Bob Marshall

Sportman's Storm: Congress to Come Down on Anglers and Hunters

Online Editors — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:05:05 -0500

It’s now or never for public hunting and fishing.

For 2 million miles of stream habitat that support the wild trout and big-game herds in the West. For 20 million acres of small wetlands that produce most of the ducks U.S. hunters shoot every fall. For Appalachian mountaintops that protect trout streams; for coastal estuaries that produce salmon, redfish, snook, and tarpon along the coasts.

If individual sportsmen and sportswomen don’t act now—if they don’t contact their congressional delegations in the next few months and tell them to call off their attacks on the regulations and conservation programs that have sustained quality public hunting and fishing for a century—their grandchildren may never share the experiences they hold so dear.

That’s the reality facing America’s hunters and anglers in 2012.

“The average hunter and angler out there doesn’t understand what’s going on, that what we’re seeing is the biggest attack on fish and wildlife habitat in 100 years,” says Jim Martin, conservation director of Pure Fishing’s Berkley Conservation Institute and former chief of fisheries at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

He’s not exaggerating.

The sportsmen’s conservation movement finds itself lashed by political and economic forces that threaten to undo generations of work and billions of dollars dedicated to building and protecting the habitat base that supports the world’s best public outdoors experiences.

Last year, many in Congress joined an anti-conservation movement that could cripple or eliminate vital fish and wildlife habitat initiatives that had broad support for years. The attacks began shortly after the new Congress was sworn in, with an appropriations bill to keep government functioning—H.R. 1—that was loaded with dozens of policy riders aimed at everything from wetland protections to global warming studies. Most failed, but the assaults never stopped. As the National Wildlife Federation pointed out in December, one in five of all House roll-call votes taken in 2011—fully 22 percent—involved measures to weaken environmental protections. The Conservation Reserve Program, North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, Wetlands Reserve Program, Grasslands Reserve Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, and Environmental Quality Incentives Program were targeted for decreased funds.

And that was just for starters.

They also went after keystone federal regulations protecting critical habitat, including a definition of wetlands essential to waterfowl, trout, and big-game habitat; mining regulations that protect Appalachian ecosystems; clean-air rules that protect forests and people, plus other rules needed to address global warming and sea-level rise that threaten to drown our coasts; clean-water rules that prevent the spread of dead zones in estuaries producing saltwater fish; and rules that protect roadless areas sustaining big-game herds and backcountry hunting.

Most of those initiatives were blocked in the Senate, but by the end of 2011 the assaults were still going on. The persistence of the attack has shaken veterans of the sportsmen’s conservation movement, not only because it shows just how well-funded their opponents are but also because it hints that the attention hunters and anglers once commanded in Washington may be slipping.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Dale Hall, CEO of Ducks Unlimited, who saw a lot in his 31 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including a stint as its director. “There were times in the past where we faced budget cuts, or debates over some regulations. But the push to take away the regulatory framework that has been essential to fish and wildlife for so many decades makes no sense—not even for the economy.

“The forces at work now really are unprecedented.”

Those forces are creating a perfect storm that could cause irreparable damage.

How the Storm Has Formed
To understand the peril our sports are in, you have to first acknowledge the basic struggle in conservation: money. Private industries using public resources—air, water, land—don’t want to pay more for that privilege, so they see almost all regulations as adding to their costs. The people we elect to Congress are supposed to balance those competing interests.

Here are factors that combined to create the present situation:

The Bad Economy
With the push to reduce the deficit, sportsmen expected federally funded conservation programs to take a hit. What they didn’t expect was an all-out assault.

But the Great Recession gave extra ammunition to industry. Costly environmental regulations, they claimed, were forcing them to lay off workers, adding to the high unemployment rate. (The facts, as you’ll see, show something else.) But the shout went out and has never diminished.

The Election
The economy is always a major factor in general elections, but this year it is expected to be No. 1. Industry lobbyists have been labeling anyone who supports environmental regulations as a job killer who favors bunnies over humans. With millions of people suffering economically, the tactic has been working. Even President Obama backed away from important deadlines on air--pollution regulations.

The Lobbying
Sportsmen’s conservation groups, largely nonprofits, have always had to rely on the strength of their arguments and access to key -decision--makers to compete with heavily financed industry lobbyists. That was always a David vs. Goliath match, but a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited corporate contributions has basically made the giant twice as tall, while David is still using that slingshot.

