Gamefish Status???

[BasicPatrick]

The reality of this pending announcement is that this is a "feeel good" Executive Order at best and in the end, may end up being a very bad thing.

For those interested in the question, What does this mean, think about the following.

The definition of "game fish staus" being used in this order is "no sale". The Presidential order will will make S-B & Red Drum "game fish" in federal waters effectively prohibiting "commercial" fishing for S-B in federal waters. Considering that there is already a "regulation" that prohibits all fishing for S-B in federal waters, the executive Order alone will change nothing.

However, I predict the "real agenda" of this Executive Order will turn into a very bad thing. Executive Orders carry a lot of weight in the Federal Government. This will most likely be read by fisheries managers as a buffer, ending the arguement that if the EEZ is open for Recs it should be open for commercials. That will allow managers to open Federal Waters (EEZ) to recreational fishing for S-B. If the EEZ is opened for S-B recreational fishing, the recreational harvest will increase and we will be on our way to overfishing.

I see this as yet another move by those revisionist historians that blame the collapse of S-B on the commercials to make an allocation grab for recreational fishing and forget that we were a part of the collapse. The recreational fishery for S-B must retain the major protection of a closed EEZ so that we may be protected from ourselves. I hope that this does not happen but I am told the Executive Order is a done deal. S-B are successfully rebuilt and to eliminate the largest tool we have to protect the stock makes no sense. I agree we should concentrate of increasing forage, but this has nothing to do with that other and more major issue.