Russell Dunn is the National Policy Advisor for Recreational Fisheries, a job he’s held across three different administrations (Obama-Biden, Trump-Pence and Biden-Harris). According to Dunn’s online bio at NOAA Fisheries, “As part of NOAA Fisheries’ national leadership team, he focuses high-level institutional attention on key angling priorities and serves as the national point of contact for the saltwater recreational fishing community and other federal agencies.”
As an editor looking to get info from a rather large and unwieldy federal bureaucracy Dunn has been very helpful with helping track down answers for readers; he’s been a highly approachable government contact who I often bump into many national industry events. That said, I still can’t seem to get myself onto his double-secret email list of bulletins and announcements alongside other “respected” fishing industry folks. Lucky for me there are several contacts in that special clique that redact private details before sending info my way.
On October 16th, Dunn announced to his private list of email friends that NOAA Fisheries was using $2 million of Inflation Reduction Act funds on the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. “The Biden-Harris Administration announced today more than $2 million in Inflation Reduction Act funds for key partnerships with state and academic organizations, in support of improving scientific data and management decisions for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico,” Dunn noted, explaining how approximately $1 million was being dedicated to the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission to expand the for-hire at-sea data collection programs into the western Gulf of Mexico to improve recreational discard data.
“This marks the first time in history that all five Gulf States will have active at-sea data collection programs in place for the for-hire fisheries in federal waters,” Dunn noted. Heck, that must be nice! The Gulf of Mexico Marine Fisheries Commission functions much the same was our Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission; regrettably, I don’t believe that Atlantic Coastal interests qualify for much federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, except of course the millions of dollars in subsidies for industrial offshore wind developers.
“We are also distributing approximately $1 million to the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Miami to develop the next generation surveys using acoustic technology to improve the detection of red snapper,” added Dunn, while noting “This helps us work towards our goal of improving abundance estimates of red snapper and other reef fish to more accurately assess population status.”
Again, we have highly respected universities in New Jersey like Stockton, Monmouth and Rutgers with highly capable marine sciences programs who could use a heavy dose of federal funding to improve abundance estimates and recreational data collection for Atlantic species like striped bass in particular, but rather it seems that the Gulf of Mexico gets all of the financial attention in Washington DC.
Some folks don’t like mixing politics with fishing; but the fact is that without proper representation from Trenton down to Washington DC, anglers and our regional fisheries are just going to get fleeced if we don’t stand up and make a ruckus. Independent of partisan preference (which trust me, I have none) I consider it my responsibility to poke the bureaucracy so readers know how our fish sausages are getting stuffed, even if it risks occasionally offending someone’s party loyalties or leading to my expulsion from private email chains and special membership clubs.
I have my personal views on the Inflation Reduction Act and how it actually impacts U.S. inflation, but that’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. What we should all have a problem with is politicians from either side of the aisle raiding the federal trough for their own projects at home, particularly when some of us aren’t getting any taste at all. And that’s why I continually rattle and poke the cage.
It’s also why I vote.
