“It was no surprise to the White House that anglers and the sportfishing community are upset with the direction of the Interim Report, though I think they may have underestimated the outcry from America’s anglers,” said Chris Horton, BASS conservation director.

President Obama issued a memo on June 12^th that established an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, a CEQ-led group comprised of 23 federal entities to develop a policy and framework for managing, among other things, public use of our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. The Task Force is set to deliver this framework by December 9^th.

During the discussions, CEQ leaders explained that the exclusion of recreational angling as a significant component of the policy was an unintentional omission, said Horton.

 The meeting included representatives from the American Sportfishing Association, Center for Coastal Conservation, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Coastal Conservation Association and National Marine Manufacturers Association.

 “It was a good meeting. They recognized that America’s anglers are not happy with the current direction of the task force, and they seem to want to correct their actions. We proposed that they make recreational use of U.S. waters, including recreational angling, a top priority in whatever policy is developed,” said Horton. “In an e-mail follow-up to the meeting, we thanked the White House for the opportunity to share our concerns and again proposed that they incorporate recreational angling as a priority of the policy.”

 The process has moved into the second phase, which will be dedicated to developing a framework for ‘spatial planning,’ and will likely include the proliferation of zones on a map that dictates who can and cannot access or use selected areas of the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes.

 BASS and the sportfishing community will continue efforts to work with the White House to develop a policy framework that benefits not only the resource, but the users and caretakers of that resource.