Quote:
Originally Posted by Broad Bill
Paul you feel like you had a "Gotcha moment" when you said to Dan "the problem is BMF is understaffed and underfunded" in reply to his comment "the state of NJ doesn’t do crap to fight for our fisheries like other states do for their sportsman." Aren't you both saying the same thing differently? Whose fault is it that BMF is understaffed and underfunded? And are you implying all other states are properly staffed and funded except New Jersey as I'd find that highly improbable in this day and age. If New Jersey recognized the importance of recreational spend on our economy as they should, wouldn't the state properly fund and staff BMF?
From your exchanges, other states have figured it out, why in your opinion hasn't New Jersey. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, may BMF hasn't squeaked enough. And please don't say it has anything to do with the size of New Jersey, on a per capita basis we fish and contribute more to the economy than many states combined.
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IMO too many sportsman in Nj actually think we have a large voice here .
WE DONT
less than 1 percent hunt
less than 1 percent freshwater fish
While there is a possibility that 5 % fish Oceanside which IF we had an actual Salt water license we would know better , as the accounting using the registry doesn’t account for many who only fish on charter or head boats .
So to politicians here it’s not worth their efforts to chase money that only supports that super small percentage of it’s residents.
Until those who enjoy the outdoors figure out how to have a louder voice there won’t be any change in thinking higher up .
Our reef program is a classic example. No funding except paying its director who now has to wear many other hats in the fisheries work .
Only deployments are through donations . Yet the reefs really add to our fishery here .
ITS SAD that we as a coastal state don’t fo everything we can to improve what we have .
Many one time world class fisheries on the brink of being lost . Because too few people understand what we have , and care about its future .
Economic impact from our fisheries probably affects less than 7% of the state overall , between hotels , gas , food , tackle .
Still a drop in the bucket .
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