In the first 11 months of 2011, oil and gas interests spent $110 million lobbying; electric utilities, $105 million; and real estate, $50 million. Those numbers are expected to soar even higher during the 2012 election cycle. For an idea of what to expect, consider this: Since 1998 the broader energy industry—oil, gas, and electric utilities—has spent $2.7 billion pushing their interests. Lobbyists like to say money doesn’t buy votes—it buys access. With that much money, sportsmen’s groups are wondering how much access will be left over for them.

The Newcomers
Perhaps most troubling is the cold shoulder sportsmen’s groups have been getting from some in Congress, especially freshmen GOP members. During the many budget battles last year, these new hard-liners demanded cutbacks and elimination of environmental protections in return for support of bills to keep government open. While sportsmen were able to get the ear of veteran Republican congressmen, those same congressmen told them the politics meant hunter-and-angler groups would first have to get the newcomers to soften up.

Conservation leaders say they have spent a lot of time educating these newcomers on the issues, but by the end of the year they had changed few votes.

Bottom line: Sportsmen’s conservation groups find themselves underrepresented, undermanned, and underfunded—and now seem to be losing clout.

Individual Responsibility
That’s why conservation leaders are turning to everyday outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen. They say the only tools they have that can counter their opponents, and the sound-bite debates of the election year, are the voices of hunters and anglers.

“That’s the only thing that has a chance of allowing us to sustain conservation,” says Hall. “[The sportsmen’s lobby] has some great, dedicated people working Congress. But at this stage, it’s hearing from the individuals that will make a difference.”

The message should stress not just the value of outdoors traditions to our lives but also the cold, hard facts combating the arguments that favor cutbacks. Studies show that conservation spending and even environmental regulations don’t hurt the economy; they actually add jobs and income.

Thousands of companies employing millions of Americans could be shut down if those regulations and programs are cut or even loosened. And the damage to the U.S. economy will be severe.

The facts are in “The Economics Associated with Outdoor -Recreation, Natural Resources Conservation and Historic Preservation in the United States,” a recently released study commissioned by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The numbers are staggering: 9.4 million jobs; $107 million in federal, state, and local tax revenues; and $1.06 trillion in total economic activity are being put at risk.

For example, GOP House members have repeatedly blocked attempts to restore Clean Water Act protection to 20 million acres of temporary wetlands and 2 million miles of streamsides that were removed by Supreme Court decisions in 2002 and 2006. Those congressmen parrot cries from developers and some agricultural interests that these regulations cost profits and jobs.

What they don’t tell you is those rules are essential to the thousands of owners and employees at fly shops that contribute $658 million annually to the economy—not to mention the thousands of guides and outfitters that take anglers to those streams.

“[Sportsmen] better wake up to what the House is trying to do before it’s too late,” says Jim Klug, chairman of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association. “Our industry depends on a clean environment, and if you take that away, you take away entire industries.”

The same forces in Congress have been targeting regulations to curb carbon emissions, a major contributor to global warming that is causing the seas to rise. Yet at the current rate of sea-level rise, within 50 years many estuaries along the Gulf Coast—including the Mississippi River Delta—may be submerging, leading to a collapse in the multibillion-dollar fishing industries.

Ryan Lambert, owner-operator of Cajun Fishing Adventures in Buras, La., knows what that means. He employs 15 guides and a housing staff of 20.
“When that marsh goes, my business goes—and all those families will be out of work,” Lambert says. “The same will be true for all the guides and lodges and tackle stores along the Gulf.”

Even the claim that regulations are to blame for the high unemployment rate has been proved incorrect.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which collects information from companies, found that in 2010, 0.24 percent of those laid off lost their jobs due to “government regulations/intervention.” Almost 13 percent were laid off due to insufficient demand.

Getting that message to Congress is critical. You can find the name and contact information of your delegates at -contactingthe-congress.org, but you have to act soon.
“Sportsmen are very passionate about gun rights,” Martin says, “but what does it matter how many guns you have if you have no place to hunt and nothing to hunt?

“And that’s where we’re headed right now with this Congress. Our sportsmen had better get passionate, and get involved now.”

Now, or never.

