In a March 10 FoxNews.com article about the White House “fighting back against fishing aficionados who say President Obama is planning to impose regulations that will give their hobby the hook,” reporter Joshua Rhett Miller writes that “neither document [from the Interagency Ocean Policy Task] contains language pertaining to a potential ban on recreational fishing, as some reports had previously asserted”:

Obama established the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force in June to address increasing pollution and habitat destruction within the nation's oceans, coastal regions and Great Lakes. Led by Nancy Sutley, the task force released an interim report in September that outlined nine priority objectives of the plan, including the coastal and marine spatial planning.

Three months later, in its interim framework, the task force defined that planning as an “effective process to better manage a range of social, economic, and cultural uses,” including commercial and recreational fishing, mining, tourism and traditional hunting, among others.

But neither document contains language pertaining to a potential ban on recreational fishing, as some reports had previously asserted.

Fishing enthusiasts became alarmed when a story posted on ESPNOutdoors.com and widely circulated by bloggers alluded to the potential of a ban on recreational fishing. The Web site has since posted a clarification stating that columnist Robert Montgomery's opinion piece was improperly labeled.

Despite that clarification, recreational fishermen are reeling, fearing their rods are at risk.

While FoxNews.com writes that “some reports” and “bloggers alluded to the potential of a ban on recreational fishing,” FoxNews.com doesn't acknowledge that Fox News itself has been spreading the myth. Since yesterday, Fox Nation, Fox Business Network and the Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck have pushed the bogus claim. As of 6:27pm E.T. today, Fox Nation is still promoting the absurd story online: