World fishing deals hurt U.S.

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Why on God's green Earth does the United States bother participating in world-wide organizations -- to wit, the U.N. -- that do nothing more than bash Uncle Sam? Have we become such masochists that we need to be trashed by every Jacques, Sean and Olaf?

For example, Herb Moore, the government affairs director for the Recreational Fishing Alliance, a political action organization representing recreational fishermen and the recreational fishing industry, let us know that his group recently observed the U.S. delegation to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). It happened during the 18th meeting of the commission in Dublin. What occurred at the meeting would have been laughable had it not presented potentially serious problems for recreational anglers.

For starters, ICCAT is an international fishery management organization with 37 contracting nations (mostly European) that fish the Atlantic Ocean. ICCAT tries to set quotas and management measures to maintain the populations of marlin, swordfish and tuna species that migrate across the Atlantic, but the truth be known, violations by commercial boats are rampant.

However, this year's meeting topics included the possible imposition of further restrictions on recreational fishing. The nerve of those people is astonishing.

The RFA said the European Union (EU) once again proved to be the dominant player at ICCAT. John Spencer, the EU's chief negotiator, weighed in strongly on every major proposal and frequently controlled the floor during the week. Midway through the meeting, Spencer and the EU delegation fired a shot across the bow of the U.S. recreational fishing sector in the form of a resolution titled, "Recommendation to Adopt Measures Concerning Recreational Fishing."

The EU thinks it's time to regulate sport fishing to "ensure that this activity does not interfere with commercial fishing activities or does not undermine the sustainable exploitation of the stocks."

Wow. The Europeans want sport anglers to get out of the way so the commercial netters and long-liners can rob the Atlantic of what little is left of its fish stocks. Not only that, they want the recreational fishermen to watch their step. They might be interfering with the commercials' overall take.

And how silly can you get? The Europeans think the sport anglers should be prohibited from using nets, dredges or longlines to fish for marlin, swordfish or tuna.

Duh, you silly ICCAT. Sport anglers don't do any of that -- at least not American sport fishermen.