# Take note: CCA



## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Is uniting with enviro groups to stop com fishing... You know stop all gillnets,dropnets,ect,so the rec fisherman can catch more fish?? 

Think about it,this is EXACTLY how the "snake" they have gone to bed with will bite them back.. Suppose dredging were banned,would it not eventually not close OI,Ocracoke Inlet,Hatteras Inlet,and others to the south of us to ANY AND ALL small boat or otherwise traffic that wanted to get out to sea and catch a fish?? Suppose they decided that ANY AND ALL bottomfishing inshore,both sound and ocean was also a threat?? Jmho,this is a slippery slope that is already in place,so ya better put ya some grippy boots on.....


http://outerbanksvoice.com/2012/04/08/sturgeon-status-likely-to-add-snags-to-dredging/


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## surf rat (Jun 30, 2004)

I know I am in the minority here but I think commercial inshore netting should be banned...I also think that what those trawlers do to the stripers is a crime....I feel like all inshore commercial fishing should be hook and line. The way the fishery is going is allready pretty grim. They have done it to themself. I see what those bunker boats have done to the bay first hand....I know someone is going to say mother nature kills more fish and there is no reason to worry about a few netters but I disagree...We use to have good Trout fishing on some of our northern flats untill the netters raped the place...I say ban netting....I know a few commercial netters and their attitude is one of total disconcerne...They would net the last fish on the planet and feel no regret...I have seen some 10 and 12 pound specks they slaughtered in their nets this year in the hot ditch. To them it was nothing but a few bucks...I slaughter some big ones as well but at least I catch them on a hook not a net. I don't have a problem with killing fish or even commercial fishing...I do have a problem with nets. If a guy can catch a thousand pounds of rockfish hook and line he is a real commercial fisherman in my book...I have several friends that do just that....Total hook and line commercial fisherman..I respect them.


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## JAM (Jul 22, 2002)

Instead of blaming fishermen, why not blame the Golf Course Builders, polution and the real sources of the issue. Over Developement, why blame your brethren.. I'll tell ya why, cause you have drank the Kool-Aid.. Hook and Line Comercial fishing for Sea Mullets would not be worth the effort, nor Striper Trawlers should NOT be Striper Fishing PERIOD DOT.. But Small set nets Should. I started Com fishing this winter and we caught around 90 percent of what we were after with very little (3 Short Fish) trout in over 10,000 yards of Net.. There is very little to none bycatch when you use the Right Sized Net. CCA are a bunch of BAFOONS that picked the right acrynom CCA=Can't Catch Anything.. bunch of Cry babies in my Book.. 
JAM


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

surf rat said:


> I know I am in the minority here but I think commercial inshore netting should be banned...I also think that what those trawlers do to the stripers is a crime....I feel like all inshore commercial fishing should be hook and line. The way the fishery is going is allready pretty grim. They have done it to themself. I see what those bunker boats have done to the bay first hand....I know someone is going to say mother nature kills more fish and there is no reason to worry about a few netters but I disagree...We use to have good Trout fishing on some of our northern flats untill the netters raped the place...I say ban netting....I know a few commercial netters and their attitude is one of total disconcerne...They would net the last fish on the planet and feel no regret...I have seen some 10 and 12 pound specks they slaughtered in their nets this year in the hot ditch. To them it was nothing but a few bucks...I slaughter some big ones as well but at least I catch them on a hook not a net. I don't have a problem with killing fish or even commercial fishing...I do have a problem with nets. If a guy can catch a thousand pounds of rockfish hook and line he is a real commercial fisherman in my book...I have several friends that do just that....Total hook and line commercial fisherman..I respect them.


 I don't think you understand the ramifications of what will happen in the future if these guys allie with the enviros... You are familiar with the beach situation,correct?? When dow and selc come marching in to supervise this,then the light might turn on for ya...


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

I'm in favor of having no nets that stop the fish along the beach as they migrate north in spring and south in the fall. Drop Netting would be allowed. No nets except beach seines allowed within 900 YARDS (not feet) of beach or pier. No trawling for finfish within 5 miles of land- exception for shrimp boats half mile offshore. This could and would make a difference and the commercial fishermen could still make a living.


