Thank you to all of the RFA members who voted for Donald Trump to be our 45th president. We understand that there were members that felt that we shouldn’t endorse a candidate and didn’t agree with our choice. The fact is that, much like the NRA does with second amendment issues, we look at which candidates we will be able to work with in order to maintain access to our fisheries while maintaining a healthy balance of conservation to ensure a sustainable fishery for our children to enjoy.
In this election, Donald Trump was clearly the candidate that we needed to back. We expected that you would weigh our endorsement along with how each candidate aligns with any other views that you may have and vote for the one that most closely mirrors your own ideals and beliefs. Of course, we didn’t expect you to base your vote solely on who the RFA endorses. We only sought to make clear which candidate would serve recreational fishermen better.
We look forward to working with the Trump administration to correct issues with the Magnuson – Stevens Act, water quality, sector separation, limited entry, and other issues. Our hope is that with a president that isn’t indebted to Pew and other extremist groups that we can make historic progress in returning fairness and freedom to our fisheries.
We have to be mindful of how we treat our fragile ocean fisheries, and at the same time ensure that we don’t continue to allow recreational fishermen to be pushed aside and mired in red tape while special interest clears the way for commercial groups and environmental extremism.
Going forward, we trust our membership to vote their conscience and to use our input from a fisheries policy standpoint as a piece of the puzzle, not the entire puzzle.
Thank you for your trust.