Anglers head to Washington to voice concerns

America's anglers are mad ... and they're not going to take it anymore.

What is reputed to be the first "Fisherman's March on Washington, D.C." is slated for Wednesday. It's an effort by dozens of recreational and commercial fishing groups to direct the attention of the federal government toward what the anglers say is gross mismanagement of fisheries in federal waters.

The unusual cooperation between commercial and recreational groups - usually at odds over nearly everything - has resulted from stringent rules put in place in the past several years on species such as red snapper and various groupers.

Federal agencies, bound by law to use the "best available science" in assessing fish populations, have relied on a Marine Recreational Fishing Statistical Survey. Almost without exception, anglers say the survey gives grossly misleading results.

"There are more red snapper off the west coast of Florida than there have been in my lifetime, and the federal survey says the species is in trouble and the fishery has to be closed," said St. Petersburg captain Randy Rochelle, one of many area skippers who have noted the resurgence of the popular reef fish. "They're not even close to being right on that.

"A lot of days, we can't fish for grouper because there are so many snapper taking our baits before the gags get to them."

Estimating fish populations in the open sea is anything but an exact science, and the method now in use, basically based on sparse surveys at the dock and by phone, is viewed as seriously flawed by nearly all fishery users. Worse, five years ago the National Research Council declared the survey methods inaccurate and called for a new system to be in place by 2009, but the system is not being used.

Federal fishery managers, on the other hand, say they are bound by law to use whatever statistics are available - accurate or not - and to err on the side of caution in fishery management. That means closing or curtailing any fishery where the overall harvest appears to be depleting the number of adult spawners.

Anglers are also concerned that avid environmental groups that oppose all fishing on moral grounds have gotten their hands on the levers of power in the National Marine Fisheries Service, and are driving toward putting an end to all harvest from the seas. That is despite decades of evidence that appropriate management, including limited harvest of various species, can result in abundant and sustainable fisheries for recreational and commercial users.

The anglers got a boost this past week when Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the Secretary of Commerce to issue a moratorium on the use of the marine statistical survey, which Schumer called "fatally flawed data," to manage the fisheries along the East Coast.

Spokesman Bob Zales of Panama City said thousands of anglers from at least 21 states are expected to attend Wednesday's rally from noon to 3 p.m. in front of the Capitol building. He said all commercial and recreational fishermen are welcome, and low-cost chartered bus transportation is available from some points.

For more information, visit www.unitedwefish.com.