To Fish, or Not to Fish? That's the Rub

by j. wright
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Robert Montgomery of ESPN Outdoors.com wrote recently that the Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters. He goes on to say, "Now we see NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the Obama administration planning the future of recreational fishing access in America based on a similar agenda of these same groups and other Big Green anti-use organizations, through an Executive Order by the President."

Conversely, Deadbeat.com says that ESPN's anti-recreational fishing allegation is false; a rumor. I'm not familiar with deadbeat.com but they are linked to an extremely liberal mediamatters.com and that raises some skepticism on my part. AP and several other Internet news sources have published this report so I guess it's up to you the readers to choose what to believe.

In a nutshell however, President Obama, in order to assuage the Green Environmentalist special interest lobby, could with one stroke of a pen with an Executive Order make it illegal for you to take your boat out on Lakes Cadillac or Mitchell here in my northern Michigan neighborhood and attempt to catch a fish for dinner. If that becomes the case, welcome to the new, fundamentally changed, USSA.

Where does the federal government get the authority to decide what takes place on an isolated body of water? When Obama's current Climate Czar Carol Browner headed up the EPA under President Clinton in the 1990s, she implemented what is referred to as the "Glancing Goose Test." Geese being migratory birds fly across state borders. The theory is that if they glance down and see a body of water, no matter it's size, then as migratory border crossing birds, that water falls under the auspices of the interstate commerce clause. Is that a stretch?

This test was thrown out of court once but the Browner EPA ignored the ruling. Apparently the Obama administration may be ignoring it today, or they're not. Time will certainly tell.

Good fishing before all of this comes to pass. I can't begin to imagine the public outcry if indeed it does.

jaq~