Page 28
Making Waves |
Nov/Dec 2012
profiles Jim Donofrio, RFA Executive Director
Jim Donofrio has been the driving force behind the Recreational Fishing Alliance since the beginning over 15 years ago. Friends and critics alike agree that he is outspoken, passionate, an effective lobbyist and possesses an intellect capable of predicting the impacts and implications of legislation and regulatory actions well into the future. He is at home at the helm of a tournament fishing boat chasing marlin, drifting a skiff in a bay for flounder, sitting in a duck blind at sunrise his trusty lab by his side, conferring with members of Congress or testifying at high level
public hearings. He easily goes from camouflage and waders to three piece suits, from the local luncheonettes to D.C. receptions without missing a beat. So who is Jim Donofrio and how did he come to represent recreational fishermen and the industry with such passion, perception and dedication? Jim grew up in a small suburban town in New Jersey in the 1950s and 60s. When he wasn’t in school he was off somewhere fishing or hunting. His introduction to saltwater fishing led him to his earliest
jobs on the water as a deckhand on some of most highly regarded for-hire boats in the Sandy Hook area in the late 1960s. His first ride was on the Francis C with veteran skipper Don Calio and a little later aboard the Blackfin under the tutelage of its legendary captain, Joe Renzo. In 1971 he was aboard Andy Albano’s Tilly, a private boat that specialized in targeting giant bluefin tuna in the Mudhole off the North Jersey coast. The entire giant tuna fleet at that time consisted of about a dozen boats. They had no loran, navigating the old fashioned way using ranges,