Conservation Report: Shale Gas Extraction Could Leave a Mess for Wildlife

Sarah Smith — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:13:38 -0500

by Bob Marshall

Any sportsman who has followed habitat fights over the years knows this: Fish and wildlife always pay a price for fossil fuel extraction -- and if sportsmen are not involved in setting policies at the front end, disaster will almost surely follow for fishing and hunting.

The latest example is the current rush to riches unleashed across the nation by the revolution in shale gas extraction. The general population sees this as a godsend in supplying a fuel source that is domestic and friendlier to the atmosphere than oil -- and is creating jobs and millionaires in the process.

But the Philadelphia Enquirer recently reported sportsmen in Pennsylvania are finding out that, like most gold rushes, this one can trample their woods and waters. Construction of a trench for a 50-mile gas pipeline in Lycoming County left open to the elements "sent mud sliding down hillsides, fouling a stream." Now, "environmentalists and sportsmen have been raising alarms about the effects on the landscape. They worry about construction mud clogging waters and disrupting fish spawning, and about pipeline rights-of-way cutting swaths through forests, destroying treetop canopies."

Sportsmen's groups like Trout Unlimited, a member of Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, want to make sure the energy industry respects what will be left behind when the gas and money are gone. Unfortunately, they're finding tough sledding from state and federal lawmakers resistant to regulations that would protect fish, wildlife and recreational values while allowing development to continue.

Conservation Report: Will the Gulf Lose the Oil Spill Fines?

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:09:14 -0500

by Bob Marshall

Restore Act Needs Sportsmen’s Voices—Now

Some $20 billion in fines from the Deepwater Horizon spill that should go to restoring fish and wildlife habitat in the Gulf could disappear into the nation's general treasury unless sportsmen get involved in the next few weeks.

BP is expected to be hit with the bill within the next six months for violating the Clean Water Act with the estimated 200 million gallons of crude oil pumped into the Gulf from its accident. Current law sends those fines into the general treasury, where it can be used for anything from bank bailouts to congressional medical insurance.

With a big push from the sporting community, a bi-partisan group of Senators introduced the RESTORE Act (S. 1400), which would dedicate 80 percent of any fines to helping restore damages to the Gulf ecosystem. It was roundly praised by hunting and fishing groups.

But if Senators don't act by the end of the year, the bill could be dead, and the money would instead fall into the federal treasury.

In addition to critical support for Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas coastal work and research, the formula agreed upon by the senators includes funding for critical projects designed to stop the continued erosion of the Mississippi River delta, the engine driving 80 percent of all Gulf fisheries, and a winter habitat used by an estimated 70 percent of all North American waterfowl.

While the bill originally picked up co-sponsors, resistance is coming from some senators of states far from the coast who want a share of the money - even though their states were not impacted by the disaster.

Sportsmen's groups are urging outdoorsmen to contact their senators today. You can find out how at contactingthecongress.org.

Climate Change, State by State

Sportsmen often wonder how climate change could impact habitat and fish and game populations where they hunt and fish. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides some state-by-state examples on its website. As the Service explains, these are broad snapshots of impacts to fish and wildlife in each of the states, but it is by no means a complete picture of changes on the way in each of those states.

When you're finishing checking your state at this site, be sure to go to two other sites compiled by a coalition of sportsmen's conservation organizations: Season End: Global Warming's Threat to Hunting and Fishing, (www.seasonsend.org/) and Beyond Season's End: A Path Forward for Fish and Wildlife in the Era of Climate Change (beyondseasonsend.org/).

Conservation Roundup: Call Super Committee Before Conservation Budget Cut

Sarah Smith — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:18:41 -0500

Let the Super Committee Hear from You

Sportsmen who care about the future of their traditions have an important job over the next week: Let the congressional Super Committee on the budget know that more cuts in conservation programs will only increase the deficit, not lower it.

The Super Committee is the bi-partisan group charged with outlining $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade by Nov. 23rd. Failure to agree would trigger automatic cuts of the same amount, most of which would come out of defense and domestic spending. Congress already has cut conservation spending by 30 percent earlier this year, putting vital fish and wildlife programs on the edge of collapse.

