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January 31, 2013
As all saltwater fishermen are aware, President Bush signed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 on January 12, 2007. In the six years since this law governing management of our coastal fishing industry- recreational and commercial alike - was reenacted, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) has pointed out the complete absurdity of fisheries management stemming from both the rigid and inflexible requirements spelled out in this law, as well as the gross neglect by our federal government to meet Congress's deadlines and requirements.THE ABSURDITY OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT
PART 1 - WHEN NOAA MEANS NO
Over the next several weeks, RFA plans to focus on several key 'absurdities' stemming from this broken federal law, putting a spotlight on our government failures to properly protect and serve America's coastal fishing communities in the way that Warren Magnuson and Ted Stevens had originally intended when our federal fisheries law was first adopted to aid in the development of the domestic commercial and recreational fishing industry while phasing out foreign fishing in 1976.
Of course, some folks would prefer that the RFA keep quiet with our criticism so that they could continue to provide cover for our over-worked bureaucrats and ever-conscientious members of Congress, while forgetting all about the high praise that some national trade and manufacturing groups bestowed upon the Magnuson-Stevens Act when it was reauthorized (which now has brought many recreational fisheries to their knees.) But in the words of the late John F. Kennedy, Jr., "Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can succeed -- and no republic can survive."