May 28, 2015 — As a longtime Jersey charter boat captain, listening to my customers’ needs was critical to business success. Now as executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, it’s my responsibility to listen to our individual members’ needs, which in many ways are the same as those I used to take fishing full time for tuna, striped bass, weakfish, bluefish and fluke.
The saltwater anglers I speak to on a daily basis want healthy fish stocks; they also want reasonable access. As rewritten in 2006 by special interests at the Marine Fish Conservation Network, the federal fisheries law (Magnuson Stevens) rebuilds fish stocks by stopping allowable fishing. Black sea bass is a rebuilt fishery that environmentalists tout as a Magnuson victory; New Jersey anglers, however, are not allowed to fish for sea bass from Jan. 1 through May 26, and on July 2 will be allowed only two fish.
Read the full opinion piece at the Asbury Park Press