Conservation groups fear the Super Committee is considering even more damage--but they worry those automatic cuts could be just as severe. The frustrating thing is that, as mentioned in many previous posts here, conservation spending actually turns a profit for the nation's treasury. So it's time for sportsmen to contact their congressional delegations and tell them "Hands off of conservation funding.” You can find out who your reps are, and how to contact them here.

It's Official: Elk Back in the Smoky Mountains Region

In what must rank as one of the most remarkable conservation success stories in recent times, it has taken the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the National Park Service just 10 years to heal a 250-year-old wound in the Smoky Mountains, and return a viable elk herd to that historic habitat.

Last week, the two organizations announced "the 'experimental' status of the park's restored elk herd has been officially lifted, clearing the way for permanent management of elk in and around the park." Elk had been prosperous residents of the Appalachian Mountains for thousands of years when Europeans arrived in the 1700s. But it took just 150 years of unregulated hunting and habitat destruction to extirpate the eastern elk from the region.

The NPS reports "the last elk in North Carolina was believed to have been killed in the late 1700s. In Tennessee, the last elk was killed in the mid-1800s." The RMEF has been the largest financier of the park's 10-year elk restoration project, putting more than $800,000 into the effort.

The Tiny Menhaden Critical to Sportfishermen

While it remains popular in some quarters to sneer at the term "ecosystem management," East Coast anglers were reminded of its importance again recently when conservation groups rallied to support tighter new commercial catch limits on the tiny menhaden.

Most anglers know menhaden (aka "pogies") as little more than an important live bait for inshore species like speckled trout, redfish and stripers, and ideal chum for offshore titans like tuna. But menhaden have long been one of the most important commercial species in the Gulf and southeast Atlantic where purse seine operations haul in millions of tons of the silver dollar-sized fish for its oil.

Menhaden also occupy a critical niche in the estuarine ecosystem, and their overharvest was threatening to ripple through a long list of species.

So when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) decided to tighten the rules, conservation groups applauded in unison. This is another lesson for anglers to look at the big picture, not just the fish they are casting for.

Conservation Update: Brook Trout Recovering from Acid Rain Damage

Sarah Smith — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:21:42 -0500

Virginia Trout Making Progress on Long Road Back from Acid Rain

Members of Congress trying to roll back or prevent new air pollution regulations might want to have a chat with Virginia trout anglers. It's been two decades since acid rain regulations went into effect, but the state's native brook trout population is only now making a significant comeback from that abuse.

A new report from the University of Virginia found that between 1987 and 2000 only 55 to 57 percent of streams sampled were suitable to brook trout reproduction. But between 2000 and 2010 that number had jumped to 77 percent. According to the researchers, the lag in improvement reflected "the streams' ability to purge acidification that has settled for years into surrounding soils and that continues to leach into streams."

The lesson here is that turning back regulations might allow polluters to make a quick buck, but results in long-term expenses for the rest of society.

C02 Emissions Rising Faster Than Expected

When the International Panel on Climate Change issued its report on global warming in 2007, skeptics claimed the researchers were off-base with their predictions. Well, turns out the skeptics were partly right. New research from the U.S. Department of Energy shows heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions are rising faster than the IPCC's worst-case scenarios.

Bottom line: The polluters' successful campaigns to prevent carbon regulations is leading us faster toward disastrous impacts on fish, wildlife and humans. It's important for sportsmen to remember that their leading organizations have looked at the evidence and consider global warming the most serious threat to the future of hunting and fishing. For more information, go to the aptly-named online report "Season's End."

Sportsmen Laud Administration's Adjustment to Solar Development Plan

Here's some refreshing news: The system for protecting fish, wildlife and humans can work--as long as conservationists get involved, and political administrations listen. The latest example is the Department of Interior's recently released "Supplement to the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Solar Energy Development," which addresses many of the concerns sportsmen's groups had over the way solar energy was being developed.

While solar is obviously preferable to fossil fuels, it also has environmental drawbacks if not developed with fish and wildlife values in mind. Specifically, the huge footprint for large-scale solar development can unnecessarily disrupt important fish and wildlife areas.

Sportsmen groups entered the discussion over solar development early, and now are pleased with the results.

“The original draft solar plan recommended leaving a number of areas open to development and transmission--this could have negative impacts to hunting and angling opportunity by reducing habitat and local water resources,” said Steve Belinda, director of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s Center for Responsible Energy Development. “But the Bureau of Land Management clearly recognized these concerns and has made a solid effort at resolving those issues. We thank them for it."