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## KB Spot Chaser (Nov 19, 2009)

Good and bad either way, the enviros want to take it all away from as their way of preserving the resource when they have absolutely no idea of how to. The commercials will continue to take as much as the laws will allow them to and we will still lose some of the resource. Sounds like enviros and the fishery managers need to find another career, b/c both groups are clueless. The problem is not with our comm. fisherman, only the laws that apply and those who show disregard to the laws set in place. Some recs are just as bad and have no ethics at all, so we notice we cannot place blame on the comm. guy who plays within the rules.


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

HStew said:


> I'm in favor of having no nets that stop the fish along the beach as they migrate north in spring and south in the fall. Drop Netting would be allowed. No nets except beach seines allowed within 900 YARDS (not feet) of beach or pier. No trawling for finfish within 5 miles of land- exception for shrimp boats half mile offshore. This could and would make a difference and the commercial fishermen could still make a living.


Not a bad proposal.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

All the good,well meaning proposals in the world will not help if dow,selc get into the fish mangement business because of an endangered species.. They will "fixit" just like they did the beach,and put $ into their pockets while doing so... Inlets will be allowed to fill,no more bottomfishing sound and ocean.. Guess I'm the only one that sees this as a possibility??


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

Very good odds Kenny, after seeing how their crippling Hatteras and laff all the way to the bank.


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

drumchaser said:


> Not a bad proposal.


It's a weird state N.C.

They have a 250,000 lb RED DRUM BUSINESS, that exists because --Darn I accidentally caught a Red Drum, OH well I'll just have to sell it.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

I think they should ban Pilgrims from Hatteras

Pilgrims get in my way and hold up traffic, they need to stay in Nags Head

Mini Vans should be banned too cause I do not like them


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## Loner (Sep 9, 2009)

...CCA is nothing more than dow or audoban.....DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.........ALL NEED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EARTH!!!.............imho


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Loner said:


> ...CCA is nothing more than dow or audoban.....DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.........ALL NEED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EARTH!!!.............imho


 Good to seeya back posting again.. After reading that article and putting two and two together with cca & enviros being on the same wavelink about the sturgeon,I have to agree...


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

Loner said:


> ...CCA is nothing more than dow or audoban.....DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.........ALL NEED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EARTH!!!.............imho


Yeah welcome back loner. You said a mouthful there!!


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## Loner (Sep 9, 2009)

Drumdum said:


> Good to seeya back posting again.. After reading that article and putting two and two together with cca & enviros being on the same wavelink about the sturgeon,I have to agree...


...very short stay...some things just P!ss me completely off.....................


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

"...very short stay...some things just P!ss me completely off..................... "


Hey Loner how did you do last fall on the pompano?

Any Tourists down your way?

I checked out CCA's website

They want $25 to join and the North Carolina office is in Raleigh

Seemed too expensive, they sure have shut down a lot of commercial fishing activity

Seemed like Audubon to me, except they were holding some fish and talking about reclaiming "Turtle Mound"

So I reckon I will just stay in Garbo's club which is free and supports the comm's


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## Loner (Sep 9, 2009)

Loner said:


> ...very short stay...some things just P!ss me completely off.....................


hey G..the surf pomps were NON-EXISTENT IN THIS AREA.....one here 2 there......had a friend get a 5 lb.fish and NO MORE...THE BEST pomper I KNOW had 1 2 lb surf fish ALL FALL..
WE HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW PRINCIPLE for citation pomps..we believe they are PLEAGICS ..JUST LIKE KINGS AND TARPON...point: no pier kings or inshore kings ..NO SURF CITATION POMPS...SEEN THIS WORK 3 TIMES SO FAR...
WHAT EVER THE CURRENT OR CONDISTIONS IS THAT BRINGS BIG FISH TO THE PIERS (OR INSHORE).....ALSO PRODUCES CITATION POMPS........
Yes the TOURIST ARE THICK...COLLEGE IS OUT THIS WEEK AND THERE ARE LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF "yANKEE STUDENTS" TRYING TO FIGURE SOMEWAY TO KEEP FROM MIGRATING "back home"....beach is full of FLESH AND DRUNKS......CCA IS A DOMESTIC TERRORIST GROUP!!!!!!...spread the word......


