Robin's Reports

CLOSED
by Robin

Much like a lot of the bottom fishing in our area, my blog is undergoing regulations, limits & closures. I hope I did not forgot to invite any friends or family.

It was my hope & dream to provide valuable information to other local fishing friends while entertain family & friends with photography of the sea. What has happened is a much different story.

For those unaware of our situation, in October, we received a knock on the door from NOAA-NMFS (Nat'l Marine Fishery Serv) field agents who had been watching my blog for months! It seems that we broke the law, admittedly, by being within 500 yds of a N. Right Whale back in March. Somebody photographed us (& another boat) from the beach, but also, they managed to find my blog and copy my photographs & use my testimony to build a file against us.

We were let off with a warning. The fine is in the tens of thousands. God protected us through that rather quick trial, as I believe He knew in our hearts ut was only to be in awe of such a magestic creature and never to harm it. We had no intentions of drifting so close to Mama & calf. I still believe she was just as curious of us, coming over to us.

Regardless, my sitemeter tells me that folks from all around the world are coming to view my images that have been taken without permission and put onto a google image site. I'm getting rather tired of that too. Once, I was linked to and by CNN for my opinion on the woman who was killed by an airborn stingray down in the keys. Nothing ever came of that, but it kinda freaked me out.

So, with that said, I have decided to close my blog to only people I give permission to view. It's so sad that we live in these times, but that's the way it is.