A more detailed evaluation of the adjustments can be found here.

Conservation Update: Go Fishing, Create Jobs

Sarah Smith — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:17:45 -0500

Fisheries Programs Tip the Economic Scale

Here's even more ammunition for conservationists fighting the claim that the nation "can't afford" conservation spending in these tough economic times: A new report proves fisheries conservation programs contribute $3.6 billion to the nation’s economy, and supports 68,000 jobs across the country.

The report "Conservation America's Fisheries, An Assessment of Economic Contributions from Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Conservation" was released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency.

You've been seeing a steady stream of these "environmental protection creates jobs" stories lately for good reason. Since the Great Recession began in 2008, business lobbies such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute have spent hundreds of millions telling Congress and the American public that the nation should roll back protection for fish and wildlife habitat because they cut industry profits and "kill jobs."

But the recreation and conservation industries are now fighting back, showing just the opposite is true. In fact, one in 20 U.S. jobs is in recreation, many of which would be threatened by reducing or eliminating protection for the nation's public lands, water and air. You can read the full report on fisheries conservation impacts here. And for a look at the truly staggering economic impact of outdoors recreation--which contributes to four million American jobs, $1.06 trillion in total economic impact, and $107 billion annually generated in tax revenue--go here.

America's Great Outdoors Coming to Your State

The Department of Interior has released the list of 100 projects--50 in each state--that have become a keystone of its America's Great Outdoor Project, a program designed to reconnect Americans with outdoor recreation. Many of those listed could significantly aid fish and wildlife conservation, such as the Dakota Grasslands Conservation Area, an important initiative to protect the heart of waterfowl production in North America.

Of course, Congress will have a lot to say about just how many of these Top 100 projects ever get financed. But at least the ideas, which were approved after a series of nationwide public meetings, will give them an idea of what sportsmen and women want and need. You can locate your state's projects at this interactive map. To read the report on all 50 states, go here.

Commercial Netters to be Turned Loose on Kentucky's Asian Carp

Sports fishers have long claimed commercial netting was a lake's worst nightmare. But Kentucky is turning to that ancient method of fish harvest to help it battle the invasion of Asian carp in famed Kentucky and Barkley lakes.

The Fisheries Division of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says commercial netting is the most economic and efficient way to control the fast-growing invaders, which present a hazard to boaters, as well as native fish populations. It plans to permit commercial netters to pursue the carp, but only when they are accompanied by agency observers and trained volunteers. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife will post commercial fishing information and data from this program online. The agency will outline the program during a public meeting set for seven p.m. on November 15th, at the Kentucky Dam Village Convention Center., at Ketucky Dam Village State Resort Park in Gilbertsville.

Conservation Update: How To Make A Farm Friendly to Wildlife

Sarah Smith — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:43:08 -0400

by Bob Marshall

Future-Friendly Farming Report Just in Time

With Congress likely to chop funding for conservation sections of the Farm Bill, the timing couldn't be better for a new report from the National Wildlife Federation on wildlife-friendly farming practices. "Future Friendly Farming: Seven Agricultural Practices to Sustain People and the Environment" centers on these principles:

• Cover crops increase water management capacity, reduce erosion and nutrient loss, and improve wildlife habitat.
• Conservation tillage reduces erosion while increasing nesting cover for birds and wildlife.
• Organic farming eliminates chemical use, increases soil fertility and increases wildlife habitat.

• Grassland management boosts soil fertility, biodiversity, and grassland ecosystem health.
• Forest management increases soil fertility and biodiversity.
• Anaerobic digesters reduce threats to water quality and provide local renewable electric and thermal energy.
• Retaining and returning land to native ecosystems increases biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and improves water quality. While aimed at large landowners, many of the steps can be used even in backyards and on hunting leases.

Find out more here.

New Tools Available for Teaching Conservation

Securing the future of the great fish and wildlife resources built by our forefathers can only be accomplished with the understanding of the next generation. Educating those newcomers just got easier with the introduction of three new tools from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

"Benchmarks for Conservation Literacy," "Outdoors Skills Education Handbook" and "Sustainable Tomorrow - A Teachers' Guidebook for Applying Systems to Environmental Education Curricula" can be viewed and downloaded at the AFWA site.

