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Making Waves 2016 Making Waves Summer Fall 2020
Executive Director's Report by Jim Donofrio RFA Endorses Trump for President
T
he Recreational Fishing Alliance is proud to endorse President Donald J. Trump for reelection to a second term as president of the United States. This is a bold statement made during one of the most divisive periods in American history and a contentious election campaign between two candidates with very different backgrounds and visions for our country. Yet it is a wellreasoned position for us to take. Let me explain. At the RFA, we understand what a Biden/ Harris administration would do to fisheries access and the damage it will potentially cause to the recreational fishing and marine industries that depend on angler access to sustainable fish stocks. Actions taken earlier in Joe Biden’s political career, and most recently as Vice President in the Obama Administration, paint a clear picture of what to expect under his presidency. More regulation, more waters closed to recreational fishing and an open-door policy toward the radical environmentalists.
trate and influence NOAA Fisheries and federal agencies like the Department of Commerce. After Clinton’s two terms a whole new mindset began to invade the NOAA Fisheries and subsequently the National Marine Fisheries Service. It became apparent that there was a growing number of people placed in administrative positions in these organizations that were pushing policy objectives taken right out of the PEW, EDF and NRDC playbook. Keep in mind that much of this takeover was accomplished during the Republican administration of George W. Bush.
It became obvious that people in positions to influence agency policy and actions at NOAA/NMFS were always turning to what they called a “Precautionary Approach” to management, building layer upon layer of hurdles to overcome that negatively impacted recreational fishing access. These people were quite comfortable using what later was found to be flawed science and faulty data to push it through some of the most egregious manIt wasn’t that long ago, when Bill Clinton was agement decisions in the drafting of fisheries president, that his Democratic administration management plans, a good deal of which did was very easy for representatives of the recre- little to rebuild fish stocks, but hurt the two ational fishermen to work with. That openprimary user groups, commercial and recreaness allowed us to get a lot done, but that tional fishermen. was at a time before fisheries management Some of those same decision-makers still rewas hijacked by the extreme environmental side within NOAA/NMFS, and President movement lead by a handful of very powerful Trump is slowly replacing them with people NGO’s that spent millions of dollars to infilwho will follow the real science where it