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

"hey G..the surf pomps were NON-EXISTENT IN THIS AREA.....one here 2 there......had a friend get a 5 lb.fish and NO MORE...THE BEST pomper I KNOW had 1 2 lb surf fish ALL FALL..
WE HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW PRINCIPLE for citation pomps..we believe they are PLEAGICS ..JUST LIKE KINGS AND TARPON...point: no pier kings or inshore kings ..NO SURF CITATION POMPS...SEEN THIS WORK 3 TIMES SO FAR..."

Probably fished out by them guys in the white boots with haul seines and drop nets


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## Loner (Sep 9, 2009)

...Don't see pomps in the ice around here........have U ever seen pomps targeted???...there was a good summer run at Hatt last summer...then S.Carolina had a few in Novermber................


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

We only caught but a few Pompano as by catch gill netting the Pamlico, because of their body shape pompano are safe from gill nets and only a haul seine will endanger them.

In the old days the beach haul seiners would get them but no one on the OBX really does that style of fishing much anymore. It is pretty much down right extremely dangerous, a friend of mines Father drowned off Ocracoke setting a haul seine in surf that swept him from the Dory. Two of the Hatteras comm fishermen who did have beach dories and both of whom were close friends of mine passed away last year. Mostly on the OBX haul seining he beach is done in the late fall for trout and the pompano are well to the south.

For all the uproar over beach seining it is a tradition from the old days and not practiced too much these days, As a child who spent each August in Kitty Hawk, a favorite morning ritual I had was watching a beach crew haul their net made of tarred hemp. There sure was some fish back in the 1960's.


I was being tricky


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

the Dory guys seem to be what the essence of what real ol style fishing was about. I don't know, but it wouldn't seem that these guys would hurt a fishery.


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## permit (May 10, 2003)

i agree 100% that all inshore commercial fishing should be banned. as i used to live in florida i can promise you that not only did the ban drastically increase the quality and quanity of fishing inshore, but years later most commercial fishermen are making a much better living as guides then they ever did as commercial netters.........


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

permit said:


> i agree 100% that all inshore commercial fishing should be banned. as i used to live in florida i can promise you that not only did the ban drastically increase the quality and quanity of fishing inshore, but years later most commercial fishermen are making a much better living as guides then they ever did as commercial netters.........


 Actually the thread had absolutly nothing to do with banning com fishing,or an increase in quantity,except in cca's eyes... You see when you crawl into bed with a snake (defenders of wildlife,and southern enviromental law center) to rid com fishing,then after the com fishing is banned,it's anyone that toats a fishing rod.. 
First it is the inlets being closed because dredging is no longer allowed (stopping offshore fishing,which they have wanted for a looong time),then they make sure the precious sturgeon (that has always been here in numbers  ) is protected from hook and line as well.. That is where cca has cut their nose of to spite their face... Next it will be no more sightcasting for drum or cobia,because we interact with too many species of turtles that could be hit or hooked with a jig,or run over by a boat.. No more bottomfishing for big drum or tarpon on the western Pamlico,because of sturgeon... Pandoras Box has been opened,and you cca folks can't even see they (enviro groups) have gotten them (by the shortones) ,and by their deeds have also drug us (normal guy that fishes for food,or just likes fishing) along for company to go down with the ship... 

You see,divide and conquer has always been the enviros plan,with the beaches here,with what is happening in Fla Bay,as well as the rest of the everglades.. They find what they deem to be an endangered species,divide user groups fishermen,coms,surfers,birders,kite surfers,beach goers,property owners against each other take cases to the government one by one.. Make $ from their lawsuits,collect $ through the net,magazines and the propaganda printed in there to divide user groups and get checks sent into them..

Far as banning com fishing,I really do not know what kind of an impact that would have,although I have already seen what an allience with enviro groups can do... CCA (and all the bigtime sportfishing buddys that support them) WILL EVENTUALLY GET THROWN UNDER THE BUS BY THESE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS,not just my opinion,I have already seen it in the past,and the writing is on the wall..

