Please thank your state house rep for their help on this if you haven’t already. A resolution was introduced in the SC House by Representative Ryan. It will go to the Senate when it passes the House.
Note that this resolution is our statehouse asking our US Congress to address our offshore fishery problems without further delay.
SOUTH CAROLINA SENDS FISHING MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
RFA-SC Praises State Legislators For Helping Take Up Access Fight
The South Carolina Legislature is sending the U.S. Congress a message from the entire state about what saltwater recreational fishermen and countless businesses desperately need; a resolution urging Congress to adopt S. 632, the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act, has been introduced in the South Carolina statehouse by Representative Kevin Ryan of Georgetown, SC.
The Recreational Fishing Alliance’s South Carolina chapter (RFA-SC) is extremely grateful to Representative Ryan as well as the bill’s cosponsors, including Representatives Brantley, Hardwick, Hearn, Barfield, Anderson, McCoy, Patrick, Gilliard, Erickson, Hodges, Stavrinakis, Viers, R.L. Brown, Clemmons, Edge, Herbkersman, Limehouse and Sottile. These leaders understand the importance of recreational fishing to the state of South Carolina - they also understand that Congress must reform broken a fisheries laws, and the Department of Commerce must prioritize funding for more frequent and accurate stock fishery stock assessments.
The resolution states how fishery assessments are currently highly inaccurate, and that since the last reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act regional management councils have been required to rebuild fisheries within 10 years. RFA-SC board member Captain Mark Brown of Shem Creek said, "I guess people are finally waking up and realizing this isn’t just about red snapper or snowy grouper when they are now having to throw back hundreds of large black sea bass due to the closu