It may seem too good to be true, and I realize that such seems often turn out to be just that, not true, but a new Presidential executive order may well stop more No Fishing Zones from being imposed.

The order hasn't really sunk in yet in the fishing world, having come qui- etly out of the White House on Sept 26 amid campaign madness, eco- nomic turmoil and war news.

But this order should go a long way toward derailing the runaway marine reserves train that wipes out small recreational fishing catches even where the family-level angling has nothing to do with industrial overfishing.

The total-no-take zones have flourished over the past decade largely be- cause of an earlier executive order by President Clinton that called for ex- panded marine protected areas. It didn't necessarily specify bans on all fishing but was interpreted to favor across-the-board prohibitions.

Now, the amended order by President Bush is clear. It requires:

"...that recreational fishing shall be managed as a sustainable activity in national wildlife refuges, national parks, national monuments, nation- al marine sanctuaries, marine protected areas, or any other relevant con- servation or management areas or activities under any Federal authority consistent with applicable law."

You can be certain that the No Fishing Gang will do everything possi- ble to interpret the new order its own way. We suggest, though, that it will be tough to change the meaning of "recreational fishing shall be managed as a sustainable activity."

Neither will it be easy for the new President to change the order under the circumstances and necessary procedures.

The principle behind the new order ought to have many ramifications, including ammunition against pending recreational grouper closures planned by federal authorities (see On the Conservation Front, p. 50, this issue).

Another potential application would be to block renewal of the recre- ational fishing ban imposed on the large west half of the Dry Tortuguas National Park.

Fishing in the Tortugas Park before the shutout not only was clearly sus- tainable, it was arguably the very best bottom fishing in all of Florida, or perhaps anywhere. The scientists' own research indicated extremely high fish abundance, and no sign of problems.

We should note, by the way, that we have no problem with certain lim- ited closures at spawning aggregations or individual coral heads.

Our focus here is solely against arbitrary large lockouts where less ex- treme measures would meet all resource goals.

We urge sportfishing conservationists to fully support all actions, includ- ing lawsuits where necessary, to fulfill the intent of the White House ex- ecutive order.

--Karl Wickstrom