This effort is a continuation of the group's North American Conservation Education Strategy (CE Strategy) to connect more people, especially youth, to the outdoors and increase our nation’s understanding of how fish and wildlife and their habitats are conserved. They are designed to be used not only by state fish and wildlife agencies but also non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with state departments of education, school districts, school administrators and teachers.

Climate Change Coming to a Wildlife Habitat Near You

With the election season centering on the economy, almost every issue is being defined by its impacts on the nation's bottom line. Which is why every report showing the costly impacts of environmental harm is important ammunition for sportsmen fighting to protect fish and wildlife habitat.

The latest example is the record drought in Texas. Already estimated to have cost Texas $5 billion, the economic impacts of that disaster are now forecast to ripple through the entire world. And while Texas Gov. Rick Perry may deny the climate is changing, the state's chief climatologist disagrees--and says this drought is directly linked to warming.

A good round-up of the steady drum-beat of warming confirmation is contained in this recent report.

Study: 9.4 Million American Jobs Rely On A Healthy Outdoors

Sarah Smith — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:20:58 -0400

by Bob Marshall

Sportsmen, Allies Make a Dollars-and-Cents Argument for Conservation

Finally, some hard facts and figures on the reason America should not retreat on conservation and environmental protection during these tough economic times: Cutting those programs and rolling back those regulations would put at risk 9.4 million American jobs, $1.06 trillion in total economic impact, and $107 billion annually generated in tax revenue.

That was the bottom line of a major initiative rolled out Monday at The National Press Club in Washington D.C. by "America’s Voice for Conservation, Recreation and Preservation” (AVCRP), a coalition that includes almost every major sportsmen's group, environmental organizations and historic preservationists whose programs are threatened with deep budget cuts. The complete list of organizations in AVCRP can be found in the signatories of this letter to Congress.

The centerpiece of the effort is a new study by Southwick and Associates on the economic impact of outdoors recreation and historic preservation commissioned by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Sportsmen concerned with the assault being planned on protections for fish and wildlife habitat should pore through the documents to have those facts and figures handy for the budget battles ahead.

Those astounding figures represent all industries that rely on healthy, open and protected public property from hunting and fishing to backpacking and skiing and bird-watching.

For more than a decade, energy industry lobbyists have poured billions into congressional campaigns in efforts to roll back protections for fish and wildlife habitat which can make their operations more expensive and, in some cases, exclude them completely. Their shrill ad campaigns try to convince Americans those protections are the reason the economy is suffering.

Now the AVCRP has provided sportsmen with ammunition to explain that argument is wrong--and, in fact, just the opposite is true.

Noted Warming Skeptic Now a Supporter

Climate change skeptics appear to have lost a major hero recently when noted Cal-Berkeley researcher Dr. Richard Muller said, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, that the results of his latest study have made him a believer. Fish and wildlife authorities have long cited global warming as a major threat, which makes it a major threat to hunters and anglers.

Conservation (Bad) News: Salmon Plague Spreads to Wild Pacific Stocks

Sarah Smith — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:10:38 -0400

by Bob Marshall

Deadly Disease Threatens Wild Pacific Salmon

File this one under: Just when you think things couldn't get worse.

Earlier this month fishery officials in Canada and the U.S. confirmed the deadly infectious salmon anemia had been found for the first time in wild Pacific salmon. This is the same disease that devastated salmon farms in Chile and other countries. The disease was found in two sockeye salmon smolts off British Columbia.

The news sent shock waves through the fishing industries and communities that depend on salmon. It was good to see the threat also quickly cut through the entrenched partisanship in Washington resulting in a bi-partisan bill to address the outbreak.

Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) introduced legislation giving federal agencies six months to determine the scope and cause of the outbreak and to recommend steps to protect the salmon stocks along the West Coast, Canada and Alaska. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.).

There's a lot to be concerned about. Although a vaccine for the disease is currently being tested on Atlantic salmon, there is no known cure. Its sudden appearance is an example of the threats that fish farming operations pose to wild fish stocks. And its proven deadly virulence has some fisheries experts convinced the two infected smolts are just the tip of a disease iceberg already growing in that region.

And it's not like this is the only disease coming out of Chilean salmon farms.

