RFA MEMBERS APPLAUD SC LEGISLATORS’ REMINDER TO CONGRESS
Don’t Let Recreational Fishing Get Sold Short By Our National Oceans Policy
Columbia, SC - Members of the South Carolina Chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA-SC) know good legislation when they see it - and a bill introduced by South Carolina House District 15 Representative Jeff Duncan and District 14 Representative Mike Pitts deserved as much support as RFA-SC members could garner.
The legislation is a formal request by the South Carolina General Assembly for U.S Congress to take any measure within its power to mitigate or overturn any Presidential orders resulting from President Obama’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force recommendations if the recommendations fail to ensure and promote recreational fishing and access to public waters or if the recommendations fail to include responsibly regulated recreational boating and fishing as national priorities for our oceans, coasts and lakes.
As South Carolina House of Representatives Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee Chairman, a candidate for South Carolina’s Third United States Congressional District and a recreational fisherman himself, Chairman Duncan understands the looming implications if recreational fishing and access to public resources continue to not be a priority in our national coastal and marine policies.
Once RFA-SC members became interested in this legislation, it was not long before other SC House Members joined as co-sponsors, including South Carolina House District 65 Representative Jay Lucus as well as District 117 Representative Tim Scott, who is a candidate for South Carolina’s First United States Congressional District along much of the state’s coast.
With further increasing support and awareness of the legislation, a South Carolina Senate version of the legislation was introduced by several prominent coastal and lowcountry Senators. With the South Carolina legislative session winding down rapidly, Senators Chip Campse