WHY should I care? WHY should I get involved? Why ME?
If I told the story about catching 30 and 40# bass regularly in December in NJ and NY, from the surf, I'm sure a lot would want to hear it.
If I told the story about catching bass and blues in the fall run for days on end, people would want to hear that too.
If I told the story how the spring runs historically had you catching big bass both day AND night, people might pay attention.
Then why is it so hard to get people to pay attention to the fact that those days are distant memories? :fishing:
Even the "great fall fishing" that people are talking about this year is a slim reminder of what it once was.
You don't have to go back 20 years to see this. Just go back 5, look at some catch reports, see for yourself. :learn:
Typical fishermen responses and answers
No judgement here, but I'm seeing this enough in the fishing world that I think it merits discussion. I'd like to use this thread as an ongoing dialogue as to what's happening to our fishing resources, laws and legislation, and why we should give an eff about it. :eek:
"Well Dark I only fish a few times a year, why should I care?"
"Well, I have a family to take care of, and small kids at home. They take up all my time."
"Ya know how bad this economy is!@!! The best I can do is hold on to my job. I don't have time to do anything else!!"
"Well why should I get involved in something if most everyone doesn't care about it anyway? Why should it be only on the shoulders of me and a few other guys?" :huh:
"What's the use? They're only going to shut down our fisheries anyway. Ya know what they say, you can't fight city hall!" :burn:
"Get involved? You sound like Chicken Little, dude!! There's plenty of bass and other fish to go around for everyone. You make too much out of nothing, dude, you're delusional!" :kooky:
"Besides, even if we do get involved, what's the use? How can one person make a difference?"
"I'd rather leave it up to the other guys. I just don't have the time"
Changes within the last 5 years in fishing results
Changes in the last 2 years in fishing legislation
I wondered if all the guys out there were aware of the comprehensive nature of these changes. A brief overview:
Winter flounder:
Summer flounder/fluke:
Weakfish:
Grouper:
Red snapper:
Sea bass:
Questions and responses about getting involved
Finchaser posted up some good reasons to get involved. I wanted to highlight them here:
[For all recreational fisherman which encompasses people who fish on party boats,charter boats and the beach. Plus most tackle shop owners fish.
I do all three, as many saltwater fisherman do. Surf is dead so we fish boats for cod,pollack,hake and ling.
Always fish boats for fluke,blackfish( fish that are good eating)
We no longer can fish for seabass, which is part of the fight the RFA and SSFFF are undertaking.
1.The commercial guys pay lobbyists to get there way from government ( large fish quota's) they want ours.
2.The RFA (Recreational Fishing Alliance) lobbies for us from the donations and memberships, thats where all the money goes.
Remember the money which goes to the economy is what government looks at. The money spent by beach fisherman is like a pimple on an elephants *** compared to boat sector. With out the boat sector we would have no quota's it would all be commercial,which government (DR. Lubchenco) wants.
The more fisheries they shut down the worse it's gonna be.
Just this year 2009 since Ms Lubchenco took over NOAA thanks to Obama (she came from PEW)
For 2009
1. Seabass shut down here
2. Red Snapper,Amberjack in florida shut down
3. Weakfish here
For 2010
a. seabass 2 months instead of 12 months
b. weakfish 1 fish instead of 6
c. new fluke regulations
d. possible new striper regulations
These are all fights the RFA is involved in to over turn,hence the seabass lawsuit against government,fighting to keep fluke and Striped bass regulations and quota the same. They fight to keep recreational fish quotas from going to the commercials and other fisheries from being shut down. There are 2 groups Recreational and Commercial period thats how fish are split up.
If we fish for them from land or sea really has no bearing we are recreational fisherman it's our quota we want to save. Remember with out bass and blues beach guy's disappear and no one would care especially beach front home owners who also support government against us with political contributions. ]
Asking questions and getting involved
Guys, kudos to all who are concerned enough to ask questions. There are no stupid questions. Learning is a process, and I commend anyone who wants to learn more. :thumbsup:
The motive behind this thread is to educate people more so they will have the incentive to make conscious choices to keep learning, and possibly getting involved.
I may seem like I'm preaching here guys and girls, but this is our fishing future.
The Bill of Rights gives citizens the right to bear arms. :clapping:
However it doesn't give us an automatic right to hunt or fish. As I see these rights trampled on, I can't help but become more and more involved.