Frankenfish?

That outbreak of infectious salmon anemia couldn't have come at a worse time for AquaBounty Technologies, the Massachusetts firm that has developed a genetically modified salmon it hopes to sell to fish farm operations. The company combined growth genes from Chinook salmon and slices of DNA from ocean pout, a fast-growing eel-like creature. The result is an artificial salmon that grows several times faster than the real thing.

Aquaculture supporters say developments like this will take the pressure off wild stocks--good news for anglers. But opponents point to incidents (above) of disease from these creatures spreading into wild stocks.

Sportsmen’s groups are keeping a close eye on the debate.

Longleaf Pines Get Help in Mississippi

On the good news front, Mississippi has scored a victory in the popular cause of reestablishing the longleaf pine forests, earning two grants to restore the habitat on public and private lands in the state. The tall, broad-shouldered trees created a beautiful savannah-like habitat that was resistant both to fire and hurricanes, and was an important habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. But the trees were also valued for their hard lumber, eagerly sought for homes and naval industries.

Longleaf pines were once common in 35 of Mississippi's counties. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks a grant to improve more than 3,000 acres of longleaf pine habitat on Marion County and Theodore Mars Wildlife Management Areas in South Mississippi. Funds will be used to improve habitat for endangered wildlife species such as the gopher tortoise and black pine snake, and will also create habitat to benefit white-tailed deer, wild turkey and bobwhite quail.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation awarded MDWFP, and its partners, the Longleaf Alliance and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to improve longleaf pine habitat on private lands in Mississippi.

Conservation Update: Limits on Roads—and Fish?

Sarah Smith — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:52:42 -0400

by Bob Marshall

Sportsmen Cheer Roadless Rule Victory

Looks like backcountry hunters and anglers--not to mention elk herds and trout populations--won't have to contend with logging trucks and four-wheelers in the near future.

That's the near-term impact of the decision last week by the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that reinstated the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule as the law governing 49 million acres of inventoried roadless areas located on the nation's national forests and grasslands.

The ruling overturned a 2008 lower district court's decision enjoining the rule and should resolve uncertainty about federal management of roadless areas across America.

The Roadless Rule is a multiple-use management regulation that limits road building and timber harvest on undeveloped public lands managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture outside of Idaho. The decision was cheered by sportsmen and wildlife officials, as well as the tens of thousands of jobs related to hunting, fishing and other backcountry recreation.

Sportsmen's groups have been leading the fight to protect this legislation considered so important to protecting habitat sheltering key populations of major fish and wildlife populations.

Marine Anglers Worried About 2012

Saltwater anglers are becoming increasingly nervous as 2012 nears--and it's not because they think Armageddon or the Rapture is right around the corner. It's because Jan. 1, 2012 is the deadline the 2006 Magnuson Act set for the mandatory establishment of "annual catch limits" (ACLs) for almost every fish in the sea. But while the National Marine Fisheries Service was able to get research done on the roughly 120 species receiving heavy commercial and recreational fishing, it didn't have the money--or time--to cover the other 380-plus species and "species groups," some of which live in the same waters as those heavily fished species.

So in a few months the agency could begin setting ACLs for these species based on thin or non-existent data. And while it's right to protect everything out there, this move could end up unintentionally closing fishing for popular species that are in no trouble. That's because in order to protect an overfished species entire areas can be closed to all fishing.

"That means beginning in 2012--just a few months--you could see fishing for snapper or grouper or tuna or who-knows-what-else closed because arbitrary deadlines based on not one iota of science have been set for hundreds of these others species," said Jeff Angers, executive director of the Center for Coastal Conservation, a marine sports fishing lobby.

"We could see fishing banned for species that are in no trouble, because the law requires these ACLs deadlines for species people seldom see, seldom even catch."

The fishing industry's solution is The Fisheries Science Improvement Act (H.R. 2304), introduced by Rep. Rob Whitman, R-Va.

The bill would amend Magnuson to allow NOAA to call for ACLs only on stocks for which they have recent stock assessments; allows the agency the regional fisheries councils to designate which species are fished heavily enough to require full-blown stock assessments, and allow those that see so little pressure to be managed with less intensive and expensive monitoring, and extend the deadline for those fish requiring ACLs to 2014.