent a week in Washington, D.C. attending meetings of the American Sportfishing Association and the Marine Fish Conservation Network.  In addition, we attended congressional receptions sponsored by these groups and the one sponsored by NOAA.  While we were there we took the time to visit your legislators.  We met with staff from Senator Corzine’s and Senator Lautenberg’s office to discuss the reauthorization of the Magnuson/Stevens act which is the governing document behind all the fishery regulations that we are living with.  Changes to this document will have far reaching consequences so it is vital that we be a part of the discussion in order to help shape the future and insure that recreational fishing is adequately represented.

            We were able to meet with Congressmen Saxton and Pallone during our visit.  We also met with the staff from Congressmen Chris Smith’s and Rush Holt’s office to discuss the Rahall Bill, HR-4031, which is the house bill that implements the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the PEW Commission reports.

            Admiral James D. Watkins U.S. Navy (Retired) was the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and we had a chance to meet him after he spoke at the Marine Fish Conservation Network.  He stressed the importance of Ecosystem Management for the Oceans along with improving the science that is used, education of the public and the governance of the fishery management process.  Admiral Watkins mentioned that he had spoken with Senator Stevens recently and the Senator is working to implement the recommendations.

            Other speakers at the Marine Fish Conservation Network meeting were very interesting.  The presentation by Jim Hensom gave a great overview of the difficulties he encountered as a member of the Gulf Council.  He resigned his position after 6 years of frustration in trying to do the right thing.  His 9-page resignation letter to Governor Bush pointed out his feelings along with his recommendations.  He feels that the Gulf Council can’t be fixed.  There is too much resistance to change, not enough science and the conflict of interest of members of the council makes for an ineffective group.  As a lawyer he feels strongly that there needs to be criminal penalties for violations of the Magnuson/Stevens act instead of the small monetary penalties which become a cost of doing business.

            Dr. Andrew Rosenberg spoke of the role of science in the management process which he feels should be strengthened.  One of the less popular things he talked about was a license for recreational fishing.  He would also like to see the authority of NMFS   strengthened.  Dr. Rosenberg did not seem to be very sympathetic to the recreational fishing community.

            Dr. Bill Hogarth, Director of NOAA, spoke at the Congressional Caucus and his most meaningful comment was that he felt that the current split on summer flounder 60% commercial 40% recreational should be changed to 60% recreational, 40% commercial.  It looks like he is finally listening to what the JCAA and other recreational fishing groups have been saying for years.  We can only hope that the councils listen to him and make the necessary changes.

            Tom Fote and I sat in on a congressional hearing of the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Oceans hosted by Wayne Gilcrest, R-MD.   It was an oversight hearing on the Scientific Review of Ocean Systems and we listened to scientists from Woods Hole, University of Georgia and the Chesapeake Research Consortium give overviews of climate change, marine ecosystems, and harmful algal blooms.  It was a great introduction to ecosystem management and demonstrated how complex dealing with the Ocean and the creatures that dwell is.  We know more about the moon than we do about the ocean which comprises 71% of planet Earth.  Certainly, the science behind fisheries management needs to be strengthened and expanded.  We can agree with this especially when it comes to the MFRS survey which appears to recreational anglers to be nothing more than a guess of what is happening.  Hopefully, the survey that was a part of the recent JCAA Fluke tournament will help the scientists to understand that recreational anglers are spending a lot of time trying to catch fish and a vast majority of the fish caught are short.  This certainly should indicate to them that there are a lot of fluke available and maybe just maybe their calculations of total biomass is underestimated.  The science is based on a lot of assumptions and many of those do not reflect reality so we fully support more sound science. 

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