FISHERMEN/Tuesdays Report and Short Rant!!

[Regulatorman]

capt Ron.. I appreciate you being a solid, devoted voice for the recreational angler community...

In addition to writing checks and making a donation to the SSFFF... While I believe this will certainly help, I believe you along with others who post in this forum hit the nail on the head.... Unfortunately it is apparent that a very small percentage of us. (Recreational anglers) really do care...

I hope I'm wrong, but these are some of the reasons why I feel this way...

1- you are doing an absolutely commendable gesture in hosting the SSFFF fund raiser on Friday... In my opinion, within the first week of this trip being announced, all the spots should have been sold out.. Based on your post, spots remain available... Maybe the majority like me have to work and can't take the day off....hopefully donations will still filter in from those who can't get the day off...

2- recreational anglers in our area just don't seem to stick together. I'm fortunate to fish quite a bit in Texas and Louisiana.... This crap simply does not exist down there.. They have slot limits that are reasonable.. The recreational anglers stick together and they make their voices heard.. The politicians in these states (many of them) are PRO- Outdoorsmen and protect their constituents. even better politicians in these states are outdoorsmen and have a vested interest in protecting their fisheries.... I'm not aware of any local politician along our coast who is an. Outdoorsmen and shares our passion.

I think the limited number of us who really do care need to become "politicians" within our fishing community... What exactly is my point- well maybe we band together with a quality written petition that we all agree on.... Guys in our region - who do care need take these petitions and walk around their marinas, fishing clubs, have these petitions on every fluke party boat / 6 pack charter boat in our area.... I think if we band together and have one unified voice, all asking for the same demand... That there is some power in our signatures/ voices... Hopefully we can gather the signatures from thousands of recreational anglers from the very avid anglers who do really care to those recreational families that might only fish 1 day a season.... My opinion here is we all band together, get on the same page... And band together, stronger than we have before. We collect as many signatures and then we invite all these NY / NJ politicians to "our meeting." you can lead with the recent SSFFF findings report... Then we all back you up with thousands of our signatures all supporting the same, one cause... This is solely a suggestion based on how I have observed other passionate anglers down south stick together and drive results...

I'm happy to sign on board as the Staten Island, NY advocate... Will be happy to take this unified petition around to all the clubs, marinas, etc. and gather signatures...

I'll end my rant with your Quote from above "Haven't we had enough already?"

[Perfesser]

Originally Posted by Regulatorman

recreational anglers in our area just don't seem to stick together. I'm fortunate to fish quite a bit in Texas and Louisiana.... This crap simply does not exist down there.. They have slot limits that are reasonable.. The recreational anglers stick together and they make their voices heard.. The politicians in these states (many of them) are PRO- Outdoorsmen and protect their constituents. even better politicians in these states are outdoorsmen and have a vested interest in protecting their fisheries.... I'm not aware of any local politician along our coast who is an. Outdoorsmen and shares our passion."

It's not that we don't stick together--witness the numerous and (sometimes) raging-mad posts on this message board. Without getting too wordy, the South has, historically, resisted any type of regulations: It took a Supreme Court ruling to integrate their schools! As many of us know too well, NJ finds itself at the top of the regulation charts in all aspects of life, let alone the size and limits of the fish we take from the oceans, bays and rivers that our politicians love to think are part of their constituencies. We're so used to regulations we tend to take them in stride, a "cost of living in the metropolitan area" so to speak. Show someone in Texas or Louisiana your property tax or auto insurance bill; see what kind of response that gets!

As long as fisherman occupy the lower end of the lobbying crowd, governors, senators and representative may listen but in the end will ignore us. Hopefully, though the efforts of the SSFF and this message board, the new data will get into the right hands and on the pages of the right newspapers and on the airwaves of the right TV and radio stations.