Message #260997

[Reuben]

Tom,

I am not trying to hijack your thread but all this is related to what is happening in your state...I just recieved this email ffrom a friend and thought I would post it.

 
 
Recreational Fishing Alliance   
Contact:  Jim Hutchinson, Jr. / 888-564-6732   For Immediate Release
August 17, 2011 

RFA is a group that is fighting for our fishing rights from what I understand.     
 
 
WAL-MART GIVES $36 MILLION TO ANTI-FISHING GROUPS

RFA Says Walton Family Foundation Supports MPA & Catch Share Efforts

 

August 17, 2011 - Wal-Mart announced this week its efforts to help fund the demise of both the recreational and commercial fishing industry while also working to ensure that the next generation of sportsmen will have less access to coastal fish stocks than at any point in U.S. history.
 

In August 16th news release from Wal-Mart corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Walton Family Foundation announced investments totaling more than $71.8 million awarded to various environmental initiatives in 2010, with over $36 million alone handed over to Marine Conservation grantees including Ocean Conservancy, Conservation International Foundation, Marine Stewardship Council, World Wildlife Fund and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

 

According to the release, the Walton Family Foundation "focuses on globally important marine areas and works with grantees and other partners to create networks of effectively managed protected areas that conserve key biological features, and ensure the sustainable utilization of marine resources - especially fisheries - in a way that benefits both nature and people."

 

Scott Burns, former director of marine conservation at World Wildlife Fund and now director of Walton Family Foundation's environmental efforts, said money will go to "protect and conserve natural resources while also recognizing the roles these waters play in the livelihoods of those who live nearby." The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) countered that these specially managed areas of coastal waters are also referred to as marine protected areas or marine reserves, and the end result is denied angler access, of no benefit to the very people whom Wal-Mart claims to benefit.