Fishing both commercial and recreational has meant everything to me. Commercial fishing has made it where I could recreational fish and supplied my family and I with everything we have today. Being able to recreational fish kept me off the streets and doing something honorable in life. I watched a lot of my friends that had nothing to do waste their life on drugs and alcohol and some are now burnt out at age 30 and LESS. Being able to get out and fish and being able to enjoy fishing kept me away from that.
Fishing is where I gained most of my values. Growing up my dad worked 7 days a week from March to November. The months he had off we hunted some and he still worked 3 or 4 days a week. We didn't have time for vacations like most families. When we could get off work early (during summer vacation from school I worked with him) we got in the skiff and went Red Drum fishing. We spent all of our quality time together on the water.
Now beyond the pure emotional side of fishing. Small rural Eastern NC towns depend on fishing for their survival. I live in one of the poorest counties in this state and if you took out the fishermen this county would either disappear or have to be annexed by either Dare or Beaufort county, if they survive.
The government is overstepping its bounds. The people of this country allow the government to have power and we have allowed it to grow out of control. The people of this country have taken their stand too late.