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Hook, line & sinker: Bad policy
Buzz up!Monday, March 15, 2010
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A redo of federal policy on use of marine, Great Lakes and inland waters bears close watching by recreational anglers, the industry that serves them and Congress.

Changes suggested in the Ocean Policy Task Force's "Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning" will be implemented by executive order once the final report -- expected this month -- is out. Those changes likely won't be good for folks who fish and the more than 1 million jobs they support.

They're rightly concerned -- about bigger, more bureaucratic, more "top down" government; undue influence wielded by environmental extremists under the guise of "science;" public input as mere formality; and little if any regard for economic impact.

ESPN Outdoors columnist Robert Montgomery goes so far as to warn that the feds "could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing some of the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes and even inland waters."

Fortunately, anglers and their allies already are working to counter injurious policy changes the Obama administration may order. If this White House does go hook, line and sinker for bad policy, it will be up to Congress to cut bait so Americans can keep on fishing without federal meddling.