PS the next targets will be Hatteras and Ocracoke... You see they want to rid those two of people.. Think about it,they have first cockblocked the bridge,now through this with no dredging they have also cockblocked a ferry service... CCA is very short sighted.. I mean it is a shame someone with just a highschool diploma can figure their (enviro groups) intentions out,but a bunch of highly educated so called sportsfishermen can not...


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## Clyde (Oct 18, 2003)

Kenny you're a wise man. Nuff said.


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## oldschool (Apr 8, 2008)

Clyde said:


> Kenny you're a wise man. Nuff said.


x2


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## JAM (Jul 22, 2002)

x3


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## Suds (Apr 17, 2010)

Of course the 8.2 BILLION pounds of seafood landed commercially in 2010 has nothing to do with diminishing resources. That's the legally recorded number. Remember a group of about a dozen commerical fishermen in the upper Chesapeake Bay, by their own admission, using ghost nets (unmarked), had poached and sold millions of pounds of illegally caught stripers before they were caught. Millions of pounds. Add to that the trawlers in NC killing thousands of stripers and dumping them to get their quota of 100 per trip. 90% percent of the east coast stripers come from the Chesapeake Bay. They didn't clean up the bay to restore the stripers, all they did was stop the stunts like those above. The moritorium on catching stripers and an aggressive stocking program brought them back. Don't tell me that commercial fishing has nothing to do with dwindling fish stocks. It is the single largest killer of fish. Period.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Actually I thought my friend the Red Headed Fella was the single largest killer of fish I would say period but that is so judgmental


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## Suds (Apr 17, 2010)

I'm not anti commercial fishing. I'm anti BS. I'm anti placing the blame on the other guy. I kill fish. I eat fish. I don't kill fish that I won't eat. I will kill the maximum amount of fish allowed by law. And I will eat every one of them. But I don't kill more than my share and I don't cull my catch. And I don't blame others for my actions. But that's just me.


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## AbuMike (Sep 3, 2007)

Suds said:


> I'm not anti commercial fishing. I'm anti BS. I'm anti placing the blame on the other guy. I kill fish. I eat fish. I don't kill fish that I won't eat. I will kill the maximum amount of fish allowed by law. And I will eat every one of them. But I don't kill more than my share and I don't cull my catch. And I don't blame others for my actions. But that's just me.


+1...most sensible thing I have read in a long time...Bravo my friend...


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

"I'm not anti commercial fishing"

I must have miss understood your original post, but when I re read it it still seemed biased.

I am looking forward to eating Shrimp tonight caught by a net by a fella wearing white boots


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## hifishing (Dec 22, 2009)

Suds said:


> Of course the 8.2 BILLION pounds of seafood landed commercially in 2010 has nothing to do with diminishing resources. That's the legally recorded number. Remember a group of about a dozen commerical fishermen in the upper Chesapeake Bay, by their own admission, using ghost nets (unmarked), had poached and sold millions of pounds of illegally caught stripers before they were caught. Millions of pounds. Add to that the trawlers in NC killing thousands of stripers and dumping them to get their quota of 100 per trip. 90% percent of the east coast stripers come from the Chesapeake Bay. They didn't clean up the bay to restore the stripers, all they did was stop the stunts like those above. The moritorium on catching stripers and an aggressive stocking program brought them back. Don't tell me that commercial fishing has nothing to do with dwindling fish stocks. It is the single largest killer of fish. Period.


All of that is still going on. The Chesapeake Bay is in horrible shape right now. As far as Striped Bass go, there will always be poaching when there is a price on their heads. There is a lot of money to be made on Striped Bass specifically. You wanna talk about the commercial rod and reel guys in New England? Everyone kills fish, some just kill more than others.

UNITED WE STAND. COMMS AND RECS NEED TO STAND TOGETHER AGAINST THE PEOPLE REGULATING THE FISHERIES!!!!!!!!

Look at what the people running the fisheries are doing to the entire ecosystem. Very few viable fisheries (commercial&recreational) left. If these people can't get it right, and comms and recs continue the fighting, the fisheries will suffer. You dont need to be a marine biologist to know what is going on...Ask the heads at the ASMFC. 

