THE US-based Pew organisation has come under fire for yet again failing to discriminate between industrial and recreational fishing activities.
Doug Olander, the editor-in-chief of the influencial American magazine Sport Fishing, lambasts Pew in his February editorial over plans to ban fishing around Bermuda.
This latest move follows the failure of Pew’s $10 million campaign to ban all fishing in Australia’s Coral Sea.
In his editorial, titled “Pew’s Tunnel Vision Helps No One”, Olander criticises Pew for ignoring the socio-economic benefits of sustainable recreational fishing activity in favour of blanket lock-outs.
“Unfortunately, Pew remains so focused on closing off the oceans that it can’t be bothered to disassociate even limited recreational fishing from industrial commercial fishing or seabed mining,” Olander says.
Olander then advocates for proactive strategies presenting anglers as “stewards” of the marine environment as developed by Keep Australia Fishing as being preferable to Pew’s lock-out proposals.
Read Olander’s editorial in full HERE.
Check out www.sportfishingmag.com for more details on Pew’s international activities.
