While the nation continues to focus on the efforts to
contain the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the American Sportfishing
Association (ASA), the trade association representing the sportfishing
industry, is working to ensure that recreational fishing businesses are
accounted for in federal appropriations and through BP's disaster
response fund as the economic evaluation and assistance process
evolves.
On May 12, President Obama sent a
$118 million legislative package to Congress asking for additional funds
for oil spill response and to help speed assistance to people and
businesses affected by the spill. On May 13, the Senate Appropriations
Committee approved about $68 million of the White House's request with
more possibly on the way.
“This is a good first start and
we're pleased that the President and Congress have addressed the
critical need for additional funding,” said ASA President and CEO Mike
Nussman. “We are working to ensure that the sportfishing industry's
voice is heard as the economic assessment and financial compensation
efforts move forward. This includes reminding everyone that, despite
reports to the contrary, most of the Gulf is open for business.”
“Understandably, most of the
attention is being focused on the affected areas, however, there is
another side to this story that deserves to be told,” said ASA President
and CEO Mike Nussman. “According to the oil spill response Joint
Information Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the federal waters closed to recreational and commercial
fishing is only eight percent of the Gulf of Mexico. This means that 92
percent of the Gulf is open and available for recreational fishing.
Nussman further said, “In fact, the
vast majority of Gulf waters has not been affected by the oil spill and
continues to support productive recreational fishing and tourism
activities. State and local tourism and natural resource agencies'
websites clearly states that fishable waters are open and ready for
business. What we don't want – and can't afford as a nation and as an
industry – is economic collapse in the Gulf region as self-fulfilling
prophesy.”
Recreational fishing contributes $41
billion dollars in economic output in the Gulf Coast region annually
and supports over 300,000 jobs. The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most
popular areas for recreational fishing in the United States with nearly
six million saltwater anglers taking over 45 million fishing trips each
year, fishing for red drum, spotted seatrout, sheepshead and red snapper
among others. The oil spill has the potential to impact the nearly
2,300 tackle shops in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and the
West Coast of Florida.
Since 1992, more than $1 billion
from the Sport Fish and Boating Trust Fund has been dedicated to
conserve and restore Louisiana's coastal wetlands – $400 million since
Hurricane Katrina. The basis for the Fund is the federal excise tax on
sportfishing equipment and motorboat and small engine fuel.
In addition, the FishAmerica
Foundation, ASA's conservation and research foundation, is expanding its
Gulf Fund grant program to include fisheries and their habitats that
are expected to be impacted by the April oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico. The sportfishing industry established the Gulf Fund in 2005 to
help restore fisheries habitat and recreational fishing facilities
devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“Although no one is certain of the
long-term impacts of the oil spill, the FishAmerica Foundation is
prepared to step up and assist local groups with funding to restore
sportfish and their habitats once the restoration efforts begin,” said
FishAmerica Foundation Executive Director Johanna Laderman.
Nussman concluded, “The Deepwater
Horizon oil spill will test our natural resource agencies as never
before. While the impact on recreational fisheries and wildlife is
impossible to gauge at this time, everything must be done to clean up
this massive oil spill and measures must be put in place to ensure that
something like this does not happen again.”