A dead fish is a dead fish, and recs are doing the majority of the killing in regards to Striped Bass. I am in no way opposed to anyone keeping fish, I kill fish too. It is the access and management of the resources we should be concerned about, in addition to everyones piece of the pie...


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

hifishing said:


> All of that is still going on. The Chesapeake Bay is in horrible shape right now. As far as Striped Bass go, there will always be poaching when there is a price on their heads. There is a lot of money to be made on Striped Bass specifically. You wanna talk about the commercial rod and reel guys in New England? Everyone kills fish, some just kill more than others.
> 
> UNITED WE STAND. COMMS AND RECS NEED TO STAND TOGETHER AGAINST THE PEOPLE REGULATING THE FISHERIES!!!!!!!!
> 
> ...


 I'm with ya dude... This whole thread was to create awarness of what is about to happen,due to cca teaming with enviro groups (some of the same ilk that is within ASMFC AND DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR for that matter)...

Instead folks choose this time to slam coms and make statements about what they do and do not do... We're ALL gonna have to put away their fishing poles,and the coms will have to starve to death and burn their nets,if we can't in some way understand what is slowly converging on us all......

I'm one who supports the principle behind the endangered species act.. It WAS a well meaning document signed into law by tricky Dick,and at the time was an excellent idea.. ALTHOUGH enviros and their lawyers in conjuction with their lobbying power have turned it into a weapon to promote their agendas,and pad their pockets... If cca thinks for one second that groups like defenders of wildlife can be trusted,then they deserve what is eventually going to happen..


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Shrimp were excellent had them both in a curry and steamed probably ate more than my share but they were tasty

Greed is only an issue when it rests on the plate of the "other guy", our "Own" greed is only just our "Rightful Share" and "deserved entitlement"

If the special interest groups succeed on the back of the old endangered Sturgeon who evidently is too stupid a dinosaur to swim away from the Dredge when it fires up and they have to shut down the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center as well as Pirates Cove and Teaches due to lack of a channel.......... well..............then the recs will have something to cry about........no more Mahi Mahi......... and they will find out too late that the commercial fishing lobby was one of the major factors in keeping the Inlets navigable for all to enjoy......

Spent time on Net boats and spent time out in the Stream looking for Tuna and Marlin........................regardless if I was paying the Captain or the Captain was paying me....

It was Fishing


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

Im not sure bout all commercial fishing but the netters up in the james river put ahurting on those croakers. My grandad talks about back in the day when you would go up there and catch 500 or more in two days. Also i to belive pomps are pelagics. At oak island whenever it is a good king yaer it is a good pomp year. Last year we had pomps but the biggest were only about 2lbs. The funniest thing though was when my 10yr old cousin with a store bought bottom rig and frozen shrimp trying to catch me a shark bait started catching nice pompano while everyone else just sat and looked.


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## hifishing (Dec 22, 2009)

Drumdum said:


> I'm with ya dude... This whole thread was to create awarness of what is about to happen,due to cca teaming with enviro groups (some of the same ilk that is within ASMFC AND DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR for that matter)...
> 
> Instead folks choose this time to slam coms and make statements about what they do and do not do... We're ALL gonna have to put away their fishing poles,and the coms will have to starve to death and burn their nets,if we can't in some way understand what is slowly converging on us all......
> 
> I'm one who supports the principle behind the endangered species act.. It WAS a well meaning document signed into law by tricky Dick,and at the time was an excellent idea.. ALTHOUGH enviros and their lawyers in conjuction with their lobbying power have turned it into a weapon to promote their agendas,and pad their pockets... If cca thinks for one second that groups like defenders of wildlife can be trusted,then they deserve what is eventually going to happen..


That right there about sums up my feelings. A deal with the devil...if you cant beat em, join em...Just wait for the MPAs to come down the pipe, we all know that idea has been floated in the last year or so...lots of areas on the table that could be potentially unaccessable. Did anyone happen to see the committee meeting in the House that had Hatteras and Biscayne Bay in the Everglades. It is happening everywhere and I see the situation at CHNSRA...I could only imagine what has been done across the country to others, especially our friends of the sand up on Cape Cod, and for that matter all up and down the East Coast by this agenda. What has happened on the land is going to happen on the water.


