Dis. of Columbia Fishing News

In another historic show of solidarity, U.S. recreational and commercial fishermen will gather near the U.S. Capitol on March 21, 2012 in an organized demonstration supporting sensible reform of the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson Stevens Act). According to the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) which is helping organize this year's event, permitting efforts have been underway for weeks and official details about the organized protest will be made public in the coming days.

Washington, DC - The Seventh Annual National Assembly of Sportsmen's Caucuses (NASC) Sportsman-Legislator Summit, bringing together state policy makers and the hunting and fishing communities, will be held December 6th-9th, 2010 at The Grand Hotel Marriot Resort in Point Clear, Alabama.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 4, 2010 - After months of intense debate, today's official release of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations' (NOAA) Catch Share Policy provides recreational anglers with two key elements: a framework to redistribute the benefits of harvesting the nation's marine resources; and a commitment that catch shares have no place as a management tool for private recreational anglers. Coordinated input from the angling community significantly altered aspects of the draft policy, particularly the process of allocating fisheries between sectors. However the system of assigning fixed percentages of various fisheries to commercial interests remains a controversial management tool to recreational anglers.

WASHINGTON-Following a five-week trial, a fish wholesaler and two of its employees were found guilty with purchasing illegally harvested striped bass, known locally as rockfish, from the Potomac River in Virginia and Maryland from 1995 through 2007, the Justice Department announced today.

Students from approximately 50 Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC area schools will release American shad fry (baby fish) into the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers on Friday, April 30 beginning at 9:00 a.m. For the past week, 4,000 students have been caring for the eggs in the classroom as a hands-on approach to science and biology to continue to restore the Potomac River's population of American Shad.

Washington, DC - Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus (CSC) member Rep. Adam Putnam and CSC House Co-Chair Rep. Dan Boren have sent a letter today to the Chair of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force urging inclusion of the recreational fishing community in the formation of a proposed new ocean governance structure.

WASHINGTON - With supreme sadness, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today announced that its Chairman, James D. Range, passed away yesterday morning at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after a brief battle with cancer. He was 63.

Washington, DC - This Sunday Congress has the chance to renew its commitment to protect the nation's clean water and river heritage by passing a package of eight bi-partisan bills that include important protections for 82 rivers. Only once before in history has Congress protected more rivers at one time under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The bill would safeguard over 270,000 acres along over 1,000 miles of rivers in Oregon, California, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, and Massachusetts.

UNITED STATES SEEKS $21 MILLION FROM STATE OF OKLAHOMA ON UNPAID RESERVOIR CONTRACT

WASHINGTON-The United States has asked a federal court in Oklahoma to order the state of Oklahoma to pay more than $21 million due under a contract with the Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of Sardis Lake reservoir, the Justice Department announced Thursday. The state has owed payments to the federal government since 1983, and its last payment was 11 years ago.

Bainbridge Island, Washington - The top names in Fly Fishing have joined forces together to put togther a world-class fly fishing outfit as a fundraiser for Trout Unlimited-Alaska to help with their efforts protecting the Bristol Bay watershed.