The Kenai River Sportfishing Association held their annual Classic Roundtable this afternoon where a panel addressed the re-authorization of the Magnuson Stevens Act.
KRSA Board Member Phil Dyskow was the moderator.
Dyskow: “We want to see a broader awareness and understanding of the economic and social values of recreational fishing, and that’s what this is about. We want to see Washington (D.C.) based policy that specifically addresses recreational fishing, what is done today is the National Marine Fishery Service uses policy that was developed over many years to manage commercial fishing and they apply that to recreational fishing and it doesn’t always work. Again, this isn’t an either or battle, we’re not trying to say that recreational fishing is more important than commercial fishing but we’re trying to say that they are both important.”
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich joined Dyskow and other panelists who were there to address adding language specific to recreational fishing to the Magnuson Stevens Act, developing national recreational fishing policies, and increasing the understanding of economical impacts of recreational fishing.