NOAA Reopens Additional Area in the Gulf for Finfish Fishing

Ellen Peel, President of The Billfish Foundation said “she applauds Dr. Lubchenco and her team at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration for the leadership shown in getting an additional 5,000 square miles of Gulf waters opened to finfish fishing, as fast as can be safely done”.  We also greatly appreciate Dr. Lubchenco reaching out to the sportfishing community and staying mindful of the severe position we are in following the oil spill.   Our sportfishing conservation and boating community throughout the Gulf is struggling desperately with the closures.  Opening these waters today, just in time for the end of the summer and Labor Day weekend is fantastic news for a few tournaments will be saved, fishing can begin and the dependent businesses will begin to hear the cash registers ring again.  We look forward to when the waters off Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are also opened.   Until then anglers from those states are urged to vacation in areas with open water to fish with friends on charter boats, which are eager for business.

The Billfish Foundation looks to Dr. Lubchenco’s leadership also in making certain that the sportfishing and boating industry is recognized in the Gulf Restoration Plan.  Sportfishing is strongly compatible with conservation and provides ongoing economic input throughout the Gulf region and beyond.  At the recent town hall meetings convened by the Secretary of the Navy, charged with the responsibility of drafting the Restoration Plan, it was disappointing to realize not one single fishery management expert was present with the Secretary from the National Marine Fisheries Service.   Sportfishing and boating in the Gulf comprise a hugely important industry, one that can be a positive engine of action through implementation of a constructive Gulf Restoration Plan.