The battle between Aussie anglers and giant American environment group Pew over plans to ban fishing in the Coral Sea is attracting international interest.
Doug Olander, the editor-in-chief of the influential US magazine Sport Fishing, has followed the articles written by Fishing World publisher/editor Jim Harnwell with Pew’s Australian-based director Imogen Zethoven.
Olander has written a detailed treatise on the Pew campaign, and its possible impacts on anglers, in his blog on the Sport Fishing website.
In his blog Olander warns American anglers that Pew’s campaign to restrict fishing in Australian waters could extend to the US.
“The eyes of millions of sport-fishing enthusiasts should be focused on the Australian situation as indicative of the way Pew may deal with recreational fishing in general, not just in Australia. If that’s the case, let’s go fishing while we can. We may soon find ourselves in the same metaphorical boat as our Aussie mates – who, in Pew’s plan, will be competing to drop lines in suddenly very limited reef areas – crowded into fewer and fewer “fishing-permitted” zones.”
Read the Sport Fishing article in full here.