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## jakuka (Oct 12, 2009)

Good insight, Kenny. In the end it can't be good no way, no how.






Drumdum said:


> ALTHOUGH enviros and their lawyers in conjuction with their lobbying power have turned it into a weapon to promote their agendas,and pad their pockets...


Been happening for a long time I know, but man it's been a brilliant move on their part- I imagine those on the outside looking in from a neutral perspective and on one side they see a poor little helpless creature gettin' killed off. And then on the other side they look at me. And they see I'm higher on the food chain.........and I'm hungry.

We can say whatever we want- just a helluva lot harder to sell.


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## AJ35 (May 15, 2012)

It seems to me, that there are both good and bad both in commercial and recreational fishing. I won't pretend to know all of the problems facing the communities and fisheries along the Outer Banks as I only vacation in the Outer Banks once or twice a year, and of course that is the only time I fish there. But, it seems to me that we fishermen, both commercial and recreational should be working together on solutions to bring back our fisheries. There are commercial guys that cheat and poach the heck out of the fisheries, and there are also recreational guys that do the same. 

I am an environmental type of person, though. I spend just as much time admiring the beauty of the ocean as I do catching and eating the fish from it as I'm sure most people do. In fact, if an area has a National Park, NWR, or National Monument nearby that deals with nature, I am all over it. Once, while visiting a friend in Columbia, SC, I made time during my 4 day visit to walk the trails at Congaree National Park, and drove around 70 miles just to see the Sandhills NWR where they are restoring long leaf pine to help make more habitat for the Red Cockaded Woodpecker. I make trips to California every so many years just to visit Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and also to go to the ocean there and see the Seals, Otters, Whales, rock cliffs, and of course the gigantic waves. I love looking off of sheer cliffs over 3,000 feet high in Yosemite, I enjoy staring up at a 275ft tree whose trunk would fill a city intersection and whose age would make any old fart feel young and bubbly, I enjoyed walking through Carlsbad caverns and watching 750,000 bats come out at dusk, I get chills thinking about the full moon lit desert and Guadalupe Mtns. I can smell the Mountain Misery plants right now as if I opened up the window and suddenly found myself in the Sierras. Sometimes I just like feeling like I am on the edge of the earth, and nothing else matters. See, I think Nature and the life forms that come with it are God's ultimate gift to mankind. And, I think that we should be doing our best to keep these gifts alive for us, and for future generations.

However, I am in no way, no how, intersted in preventing people from being able to catch and eat fish, or hunt game. I do it myself, and I think it is in one way or another a God given right that we be able to do so. There are commercial guys that do their level best to be as kind to nature as possible, and to only take their quota or legal catch. And, there are recreational guys that do the same. I feel that most do in fact, and on both sides. We have to work together on bringing our fisheries back. We have to do our best to explore our options on keeping them viable and sound well into the future. I wouldn't be able to imagine a life without the things I mentioned above along with fishing. Just wouldn't be worth it. A man that makes a living at sea is a man that is feeding a family and anyone that buys seafood off of the shelf. A man that fishes and eats the fish he catches is simply feeding himself, his family, and his friends, and enjoying the heck out of doing so. Both are the same in my book. Now, obviously, the regulations and systems in place now aren't working. I too have heard the stories from older folk, mostly family, that swear up and down that the fishing along the Outer Banks at one time was vastly better than it is now. I can even remember my grandfather back in about 1990 throwing a line off the end of a pier and catching one croaker after another, cast after cast. It isn't that way anymore from what I have seen. I for one think that pollution has just as much to do with it as overfishing, maybe more. I also think that global markets, such as the bluefin market in Japan, are stripping the oceans clean as well. In no way do they have restrictions in place even close to what the US does. I think that if we are going to succeed, then we need to come up with plans from within, together, to bring back the fisheries, instead of relying on regulators to do so. We need to find ways to improve what we do from within. Rather than fight them or fight with them, introduce these ideas to them. Introduce these ideas in a way that gives them merit. For instance, are fertilizers and pesticides from golf courses doing a great deal of damage to the rivers and sounds? Should the regulators and law enforcement be more heavily patrolling waters looking for the "ghost netters" mentioned above? Should they start building islands in the sound for the Plovers to breed on? For instance, in Florida, it was noticed that the sea grass grew best in places where there were overhead objects such as bridges, wires, docks, etc. The reason? Guano dropping in the water from above put high levels of nutrients into the sea-bed, and the sea grass naturally flourished there. So, they put sea bird perches all over the place in shallow flats, and voaila, the sea grass came back along with all of the small animals etc that rely on it to flourish. What a simple solution!!! 

