Recreational fishing interests have registered their intense opposition to "catch shares" — the high-priority regulatory policy sought by the Obama administration to commodify and limit access to fisheries in an effort to align investment with conservation interests and reduce competition among individual fishing boats.
The objections — from two umbrella organizations, the New Jersey-based Recreational Fishing Alliance and the Texas-based Coastal Conservation Association — were filed over the summer with the president and with a task force closely tied to the White House that was appointed to assist Jane Lubchenco, the catch-share advocate who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in facilitating the transition.
There are no catch share programs in recreational fisheries today, but the recreational organizations see them on the horizon.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.