I'm inviting some of you here to do that as well. I realize the decision is entirely up to you. I just want to be able to present some things which I hope will help you in your research.
Penalties for non-involvement? PETA's sea kitten campaign
A lot of people laughed this off. If you think about it rationally, it's a brilliant campaign designed ultimately to prevent or restrict us from fishing.
These devious eco-freaks have designed a very intelligent campaign to get into the minds of schoolchildren and get them to think about fish as delicate creatures that they can adopt as pets or feel sorry for. :(
Make no mistake about it, the obvious intent is to turn the young generations against fishing. A very well placed strategic move in their war against anyone who fishes.
I could merely just say :2flip::2flip: to PETA and the PEW trust people, but have realized that just because I give them an :2flip: they won't go away.
In fact, they become stronger every year as they place their disciples in key gov't positions. :learn:
They get stronger, while we fishermen argue among ourselves. :kooky:
A key disciple of theirs is Dr Jane Lubchenko, current head of the NOAA. This is the most powerful gov't organization today that has control over fishing rights.
OUR fishing rights.
And this one woman is in a position of power to shut off our rights as easily as someone turns off a light switch.
She has done this several times.
When will she come gunning to shut the striped bass fishing down?
Not possible, you say?
Don't bet your house on it. :lookhappy:
A little about StripersForever
Here's the link to their site.
http://www.stripersforever.org/Info/index
I noticed sometimes people aren't motivated to click a link. Here's some of the reasons why you should:
Initiatives, Past and Present
Below you will find links to some of Stripers Forever’s most important initiatives. This work is designed to convince policy makers to enhance wild striped bass populations by removing the pressures of market fishing. The best way to start supporting SF’s efforts is to Become A Member – free with a very short sign up through this link. Read on, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.
2.
Successful Opposition to Re-opening the EEZ produces Executive Order from President Bush - Stripers Forever was one of the leaders in the effort to keep commercial interests from reopening the EEZ which had been closed to the taking of striped bass since the collapse of the 1980s. With large stripers becoming more scare inshore some commercial interests had pressured the ASMFC to let them fish in this protected zone. Note - to view history of SF's opposition to reopening the EEZ click this link.
3. The Southwick Studies - The Southwick Study, commissioned by SF, compares the relative economic values of commercial and recreational striped bass fishing, and it takes the important step of determining what the socio-economic landscape would be like if commercial fishing for wild striped bass were to cease and the fishery managed purely for recreational/personal-use fishing.
They're also behind quite a few powerful and compelling articles on the state of striped bass today:
I read the Ted williams article several times. I thought he painted a compelling and detailed picture of what is happening today, much better than I ever could. There is no anger or rage in his article, just cold hard facts backing the conclusions he makes.
http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0The above attachment is a story by the noted author, Ted Williams which appears in the current issue of Fly Rod and Reel. The story addresses the state of striped bass in his home state of Massachusetts and Ted's thoughts on making striped bass a game fish. You'll find it a good read. Here is a brief summary of Ted's credentials.
Ted Williams - not the baseball player - has been writing full time on environmental issues, with special attention to fish and wildlife conservation, since 1970. In addition to freelancing for national magazines, he contributes regular feature-length conservation columns to Audubon and Fly Rod & Reel where he serves as Editor-at-Large and Conservation Editor respectively.
http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0Stripers Forever's 2009 annual fishing survey results are in. This is our 7th consecutive year of polling guides and recreational anglers from SC to ME on their striped bass fishing experiences and preferences for management measures. The survey data comes from a very experienced group of fishermen representing all the major coastal striped bass states. This year’s results are particularly important since we used Survey Monkey software to obtain surveys from a record 906 respondents including 82 guides representing most coastal states. It will not surprise many of you to read that the overwhelming majority of anglers see the striper fishery as declining significantly. The results and our comments are in the attached documents above.
2009 YOY Disappointing
http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0The Chesapeake Bay, striped bass, young of the year survey for 2009 is out. While the number is better than last year's dismal result it is well below the long term trend, and will certainly not begin to support the fishing pressure currently applied to striped bass. David Ross PhD. a SF board member and fishery scientist comments on the latest numbers in the attached document.
http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0http://www.stripersforever.org/Icons/0
4 Attachment(s)
Jan 2010 article from Sport Fishing magazine