Quote:
Originally Posted by reason162
I completely agree with you re Citizens.
However I don't see the regulatory people (and I suppose the environmental/conservation constituency) as analogous to the fat cats buying up policy makers. Those people are on the other side, the commercial side. We recreational guys are just caught in the middle.
The common theme on this (and other) fishing forums is that somehow there are people getting rich off imposing quotas on fisheries. I can't even begin to comprehend the logic of this argument. Surely the greed lies on the side of people who stand to profit off catching fish?
That's not to say that I agree with all regs. I can accept that the science is flawed in some cases, thin in others. I just find the knee-jerk reaction to any talk of regulations as "big government getting rich off us common folk" pretty hilarious.
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The theme of this site is that people are getting rich imposing quotas on fisheries? How did you come to that conclusion? The theme is this-Fisheries management is flawed with bogus data and it is run by unqualified people. If a fishery is healthy I do not have a problem with a hard working commercial netter making a living. I do have a problem when they put stricter regulations on recs. for that same species of fish. No matter how you look at the ''big'' commercial fishing companies have more money hence more lobbyists going to Washington. Even a small mom and pop commercial business is backed up with the money of the larger commercial fleets. It took the devastation of our fishery nation wide by Russia and Japan to get the 200 mile limit in place. Until we have a President that is a salt water fisherman we are screwed. We as recreational fisherman just want our ''fair'' share and we will never be able to match the money for lobbyists that the commercial side has. This is not nation wide only coast wide. If we all and I am talking the entire nation,put the money in one pool for lobbyists we might have a chance. In the end every fish in the ocean will be regulated.
If we revamped the entire Fisheries Management and hired all new biologists where would they start? That's correct they have no data so they would still have use the flawed data. This is not only New Jersey being screwed. It is nation wide. How many people are employed by NOAA nation wide?
