If you’re like me, maybe you don’t fish as much as you once did or perhaps you’re fishing more than ever. Regardless we love fishing! Not only do we cherish it, we want others to cherish and protect recreational fishing (RF) for the generations to come. You probably also understand the challenges surrounding RF today.
The people behind the scenes, those at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) share our concerns, and they’re working to nourish and sustain equitable recreational fishing. At this year’s national Recreational Fishing Summit, NOAA NMFS committed to developing an Agency-wide national saltwater recreational fisheries (SRF) policy.
A national SRF policy outlines a set of principles to guide NOAA actions and decisions over the long-term. For an organization the size of NOAA, procedure and policy are important; this is why a national SRF policy is critical. A NOAA Fisheries paper on this topic states, ‘a national SRF policy will send a clear statement about our operating principles, this will do two things: 1) institutionalizes our commitment to healthy recreational fisheries and the benefits they provide our nation and 2) it provides guidance when difficult choices need to be made.’
With this vital process comes difficult questions. How do we define recreational fishing as a nation? What activities do you think constitute recreational fisheries? What might be the effect of defining recreational fisheries in this way in national policy? How do we manage an equitable crossover between recreational and commercial fishing?
The ten million dollar question remains, how will the public pay for national SRF policy to be implemented and sustained?