Blogs
Carp pose problems beyond injuries
Submitted by Ted Williams on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 18:01.Shocking catfish in the James River to study their progress
Submitted by Ted Williams on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 17:55.When the wolf's advocates cry wolf
Submitted by Ted Williams on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 16:09.Elk hunt-park owner fined
Submitted by Ted Williams on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 16:07.Soda Water Dogs
Submitted by Ted Williams on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 08:38.Striped bass heavily impacted by the collapse of bay anchovy and menhaden
Submitted by Ted Williams on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 09:14.Shame on Shimano. Not!
Submitted by Ted Williams on Sat, 08/28/2010 - 07:54.http://www.sportfishingmag.com/blog.jsp?ID=1
I wish NRDC would wake up and talk to enlightened anglers like Doug.
Here’s my two cents on NRDC which, several years ago proclaimed: “Marine protected areas, which restrict or prohibit fishing, offer one of the best tools for restoring depleted fishing stocks and damaged ocean ecosystems. Yet despite strong support from scientists and the general public, one group--sportfishermen--continues to try to block the creation of marine reserves. . . . Ironically, this group--sportfishermen--stands to benefit from this innovative tool."
But MPAs don't necessarily, or even usually, "restrict or prohibit fishing." The rule establishing Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary even contains language prohibiting sportfishing restrictions. When sportfishermen read this baloney they often believe it. No wonder they hate MPAs.
In late September 2000 NRDC invited 15 marine scientists to its New York City headquarters to kibitz for a day and a half about MPAs. A day and a half isn't much time to start thinking about MPAs and then decide where they need to go, especially MPAs as defined by NRDC which "restrict or prohibit fishing." After each scientist had scrawled out his wish list, NRDC used software to project the "polygons," as it called the hoped-for no-fishing zones, onto a map. As NRDC itself reports: "Overlaying the polygons revealed multiple nominations for five ocean areas comprising some 19.4 percent of the study area: the nine submarine canyons; the offshore waters near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; tilefish habitat between Cape May, New Jersey, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts; a 35-kilometer (18.9-nautical mile) corridor of nearshore waters extending along the study area; and a band along the continental shelf break encompassing the upper slope." Basically, it consisted of everyone's favorite fishing holes. With that, NRDC began distributing the maps to the public with no explanation that the polygons were just starting points for discussion. Anglers were aghast. "If NRDC wanted to create opposition, they could hardly have done it any more effectively," Dr. Carl Safina, at the time head of the National Audubon Society's Living Oceans Campaign, told me. "The environmental community's effort to sell MPAs has been a public-relations blunder completely unmatched in its history."
