Does Obamas ban on fishing involve freshwater or saltwater fishing? When is this bill?

[The Gorgeous Sarah Palin]

going to be voted on?

[Englishman in Kentucky]

ESPN broke the news, speculating that 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 inland waters. So far, ESPN is the only source reporting the news. Meanwhile, Internet is on fire speculating that President Obama might introduce a fishing ban. The news spurred a lot of negative feedback with some Twitter users already calling the fishing ban "Obama's assault on freedom" and "final nail in his coffin."The current U.S. direction with fishing is a direct parallel to what happened in Canada with hunting: The negative economic impacts on hard working American families and small businesses are being ignored.

[UNITED PLANKTON]

this will be the last straw for me...i have been fishing my whole life...now its criminal???why should i be surprised? these scumbag liberals think hunters and fishers should be shot...they shoot "poachers" in africa dont they?more proof liberals will murder to control us...

[pearlmar]

There is no bill.Actually, the White House has created a task force to study how to better manage the nation's use of its oceans, perhaps with an eye to limiting -- but not eliminating -- areas where sport fishing is allowed. There is, after all, an issue of depleting resources. In fact, the International Game Fish Assn. supports sustainable conservation efforts.But to hear conservative talk show hosts tell it, Obama has already issued an executive order to ban fishing altogether.On Fox News' Glenn Beck show, the fire-breathing conservative blasted the White House for a stealth move to deny Americans their God-given right to fish, "done in darkness by executive order." He added: "Forget about the frickin' fish. People are losing their rights. Who's more important: the fish or you?"Rush Limbaugh also weighed in. The darling of the conservative radio audience said that "fishing is about to become a privilege controlled by Barack Obama" and that Obama "wants to ban sport fishing."All of this apparently started because a blogger for ESPN speculated that Obama's task force could eventually suggest bans on fishing in certain areas. Lots of other journalists jumped in to point out that no such thing had occurred, but that didn't stop the right-wing flame-fanners from suggesting that it was a done deal.

[Duct Tape Fixes All]

From what I have read from various online sources, the total banning of fishing is a rumor. There might be some limitations on where one can fish, but nothing more. I personally do not like the limitations, given that there are already bag limits and time restrictions on various popular species, if in places other than seasonally stocked areas. If there does become a ban on fishing, I'm just going to keep fishing.

[JW B9046]

There might be some limited fishing access in a few protected areas, but that has not even been decided. But somehow the right-wing have morphed this into "ALL FISHING WILL BE BANNED"http://coloradoindependent.com/48888/obama-to-ban-sport-fishing-right-after-seizing-all-hand-gunsESPN printed an acknowledgement that there were errors in the piece and that is just one man's opinion with no facts to back it up...will Beck et al mention that?"ESPNOutdoors.com has acknowledged "errors," lack of "balance" in piece sparking controversy. In a March 9 piece on ESPNOutdoors.com, Robert Montgomery wrote that the "Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing some of the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters." ESPNOutdoors.com executive editor Steve Bowman later posted the following acknowledgement on the site:ESPNOutdoors.com inadvertently contributed to a flare-up Tuesday when we posted the latest piece in a series of stories on President Barack Obama's newly created Ocean Policy Task Force, a column written by Robert Montgomery, a conservation writer for BASS since 1985. Regrettably, we made several errors in the editing and presentation of this installment. Though our series has included numerous news stories on the topic, this was not one of those -- it was an opinion piece, and should clearly have been labeled as commentary.And while our series overall has examined several sides of the topic, this particular column was not properly balanced and failed to represent contrary points of view. We have reached out to people on every side of the issue and reported their points of view -- if they chose to respond -- throughout the series, but failed to do so in this specific columnhttp://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/saltwater/columns/story?columnist=bowman_steve&id=4982359FYI"the Bush administration on the federal level and Governor Gray Davis, succeeded by the even more anti-fishing Schwarzenenegger administration in 2003, have closed more fishing areas and destroyed more fisheries than all of the previous administrations, Democratic and Republican, combined."http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/79933

[Jesse9239]

There is no bill. It was a recommendation of a blue ribbon task force.For some reason people are suddenly thinking that Democrats are unlike Republicans and actually use task forces and commissions to do something rather than the real reason which is NOT to do something.Like the 9/11 Commission and the Tower Commission and various panels on Social Security. The point is for a politician to say: "see I appointed a commission, I'm doing something." When in reality, they are hoping that everyone would have forgotten the original problem by the time the commission comes up with its ideas.Additionally, everybody should be more than aware that recreational hunters and fisherman are among the greatest environmentalists, because they want places that are not ruined by industry to hunt and fish.

[BekindtoAnimals22]

Animal conservation should be up to the states. My state only allowed very limited deer hunting for years and now we have an over abundance of them. They allow one day for hunters to enter state parks and kill deer because there are so many, they might otherwise starve. They are a hazard on the roadway. The same thing would happen if fishing was stopped in some areas. The US government meddles too much in local and state issues. Every state has their own conservation laws and that is how it should be.