The Way You See It

…who would you be betting on?

This is from a Pew Trusts press release.

Opportunity for Bush Administration to Enhance its Ocean Legacy Threatened by Shortsighted Interests

Release Type: Pew Press Release

Pew Contact: Jo Knight, 202.664.4504

Washington, DC – 04/10/2008 – Ocean luminaries and fisheries experts today recognized the Bush administration for its efforts to end overfishing and preserve ecologically significant areas of the ocean. They also urged the administration to stand up to powerful fishing interests that could jeopardize recent successes in ocean policy.

“During his final months in office, President Bush has the opportunity to enhance his ocean legacy,” said Dr. Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group. “The administration must stand firm against attempts by those in the fishing industry and on some of the nation’s fishery management councils to undermine its significant achievements for marine conservation.”

Full text available here.

It seems that we really might want to learn a bit more about just who this “Pew Trust” is and what their agenda might be. It seems to involve putting American fishermen out of business, amongst other things.

Tags: Government Regulation, Ranting general by blog admin
Comments Off

Bob Jones, of SFA, recently sent these interesting observations and figures to SOFA’s Bob Spaeth. He’s given us permission to reprint the email here, we think it bears some thought.

Greetings,

I was thinking about all the draconian cuts in fishing throughout the United States, so I thought I would look at what regulators have already done to the seafood industry in the southeast. These are the numbers that leapt out at me from my part of the world. We had a robust seafood industry in the southeast before the Magnuson Act was enacted and re-interpreted. As I’m writing this note, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is preparing to deal a death blow to the snapper/grouper industry as ordered by NMFS based on their interpretation of a selected portion of Congressional action. All numbers are taken directly from two NMFS publications: FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1984 (page 4) and FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES 2006 (page 6).

The government numbers indicate what regulations have done to a once proud food producing segment of the US economy. If I have copied these numbers down correctly, it appears our industry has almost been managed out of existence for no good purpose. Why do the Councils keep taking the fish?

Bob Jones

Tags: Uncategorized by blog admin
Comments Off

Hello …….?

I’ve decided there’s a need for a powerful nickle-cadmium battery pack that will run a VMS for 200 hours or roughly eight (8) days. The battery pack, coupled with the flotation devices required to keep it afloat and anchored at a favorite spot in your favorite desert should cost you about $1000. While your VMS sits comfortably at a given spot in your favorite desert, you can be just kickin’ ass at your favorite spot (wherever you choose).

There is a very good probability that NMFS is using VMS data to select heavily fished areas for future closure. They certainly are NOT researching those areas … they are simply picking them based upon the number of boats fishing in those areas.

Logical? Ayup!

Wake up, guys! Do you really think they are trying to help you … or the fish?

Tags: Uncategorized by CC
2 Comments »

In case you haven’t yet had the pleasure of learning how to remove a large circle hook from a cardboard box at a seminar funded by the government and tought by some people who may have never SEEN a sea turtle in the wild, let alone inadvertantly hooked one…

We give you this years required learning courses. [Read more →]

Tags: Government Regulation by Fishing Fool
Comments Off