Wake Up America

[chumslicker27]

Big difference between Worrying... and being Aware......

If ANYTHING, all that stuff just makes me LIVE my life to the FULLEST, and DO what I want....

I just say, if those CROOKS are doing and getting away with ALL that BS,

then Im gonna do and get away with some BS of my own.. And I dont feel so bad.....

And, the purpose to discuss these matters, is to gain AWARENESS... And RALLY THE TROOPS...

Individually we can do nothing, together we can STAND and FIGHT...

So until that day comes, I wont be worrying, I'll be Catching em up, WAITING and READY for those GREEDY RADICAL MOFOS to come and try to take something away from me and Mine, including MY AMERICAN LIBERTIES my people fought and died for... The way I see it, Its US verse THEM....
So this also helps to see how many of US there are....

[DaGoose]

Surfbass,

Nobody is arguing against sustainable fisheries. And to quote that it's only a fraction of the coast may be easy for you to digest. Now when it's in your backyard and many of your prime spots are off limits forever, you may feel a bit differently.

Proven methods like slot limits, reduced bag limits (who needs to kill 10 calico bass?) seasons....none of these were considered.

It does not address pollution, spawning habitat destruction in lagoons & estuaries........yada yada yada. Ironically they just voted yesterday for a 4 year exemption so the Pt. Loma sewage treatment plant does not have to adhere to quality requirements due to the expense.

Jeez, I just want to go out and fish with reasonable limitations.

Tight Lines,

Rick

[marlin_mike_]

well we won a small battle over here yesterday!!!!! the f-ing coastkeeper tried to get the san diego city council to adopt the mpa's that they slipped in on the meeting only late last week. THEY GOT SHUT DOWN AND SPANKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the first councilman to speek said he sided with the fishing intrest in his district! next fight for us later this month stay tuned it will come ALL of our way's if WE are not carefull.
big mike.

[Ultralite]

I'm thinking this article is useless propaganda. If you guys are really buying into the scare tactic that the democrats are trying to take away the right to fish then this article is doing its job. While I greatly respect the power of this board in the atlantic fishing community, I disagree with the posting of this article. Taking away our right to fish? Come on, lets be for real people. There are a lot of other civil liberties that will go first

Wise up, we don't have anything to worry about. The fishing industry is a multi-bazillion dollar a year industry in the US. I highly doubt that its going anywhere. Anyway, if they tried to stop us from fishing, we all know that we would just do it anyway

That "Miss Me Yet" picture made me cringe a little! Lets keep this discussion to fishing, not politics. It will keep us all happier.

Surfbass, I will bet big money that no one posting here even read the Whitehouse Report. I'm willing to bet that Dave Pfeiffer of Shimano did not read it. Here's the link to it:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/doc...rce_FINAL2.pdf

If they had read it, they would find that most of the report focuses on water quality and that fishing is only mentioned three times:

"CEQ, on behalf of the Task Force, organized and hosted twenty-four expert roundtables to hear from a broad range of stakeholders and interest groups. The roundtables included representatives from sectors including energy, conservation, fishing ,transportation, agriculture, human health, State, tribal, and local governments, ports, recreational boating, business, and national and
homeland security....


....Along many areas of our coasts and within the Great Lakes, biological diversity is in decline due to overfishing, introduction of invasive species, and loss and degradation of essential habitats from coastal development and associated human activities. The introduction of non-native species can carry significant ecological and economic costs. Human and marine ecosystem health are threatened by a range of challenges, including increased levels of exposure to toxins from harmful algal blooms and other sources, and greater contact with infectious agents. Areas in numerous bays, estuaries, gulfs, and the Great Lakes are now consistently low in or lacking oxygen, creating dead zones along our bays and coasts. Unsustainable fishing (e.g., overfishing) remains a serious concern with consequences for marine ecosystems and human communities. In the Arctic, environmental changes are revealing the vulnerability of its ecosystems. These changes are increasing stressors and impacts on the ecosystems, people, and communities in the region, and are presenting new domestic and international management challenges.....

Knowing the politics and motivations behind this press release, this is simply American Sportfishing Association ("ASA") using scare tactics and getting their largest financial backer (i.e. Shimano) all worked up. Dave Pfeiffer is on the Board of and is a former president of ASA. They're simply borrowing a page from the NRA scare tactic playbook, only fishing does not enjoy the constitutional protection that guns do. I know for a fact that no one from ASA attended the meeting held in San Francisco on this matter.

[Ultralite]

well we won a small battle over here yesterday!!!!! the f-ing coastkeeper tried to get the san diego city council to adopt the mpa's that they slipped in on the meeting only late last week. THEY GOT SHUT DOWN AND SPANKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the first councilman to speek said he sided with the fishing intrest in his district! next fight for us later this month stay tuned it will come ALL of our way's if WE are not carefull.
big mike.

Sorry, but local cities have no jurisdiction over State waters. They can vote on resolutions all they want and it will have no impact whatsoever on the MLPA outcome. Pacific Grove tried to do the same thing in North Central CA and the MLPAI said "thanks for your interest, but no thanks."

[marlin_mike_]

well that is not how it sounded to alot of us here that is why we showed up to voice our concern's. be it as it may the coastkeeper could have used the fact that a city like san diego adopted the mpa as fuel for it's fire. whether or not it has the power to envoke an mpa i don't know but i will not let a group of people that think that they have all the answer's make plan's for my and my family's future sorry not going to sit back and watch! this whole thread started as a wake up call if you don't want to heed the call that is up to you.
like i said in my first post here WE are ALL going to suffer that is the real issue.
time for civil disobediecnce!

