[dwk2252]

I think that some of your well written articles should be forwarded to the TV News Media. If anybody could make me up a good written draft we should make sure it gets read by the media. The news is always looking for a new story and a topic that nobody gets to see anymore. I think you we do have a good story but it's a shame it's not getting the TV attention. A few years back Billy Joel the singer was backing the commercial fishing fleet in LI. It got the attention of the TV media. It brought out protesters and those fisherman got some of their rights back. I remember one time there was a protest in LI it brought out the TV media it was on Striped Bass. I know a few Charter Captains went out and intentionally broke the law and made sure the media was there to film it. It made news & it got the attention of the people who made the restrictions. I read a few posts here that mentioned a form of a protest I think that would be a great Idea. I do know one thing before anybody does do anything we should all be making sure that we are not breaking the law. I know we have some lawyers, and officials that read this site please advise them. I hope that if anybody does decide to do any type of protest we do it correctly otherwise it could backfire on us. I think we all can agree we our voices heard.

 

[dwk2252]

I think you all may have read this but if you didn't it's a good read

I'm sure a lot of you have read this, but I felt it needed to be brought up.I myself was shocked. The article was about a report that the ASA put out about the economic power that we recreational fisherman wield.Just a few of the points-
40 million anglers are contributing over 45 BILLION dollars in retail sales each year.
The total estimated economic impact is 125 billion and creates employment for over 1 million people.We provide 16.4 BILLION in state and federal taxes per year.
Fishing is #3 on the list of recreational activities requiring equipment.
If fishing were ranked as a corporation, it would be #47 on the 2007 Forbes Fortune 500 list of America's largest companies in total sales.

What I want to know is besides campaign contributions and the lot, what the **** power do the environmental groups have over these government officials??

This tells me that we have more power than I ever could have imagined!!

Go ahead and shut us down you and see what happens to the economy then.Or maybe the environmentalists

 

[finsup21]

Looks like we have the cash dw but do we have the politicians? The environmentalists have the Pew's (founding family of Sun Oil Company)and the Kennedy's (and we all know how they got their money - let's just say they are not unfamiliar with bending unpopular laws) at a minimum. That right there is some serious juice.

Now may be just the right time for a little civil disobedience. Take a tip from the Kennedy's, if you and a lot of others don't like the law, break it then get it changed. The question is how.

 

[Capt. Gene]

Check this story out
http://www.tropicalfishing.com/CIVIL.htm

I remember one time there was a protest in LI it brought out the TV media it was on Striped Bass. I know a few Charter Captains went out and intentionally broke the law and made sure the media was there to film it. It made news & it got the attention of the people who made the restrictions.

 

[MakoMike]

Gene,
I thought of that story as soon as I saw this thread.

 

[dwk2252]

Great Story

That was a great story I just posted it on a NJ site. I'm only hoping
that story could get something started like what you did. And if it does start a new type of protest what you did not go unwaranted. And at least someone like me remembers it and makes sure your story lives on. I can say one thing I watched that on TV and I'm a big Met's fan. I would like to thank you and all the Captains who participated in that protest. We need more of that today again. Most of todays fisherman were from the 60's protesting the war. Our generation won many major issues by protesting. I think we all need to get involved again the people do have the power to change things. If it was not for people like yourself and all those who protested that day there might still be a closure. At least all of you did not sit around and talk about it you did something about it. For that I could say I'm proud of all of the Captains who were involved.