Robin's Reports

RED SNAPPER TAGGING & the STORM (out of Ponce Inlet, FL)
by DBNews Journal & Jordan Kahn
Feb 11, 2011

Thank you Jordan for producing such a video and thank you to the Fish & Wildlife Institute for collecting all the research & tagging.

Great, short video on how to tag & vent your red snapper. Also, this video speaks volumes to the SAFMC's claim that snapper are overfished & fishing needs to be closed down AT LEAST until 2013 when it will come up for review again. If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough and often enough, you can convince the public it is true. I had friends who watched the video, read the articles and still question the validity of our quest for comments & signatures for petitions.

This is ridiculous!!





Taken from the deep-blue-sea website, John writes:

"A SAFMC staffer told me they were surprised by the sparse turnout [at the last meeting]. Well, the answer seems clear based on the comments submitted and the many emails that I have received. People are extremely interested, but they are tired of taking time off work, driving for hours and being ignored. One person told me it is like arguing with a tombstone. They have figured out that the only way the current system is going to hear them is through either congress or the courts, and that is well under way.

We need to keep our voices heard in the SAFMC and take every opportunity to support the interest of science based/data rich fisheries management. It is dubious fellows who work within the shadow of the unknowns and we need to turn the light of science and data on to see clearly how best to manage our treasures under the sea. Given the current financial situation with the feds, things could actually get worse, especially if they decide to turn our fishery resources into commodities. Our elected officials will need to hear a loud continuous sound that we will not accept anything less than a fair and competent fisheries management system."

I don't know if many of you have paid attention to the food industry the past few decades but sometimes I think fishing parallels it, only we're still in the slow death process. The govt shuts fishing down or overregulates it. Puts the little guy out of business with their charter business or mom/pop bait & tackle store. Then, the big industry moves in to save the day, further pushing out the rest of the competition. Big industry WILL move in because you have to keep feeding the monster with revenue and the naive public will demand their healthy fish. Then, industry & govt are in bed together and there is NOTHING left for the average Joe. Do you know they're already training farm-raised fish to eat corn??

Wake up America. I only want a fair share of my rights to fish in a small edge of the ocean. The oceans cover 335,258,000 sq km of the planet, which is 70.9% of the surface area. I'm only asking for the first 30 miles outside my port. I promise not to keep the little ones. I promise not to keep the large breeders. I promise not to keep too many. I promise to follow fair regulations and to stay away from endangered whales. REALLY. But, what I will not is act like a dead fish washed up on the shore while the government & it's long arm overreaches into my kid's future and steals all our potential memories away while shutting down the oceans for their financial gain under the guise of some environmental safety. (Not to mention, every longliner from foreign countries continue to rape the ocean itself. Not just the fish but sharks & turtles.)

Poo on you SAFMC for treating us like ignorant barbarians who don't love the ocean and all its contents as much, if not more than you do. In the end, I pray that our voices will be justified and you see, scientifically, that there are more red snapper down there than you can shake a stick (er... a rod) at.

God bless America & her Oceans!
Happy Fishing,
Robin