Obama May Limit Fishing Access

Isn't there anything left that he doesn't limit?

Oh I forgot. Plenty, now I think about it: The size of the federal government, the size of federal deficit, the size of his convoy, the size of bonus for Fannie, Freddie, AIG top execs, Wall Street execs, the trading practices of big financial institutions, use of OTC derivatives, power of the Federal Reserve, to name a few...

But the president, presiding over the deep recession triggered by the financial crisis, is busy limiting fishing.

Culled out: Obama administration will accept no more public input for federal fishery strategy (Robert Montgomery, 3/9/2010 ESPN)

"The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

"This announcement comes at the time when the situation supposedly still is "fluid" and the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force still hasn't issued its final report on zoning uses of these waters.

"That's a disappointment, but not really a surprise for fishing industry insiders who have negotiated for months with officials at the Council on Environmental Quality and bureaucrats on the task force. These angling advocates have come to suspect that public input into the process was a charade from the beginning.

""When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) completed their successful campaign to convince the Ontario government to end one of the best scientifically managed big game hunts in North America (spring bear), the results of their agenda had severe economic impacts on small family businesses and the tourism economy of communities across northern and central Ontario," said Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano.

""Now we see NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the administration planning the future of recreational fishing access in America based on a similar agenda of these same groups and other Big Green anti-use organizations, through an Executive Order by the President. The current U.S. direction with fishing is a direct parallel to what happened in Canada with hunting: The negative economic impacts on hard working American families and small businesses are being ignored.

""In spite of what we hear daily in the press about the President's concern for jobs and the economy and contrary to what he stated in the June order creating this process, we have seen no evidence from NOAA or the task force that recreational fishing and related jobs are receiving any priority."

"... Perhaps not so coincidentally, the New York Times reported on Feb. 12 that "President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities."

"Morlock fears that "what we're seeing coming at us is an attempted dismantling of the science-based fish and wildlife model that has served us so well. There's no basis in science for the agendas of these groups who are trying to push the public out of being able to fish and recreate.

""Conflicts (user) are overstated and problems are manufactured. It's all just an excuse to put us off the water."" [Emphasis is mine. The article continues.]

Sounds all too familiar. Climategate, anyone?

So this president, who accused his predecessor of using the executive fiat too often, is using the same executive fiat to create this "task force", make a token gesture of "accepting public input", and will sign into a new law by the executive fiat the recommendations offered by the task force that was created by the executive fiat.

Toward the end of the article, Chris Horton, national conservation director for BASS says the following:

"With what's being created, the same principles could apply inland as apply to the oceans," he said. "Under the guise of 'marine spatial planning' entire watersheds could be shut down, even 2,000 miles up a river drainage from the ocean."

Pretty soon, no one will be able to fish, because the president will have so decreed. Commercial fishing has been already made a villain. Now recreational fishing.

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