Even those totally oblivious to all around them living in a make-believe world of their own, will have some indication than the last week has been anything but kind to commercial fishermen or sportsmen. In fact, most of the latter have found solace in the limited number of Premiership matches and the NFL play-offs. Bouncing about on the ocean has really not been an option.

Actually, checking and repairing moorings to ensure that the boat doesn't go walkabout during one of the storms has been a more likely occupation over the last couple of weeks.

Recreational fishing organisations are taking action in the United States that should get the attention of law makers. They plan to rally on the steps of the Capitol building on February 24 to protest the present fishing legislation. Under several legal acts, various fisheries have been closed and it is anticipated that the demonstrators will be joined by elements of the commercial fishermen's organisations.

As an aside, but nonetheless an important consideration in all this dialogue is the fact that "commercial" fisherman as described in the US is nowhere near the definition used here or in many places elsewhere.

In some states in the US, recreational fishermen can legally sell their catch, so the line between commercial and recreational fisherman is a lot more blurred than our simplistic reasoning that if you are legally able to sell the fish then you are, by definition, a commercial fisherman.

Fisheries management in the US is really complicated. Apart from the commercial/recreational divide, there are numerous aspects of the situation that need to be taken into consideration. To give an overview, consider that there are Federal waters where national laws take precedence and state waters where state law, like Florida state law, are the rules to be followed.

A quick for instance, would be the fact that the sale of sailfish flesh has been banned in Florida for many years and this was an early conservation law enacted by the Florida state legislature. It was not until decades later that the Federal government became involved in managing billfish stocks.

In some instances, state laws may duplicate Federal laws and vice versa. When we talk about fish and fishing, we tend to think about marine game fish like wahoo and tuna – and maybe a little about food fish like hinds and jacks.

In other places, though, things can be a lot more complex.

There are all kinds of marine creatures that we never think about that are harvested for food and other uses. Try clams, mussels, whelks and ornamental fish species – there are a great variety in Florida. Then include the freshwater species – some of which are important food or recreational fish.

The black bass comes to mind.

Tied into all this wildlife management are things like birds, particularly waterfowl, some of which are legitimately hunted (ducks and geese), alligators and other animals. Seemingly totally unrelated but nevertheless part of the web can be things like pollution legislation (certain pollutants can harm inland freshwater ways that eventually impact salt marshes and maybe even the tidal and coastal areas out to some distance offshore). In many respects, mainland fisheries management has far more facets than those of a small island.

To return to the demonstration, the recreational anglers are hoping to gain Congressional support for their inclusion in fisheries management issues. They feel that, over the years, they have been excluded from the process with scientists and other non-users of the resources having the final say. This has led to the closure of a number of fisheries with little concern for fishermen (both commercial and recreational) and coastal communities.

Taking the whole business to a higher level, there are also international ramifications. The US is party to ICCAT, IATTC, the UN Agreement on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, and other international fishery management organisations. The resolutions and responsibilities arising from these can also be demanding and far-reaching.

Just the fact that the US has coastlines on two oceans is enough to confuse things but also the American fishing fleet could be found just about anywhere in the world. Add in the recreational fleet which includes sport fishing boats that are endlessly in search of the ultimate fish be in off Ghana or Ascension Island in the Atlantic or off the Gilberts in the Pacific, and you have a massively difficult role to play.

While it might seem relatively easy to satisfy those who want to utilise the resources, you can't leave the conservationists out of the equation. There is seemingly no limit to the number or groups, bodies and organisations dedicated to saving wetlands, saving marine mammals, saving endangered or perceived to be endangered species, guaranteeing sustainable fish yields and even governments elsewhere in the world that have a vested interest in the bounty of the world's oceans. Try keeping all these players happy.

One would hope that the Recreational Fishing Alliance which is the moving force behind this initiative along with numerous other groups will be successful in at least getting Congress to re-open some of the issues that affect fishing.

Part of the problem is that politics moves slowly and that legislation often fails to move with the times. One has only to look at law books to see that some totally irrelevant legislation is still active or that the real situation has changed far faster than the laws allowed for.

Trying to manage nature is more like playing catch-up than being able to set in stone for eternity. Add to that various international intrigues and myriad economic interests and we may well have an unsolvable conundrum on our hands when it comes to the global scale.

It should make our fishery problems and the small, almost miniscule, number of stakeholders involved a simple matter to resolve, but, then again, we know better than to assume any simple solution to a problem of this nature.

It can all make you feel that things are hopeless, especially with the doom and gloom people proclaiming the end of the world's fisheries and our ultimate, and apparently inevitable demise come 2012!

On to happier thoughts, and sometimes soon, the weather should settle down in a more predictable pattern. Certainly, it should warm up a bit, particularly when we get a dominant southerly flow.

The present situation shouldn't be too much of a surprise given the temperatures in places like Florida. Just now the cold fronts seem to have the upper hand but this won't last and we will soon get some days that will be good enough for us to head offshore in search of some Tight lines!!!