[Capt Lindsay]

Gentlemen and women, the battle is nearing. The only way to create a sound defense is with LOTS of money. You can squeal all you want, but unless you get the money to the organizations that will provide the offense, we are dead.

[Ultralite]

Surfbass,

Nobody is arguing against sustainable fisheries. And to quote that it's only a fraction of the coast may be easy for you to digest. Now when it's in your backyard and many of your prime spots are off limits forever, you may feel a bit differently.

Proven methods like slot limits, reduced bag limits (who needs to kill 10 calico bass?) seasons....none of these were considered.

It does not address pollution, spawning habitat destruction in lagoons & estuaries........yada yada yada. Ironically they just voted yesterday for a 4 year exemption so the Pt. Loma sewage treatment plant does not have to adhere to quality requirements due to the expense.

Jeez, I just want to go out and fish with reasonable limitations.

Tight Lines,

Rick

Rick, two of the Fish & Game Commissioners, Richard Rogers and Mike Sutton, were open to incorporating fishery management measures (i.e. slot limits) into MPA designs. This is fact, as my wife met with them on this very matter. The author of the MLPA even supported incorporating such measures. The reason they were never considered is that the DFG (Susan Ashcroft) opposed their enforcement, saying it would be impossible to tell the origin of the catch (who cares, if you're in a no-fishing area, it should be presumed that any fish in possession came from that area, furthermore, they already enforce slot limit regs on portions of freshwater streams where you can't tell the origin of the fish).

The other problem is that the matter (incorporating fishery management tools into MPA designs) was never brought forth to the Commission in an appropriate manner. See the people who were working on this on behalf of the rec anglers were forced out of UASC, then ASA/PSO took over and it's been nothing but attack the MLPA ever since. It's really hard to accomplish changes to the MLPA imlementation when all you're doing is lobbing grenades. Per Ken Wiseman's testimony in front of the Fish & Game Commission "in the North Central Process, PSO was in my office weekly. In the SoCal process they haven't been in once and I only know of their activity through copies of their letters to the legislature demanding that the MLPA be halted."

Sorry Rick, but we've been screwed by our own industry. They haven't been in to lobby once for matters such as incorporating fishery management tools into MPA designs. Instead, they chose to dig in and fight the MLPA implementation as if it was a war against the enviros. They circled their support around the FIC/FIN proposal and squeezed out the UASC proposal (which did incorporate fishery management tools). Their argument was that the SAT and the DFG did not support fishery management tools in MPA designs, so the UASC proposal stood no chance. The reality is they did not bother to lobby for such changes and they did not have the people who knew how to bring forth such changes. Those people were pushed out of UASC and are now at Sportfishing Conservancy. Furthermore, they rallied the rec fishing troops around the FIC/FIN proposal (which is backed by a coalition formed between Commercials and SAC) and actively squelched any support for the UASC proposal. Ask yourself, did anyone get up at public meetings and speak in support of the UASC proposal? A few did, but not many.

So this all rests on the backs of ASA and SAC in SoCal. Sorry, but that is the harsh reality. You got sold out in Laguna Beach because the best fishing there is on the boiler rocks the Sportboats can't fish and the Dana Point Sportboats focus most of their effort down at San Mateo and the Barn Kelp. Again, you got sold out because you had no representation. Just remember, united we stand, but divided we fall. Unite with a commercial and rec interests will take back seat every time.

Another problem for the fishing community in the MLPA process is that there is no history or learning curve from region to region. The fishermen just repeat the same mistakes of their predecessors. In the Central Region, the SAT put it out on the table that no fishery management measures were necessary if MPAs totaled at least 35% of the coastline. The fishermen focused on the 35% and dug in for the fight to make it less, which they did with it ending up at about 20%. But parse that statement out. NO FISHERY MANAGEMENT MEASURES NECESSARY IF MPAs TOTALED AT LEAST 35% OF THE COAST. So if MPAs totaled less than 35%, then presumably fishery managment measures must be necessary and incorporated into MPA designs? The fishermen never seized on that to kick the door open to incorporate fishery management tools into MPA designs as you (and I) would so dearly loved to have seen. Ahh, but let's not forget that the fishing effort for the Central Cal MLPA process was led by a coalition consisting of Commercials + SAC and RFA. Sadly, it appears the fishing community has no learning curve and are finding new ways to screw this up. Sad because it's our fishing that's at stake.

[Ultralite]

well that is not how it sounded to alot of us here that is why we showed up to voice our concern's. be it as it may the coastkeeper could have used the fact that a city like san diego adopted the mpa as fuel for it's fire. whether or not it has the power to envoke an mpa i don't know but i will not let a group of people that think that they have all the answer's make plan's for my and my family's future sorry not going to sit back and watch! this whole thread started as a wake up call if you don't want to heed the call that is up to you.
like i said in my first post here WE are ALL going to suffer that is the real issue.
time for civil disobediecnce!

Mike, these little side skirmishes are intentionally pursued by the enviros to distract the fishing community and dilute their effort on the real issue or battle. Sadly, per your own account "well that is not how it sounded to alot of us here" it's working quite well.

[shuklad]

Does anyone know who is working on the campaign to fight the admiisration? You guys should know there are people who can help kill this. It's my industry and I think I have the network to help get something started on a national level. I'd like to know where to start...I think I can help y'all. It's something I truly believe in. Any help would be appreciated.