January 2010 American Sportfishing Association Policy Watch
Policy Watch is a monthly update for the sportfishing community about the American Sportfishing Association’s Government Affairs activities.
For more information on ASA Government Affairs activities, contact Gordon Robertson, vice president and Government Affairs lead, 703.519.9691, x237, Patty Doerr, Ocean Resource Policy director, x244, or Mike Leonard, Policy Fellow, x230.
National Fish Habitat Conservation Act Update
California Marine Life Protection Act Planning Update
California Commission Asks Schwarzenegger to Exempt Game Wardens
The Late Jim Range Honored as Budweiser Conservationist of the Year
Oregon Marine Reserves Update
Wallop Breaux Reauthorization Update
ASA Comments on Chesapeake Bay Restoration Strategy
NOAA Launches National Angler Saltwater Registry
TRCP Marine Conservation Working Group Meets
House Moves Pricing Bill Out of Committee
National Fish Habitat Conservation Act Update
ASA continues to work with other members of the National Fish Habitat Conservation Act (NFHCA) legislative team to advocate with Members of Congress for their support of the bill and to seek additional sponsorship. In January, four additional House members signed on to the bill, bringing the total number of co-sponsors to twelve. To ensure this bill is passed, please send a letter to your House of Representatives member today asking for him or her to support the NFHCA. Additional co-sponsors are needed for this bill to succeed. For more information, visit ASAfishing.org. The foundation for the NFHCA is the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP). ASA Vice President Gordon Robertson sits on the NFHAP Board.
California Marine Life Protection Act Planning Update
The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans, which represents the recreational fishing and boating community in California, continues to advocate for Proposal 2 for California’s South Coast Marine Protected Area (MPA) network in accordance with the state’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). Proposal 2 provides a balanced approach based upon reliable science and a continuation of sound fisheries management policies which have resulted in the return of healthy fish populations and renewed ocean habitat off the California coastline. Proposal 2 also has the least impact on the economy. Four proposals, including Proposal 2, are currently being considered for adoption by the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC). The FGC’s next meeting is scheduled for February 3-4, 2010, at the Resources Building Auditorium, 1416 Ninth Street, Sacramento. The FGC is not expected to take a final vote on MPA designations until late 2010.
California Commission Asks Schwarzenegger to Exempt Game Wardens
In January, the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) sent a letter urging California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to exempt the state’s game wardens from furloughs, which require game wardens to take three unpaid furlough days per month. California already has the fewest game wardens per capita, making the enforcement of current regulations difficult. In the letter, FGC President Jim Kellogg and Commissioner Dan Richards stated that they are prepared to delay new regulations, including those established under the state’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), because wardens would not be able to enforce new mandates.
The Late Jim Range Honored as Budweiser Conservationist of the Year
The 2010 Budweiser Conservationist of the Year Award was awarded posthumously to Jim Range, a preeminent American sportsman and conservationist, whose lifetime of accomplishments included co-founding and leading the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP). A $50,000 grant from Budweiser and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will be made in memory of Range to TRCP to support its conservation efforts. Jim spent his life enhancing the quality of America’s hunting and fishing through his tireless commitment to conservation initiatives. Jim’s creativity and passion for securing our nation’s natural resources are woven into almost every legislative and executive action in support of fish and wildlife taken over the last thirty years. For more information on Jim, visit the Jim Range Memorial Web site.
Oregon Marine Reserves Update
ASA and its Oregon representative continue to engage with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) officials, state legislators and angler groups to refine Oregon’s process for establishing marine reserves. ASA is focusing on the four study areas and providing input on the criteria to determine how and if these study areas will become new reserves. Community groups for each study area began meeting in January. Industry interests were represented at these meetings.
Wallop-Breaux Reauthorization Update
The Angling and Boating Alliance, the ad hoc group comprised of ASA and other key angling and boating groups, continues to promote reauthorization of the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund (Wallop-Breaux). In January, the Alliance worked to finalize drafting bill text to reflect the group’s coordinated agreement on funding allocation changes. Wallop-Breaux must be reauthorized as part of the Federal Highway Trust Fund (FHTF) in order to capture the revenue from that part of the federal fuel tax attributable to motor boat and small engine use. The FHTF, set to run out in September 2009, has been kept alive through a series of four extensions. The most recent extension was tacked onto the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill and is set to expire in February 2010 at which time a fifth extension appears certain.
ASA Comments on Chesapeake Bay Restoration Strategy
In January, ASA provided comment on the Federal Leadership Committee for the Chesapeake Bay’s (FLC) Draft Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay. ASA’s comments focused on a recommendation that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explore the viability of establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) within the Chesapeake Bay. Rather than place restrictions on recreational fishing, ASA is asking the FLC and NOAA to promote recreational fishing since sportfish populations in the Bay are healthy. ASA’s position is that MPAs would do nothing to mitigate excess nitrogen and phosphorous pollution, the leading threat to the overall health of the Bay. The Draft Strategy was produced in response to President Obama’s May 12, 2009, Executive Order on Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration, and is the first step in the creation of a new strategy for restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and waterways in the region.
NOAA Launches National Saltwater Angler Registry
On January 1, 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched the National Saltwater Angler Registry. The 2006 Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) included a provision establishing a federal registry of saltwater anglers in order to improve recreational saltwater fishing data collection. The registry’s predecessor, the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey, randomly sampled coastal residents about their saltwater fishing efforts. The new national angler registry is intended to target only those people that have identified themselves as saltwater anglers. Anglers who are required to register either hold a license from one of 10 coastal states or territories which do not currently have comprehensive saltwater angler license or registration requirements—Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands; fish for or are likely to catch fish that live in the ocean but spawn in fresh water; or fish in the federal waters more than three miles from the ocean shore. To view registration guidelines and requirements and to register, go to http://www.countmyfish.noaa.gov and click on the Register link, or call the toll-free registration line at 1-888-MRIP-411 (1-888-674-7411) from 4:00 a.m. to midnight, EST, daily.
TRCP Marine Conservation Working Group Meets
In January, ASA attended the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) Marine Conservation Working Group meeting. The group discussed recent marine fisheries issues, including theInteragency Ocean Policy Task Force’s Marine Spatial Planning Report, NOAA’s Catch Share Guidelines and the January 2010 Atlantic red snapper closure in the South Atlantic. The working group’s goal is to improve fisheries management in general and specifically for the benefit of saltwater recreational anglers.
House Moves Pricing Bill Out of Committee
The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that reverses a Supreme Court decision upholding manufacturers’ rights to set minimum prices below which their dealers can not sell a product. The Discount Pricing Consumer Protection Act of 2009, H.R. 3190, was introduced by Rep. Henry Johnson (D-GA). The Senate companion bill, S. 148, sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), has yet to see action. The bills would effectively ban manufacturers from dictating minimum prices to dealers as a violation of the anti-trust provisions of the Sherman Act. These agreements are illegal in most states, despite a 2007 Supreme Court ruling (the Leegin ruling) that determined they did not violate federal anti-trust lawsin certain circumstances.
