California Moving to Ban Fishing Tackle
DTSC Runs Roughshod Over Anglers, Despite No Scientific Basis
(Sacramento, CA): Today, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) announced that common fishing tackle would remain on a list of consumer
products marked to undergo a costly and onerous regulatory process, a reckless
move that could lead to a ban on most of today's fishing tackle and will likely
accelerate the decline in fishing participation, threaten jobs and reduce state
revenue.
DTSC admitted in public hearings that it has no scientific studies
demonstrating that lead poses an environmental problem in California. Yet, as
evidenced its decision today, DTSC has declared fishing gear to be one of the
top seven most significant threats to health faced by Californians and its
environment.
"State regulators failed to comply with state law that requires them to
conduct an independent analysis before including any product in this regulatory
process. The inclusion of fishing tackle will likely harm recreational fishing
and the jobs that depend on it," said David Dickerson, President of the
California Sportfishing League. "It appears that
politics, rather than science, was the basis for DTSC's decision. While there
are many sources of pollution that pose a serious threat to California's ocean
and streams, anglers are not among them."
In 2010, the U.S. EPA ruled that lead weights do not pose an unreasonable risk
to wildlife and this past December, President Barack Obama signed a budget bill
that prohibits the use of federal dollars to ban lead fishing weights.
As revealed in a study recently released by CSL, high costs and unwarranted
limitations on fishing have contributed to a major decline in California's
fishing participation rate. While California has one the Nation's longest
coastlines, over 4,000 lakes and reservoirs, 20,000 registered ponds and
thousands of miles of streams, the State ranks dead last in the United States
for fishing participation. Since 1980, annual fishing license sales have
declined by over 55%, while California's population has increased by nearly 60%
to over 37 million people. If this trend continues, the number of fishing
licenses is expected to drop below 500,000 or another 47%.
"The high cost of fishing licenses and unwarranted limits on fishing have
contributed to a significant decline in participation," said Dickerson.
"Increasing the cost of gear and potential bans will only accelerate the
decline, and threaten California jobs that are dependent on outdoor recreation
and tourism."
Experts believe regulations that could follow the DTSC's assessment will be
extremely costly and may encourage manufactures to flee the California market.
"The proposed regulations will increase the likelihood that manufacturers,
sellers and retailers of fishing weights and gear will be subjected to costly
and onerous regulations, and potential fines," wrote Maureen Gorsen, an environmental attorney at Alston & Bird LLP
and former director of DTSC, in a legal memo. "The result could be a wide
range of enforcement options requiring restrictions or bans on sale, product
reformulation, additional environmental impact studies, development of disposal
programs or funding for fundamental research and development. The bottom line
is that the cost of manufacturing fishing gear will increase significantly and
these costs will be passed on to consumers."
BACKGROUND
Anglers can express their objections to new fishing tackle regulations or a
potential ban by signing an online petition found on CSL's website and Facebook
page. To date, over 1,900 California anglers have signed the petition.
The Green Chemistry Initiative, under which the DTSC is authorized to regulate
potentially dangerous toxins, was established by the State Legislature and
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008 to depoliticize the process by which
individual products and chemicals were regulated. The law requires DTSC to
conduct independent, California-specific analysis prior to listing a product
for potential regulation. During its September 29, 2014 workshop in Cypress,
DTSC officials repeatedly stated that it had not, and would not, conduct
required scientific analysis.
Requiring non-lead fishing tackle could require significant and costly changes
for the fishing industry. Depending on the alternative metal and current
prevailing raw material costs, the cost of fishing gear could increase 10- to
20-fold.
When the Department's draft Priority Product Work Plan was first released in
September, CSL led efforts to have fishing gear removed from the document. The
California Chamber of Commerce, the California Travel Association, the National
Federation of Independent Business, the California Parks Hospitality
Association, the California Association for Recreational Fishing, the American Sportfishing Association, Coastside
Fishing Club and hundreds of individual anglers all submitted letters in favor
of delisting fishing gear. Additional background information can be found on
CSL's website.
Recreational fishing contributes over $4.9 billion annually to California's
economy, a major source of outdoor recreation, tourism and jobs.
The California Sportfishing League is a nonprofit
coalition of fresh and saltwater anglers, and small business owners devoted to
protecting access to recreational fishing, and the leading opponent of
additional fishing tackle regulations. To learn more about the threats to
recreational fishing visit the "Government Watch" page at www.SportfishingConservation.org.
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