MRAA: Ocean policy has anti-fishing bias

The Marine Retailers Association of America has weighed in on the direction the President's Council on Environmental Quality might be taking on recreational fishing, saying a preliminary report seems to have a "clear anti-fishing bias."

The special task force was charged with developing a national policy for conserving and managing ocean territory and the Great Lakes.

"We see a real threat to recreational fishing and boating of some of the public policy recommendations of the draft report," MRAA chairman Ed Lofgren said in a statement. "MRAA believes the tone of the report is biased against fishing and boating. We recommend the report be rewritten to include the requirement that the whole picture of mitigating economic conditions, such as the effect on jobs and tax dollars, be considered when developing public access policies."

The MRAA is asking its members to visit www.keepamericafishing.org and send a letter to President Obama and other key policymakers and ask they include recreational fishing and boating in the national policy.

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