My question is this. Is there a place where fishermen's ideas, thoughts, and observations, both recreational and commercial, can be presented to the regulators? Is there an organization that will communicate these ideas and observations for consideration? I think we will be much more successful in preserving our rights to fish in such a manner. I also think we need to be willing to sacrifice a little. We need to be able to push and pull in certain directions to help the fisheries out. If we have to take a little less or the commercial guys have to take a little less of some species, in some circumstances, or during some years, then we have to be willing to do so. We also have to be willing to demand that certain industries and sectors of the population control pollution of our waterways. I have seen first hand what pollution can do to waterways. I live in the rust belt, believe me when I say that acid mine drainage is no friend to fisheries. We need to explore ideas together to help take us towards a greater future, and a replenished fishery.

I hope I made sense in posting this. I hope that we can all work together in pushing towards a future with more and better fisheries, and a healthier ecosystem. Both fishing quality and a healthy ecosystem go hand in hand. Take care all, I hope the best for the future of fishing for all of us.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

That post,AJ35,is preaching to the choir.. I know I want to see fish regulated while keeping in mind the empact to nature,polution,as well as catch limits.. Your post is well taken,as you will see in one of my other post,but these folks (enviros or special interest groups) have an agenda.. That is to stop access,therefore end ANY of the acts we do as sportsman and you have proclaimed as being a "God given right".... 

I can give an example in your post that has already happened here in Hatteras,that CAN explain that the esa needs to be revised or we will all eventually loose access:


> Should they start building islands in the sound for the Plovers to breed on?


 ANSWER TO THAT ONE>>> They (special interest groups,nps,usfwl) *will not count plovers or other "threatened birds" on the islands that have been produced by dredging or have came to be naturally,because in their minds they do not count as they are not on nps property....* To add to that there are skimmers,many species of terns,as well as oystercatchers that THRIVE on these islands!! As hifishing said in his post,


> Just wait for the MPAs to come down the pipe, we all know that idea has been floated in the last year or so...


 We will all wake up then,I can promise it...

As was said esa is used like a weapon to press an agenda by special interest groups... The really sad part is that many of us,including you and I,support the basic premise of the esa,and want nature to thrive, rid polution,and stocks to rebuild.. Although,as has been written,special interest is making $ on the backs of the esa.. As the original thought involved in the beginning of this thread,the esa has to be revised,and cca alieing themselves with special interest groups in getting the sturgeon thrown onto the endangered species list is not only the begining of the end and the nail in our coffin,but as in your own words,an end to our "God given right" to fish or hunt..


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## JAM (Jul 22, 2002)

Food For Thought::::

Folks have been Netting Fish since before times of Jesus..... FACT

Why all of the Sudden do we have Fishing Stock problems in the last 40 years???

Answer Total Mismanagement of a Resource.. 
Back in the 50's when the DMF's and NOAA got Involved, their Mission Statement was to Increase the Populations of Fish for a Sustainable Food Source for the World. In the 60's they changed their Mission Statement to be a Conservation Organization, to Conserve Fish Populations for Fututre Generations.. This Folks is NOT what they were HIRED TO DO.. 

As far as the Bay, why would any of you blame another Fisherman for anything, why not go after the REAL PROBLEM, Water Quality.. Oh I know why, cause your DRINKIN the Rich LAND DEVELOPERS KOOL-AID.. Which is your Favorite Flavor.. Bet its Grape, just like Jim Jones.. 

JAM


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