KeepAmericaFishing

Background

In an August 25 Executive Memo to the Secretaries of Defense, Interior and Commerce and the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), President Bush directed them to study potential MPAs in the central Pacific Ocean. In that memo the President directed the agencies and CEQ to sustain access to recreational fishing as part of their study effort. On September 26, 2008, the President signed an amendment to the 1995 Executive Order on recreational fishing. This amendment mandates that federal agencies must maintain recreational fishing on federal lands and waters, including MPAs:

"ensuring that recreational fishing shall be managed as a sustainable activity in national wildlife refuges, national parks, national monuments, national marine sanctuaries, marine protected areas, or any other relevant conservation or management areas or activities under any Federal authority, consistent with applicable law;''

Although regulated recreational fishing presents no threat to fish stocks in the central Pacific and there is no evidence that recreational fishing is harming area ecosystems, many environmental groups lobbied the White House and federal agencies to adopt their anti-recreational fishing philosophy regarding Pacific Ocean conservation.

These groups mounted a letter writing campaign to convince senior officials in the White House and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that recreational fishing should be banned in thousands of square miles in the Central Pacific. They said: "Unfortunately, the final designation of these areas may allow some fishing…" but that "declaring these monuments as fully-protected no-take reserves…is crucial for meaningful stewardship of our imperiled oceans."

Papahānaumokuākea Hawaiian National Monument

The MPA precedent for this and other potential widespread North American recreational fishing closures was set with the establishment of Papahānaumokuākea Hawaiian National Monument. Papahānaumokuākea covers 140,000 square miles of ocean—an area larger than 46 of the 48 continental states. This monument was established through Presidential action using the Antiquities Act. Although recreational fishing in this area of the Northern Hawaiian Islands was already minimal because of its great distance from Hawaii's main islands, the establishment of the monument included a complete closure to recreational fishing throughout the entire monument.

The establishment process of Papahānaumokuākea has proven detrimental to the sportfishing community as other MPA proposals have emerged. By closing the monument to sportfishing, a precedent was set that recreational fishing opponents are using in their favor as they lobby for no-take MPAs. The Hawaiian Monument fishing closure was referenced extensively in arguments for full fishing closures in the central Pacific. The MPA philosophy is being aggressively and successfully promoted to government and the public by well funded anti-use or preservation-oriented environmental groups. Their support for MPAs is rooted in ideology rather than science.

Originally intended to protect sensitive habitat or restrict the impacts of destructive commercial fishing on a few species, MPAs have been expanded to now include restrictions on low impact recreational fishing on all species. They are being promoted as the new paradigm for fisheries management—circumventing the regional fishery management councils and proven fishery management measures.

Time for Change

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and NOAA Fisheries Service are developing new 15-year management plans for two these monuments. Members of the marine conservation community sent a letter to NOAA Fisheries and USFWS, urging the agencies to reverse the prohibition on recreational fishing and allow sustainable recreational fishing throughout the designated areas. For more information, read the letter from the sportfishing community.