I don't come from a fishing family. I have never fished offshore with my brother, sister, mother, or father. Thankfully, my father was able to see that I had this interest at a young age and made an effort to expose me to fishing through some of his friends, which did have an interest in the outdoors.

With whatever background in fishing that I had, I moved to Charleston after college to pursue work in the offshore industry. Getting my "shot" was difficult, and I finally was able to land a job on a boat based out of Georgetown.

The Peace Corps (which my brother was in) claims that they are "The Toughest Job You Will Ever Love." Obviously the powers that be at that institution (just like the rest of our current government) have never worked in the fishing industry. I felt like I had to work extremely hard not only at the job, but to overcome my lack of experience in my youth.

The years I spent as a charter mate, captain, and fun-fisherman were the best of my life. I made more connections, friends, and had more incredible experiences than I ever thought possible. I got to travel. I made a meager living, but it was more than worth it.

Growing up, we were told that America was the "land of opportunity." What we are seeing now is in great contrast to that. Opportunity is being taken from us by the day. It's shameful that the fishermen who interact with the resource everyday are being given virtually no role in the policy-making process.

Small business and the entrepeneurial spririt are what I love most about the American economic system. Small business owners and entrepeneurs are who are being stepped on here, directly. Our elected officials are either not seeing the correlation, or they just don't care. After what I've seen in the past year, I would have to lean towards the latter explanation.

I'm lamenting a loss of a way of life. If I were to ever have children, how would I explain to them how their father spent his 20s? Quite honestly, if I can't take them fishing, I'm not even sure I want to have kids.