Seafood Industry should Organize, File National Class Action Lawsuit Against Anti-Commercial Fishing 501(C)’s, private companies

EVERY SEAFOOD INDUSTRY RELATED TRADE ASSOCIATION IN AMERICA SHOULD JOIN HANDS AND FILE A NATIONAL CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST CERTAIN 501 (C) ORGANIZATIONS AND PRIVATE COMPANIES THAT HAVE DE-HUMANIZED THE COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN IN THE UNITED STATES BY REDUCING NON-BOATERS SHARE OF THE FEDERAL FISHERY RESOURCES. THE LAWSUIT SHOULD BE FILED IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FEDERAL COURT ON BEHALF OF THE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF NON-BOATERS WHO DEPEND ON ACCESS TO THE NATION’S FISH AT RESTAURANTS AND RETAIL MARKETS THROUGH THE LABORS OF COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN.

Greetings,

If to humanize is “to make a person or culture humane, kind, or gentle,” then is must follow that to “de-humanize is to make a person or culture inhumane, unkind and ungentle.” Some Sportfishing magazine and associations have been dehumanizing the commercial fishermen for over 100 years, but it didn’t happen so relentlessly on a daily basis until 1976.

People are not required by statute to like each other. People are not required to hate each other either. People come together in groups, clusters or ‘tribes’ unless our nation is a victim of terrorists – home grown or foreign – or drawn into a world war. We can be the strongest nation in the world when we work together don’t hate each other.

We in the fishing industry are no different than other groups, clusters or ‘tribes’. We might be a little more hard-headed than some groups, but that is required. Type A personality is almost mandatory to be a skipper as decisions at sea must be made quickly when you have other lives to take care of as well as your own.

We in the fishing industry often have a hard time accepting other types of fishing gear. “I don’t use nets so what does that mean to me?’ or “I don’t like trawlers because they wreck my fixed gear.”

The list goes on and always will in a competitive industry like ours. I don’t see the commercial fishing industry coming to a “Kumbaya Moment” on anything…..except one thing.

Commercial fishermen harvest a sustainable, recordable, allowable and traceable amount of seafood from federal waters strictly to supply the non-fishing citizens with a steady supply of domestic seafood. That is one of the main tenants on why the Magnuson-Stevens Act was passed in 1976. ARE WE, THE COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRY IN AGREEMENT ON THIS ONE THING?

If the answer is yes then let’s see if we can get in front of a federal judge in a long black robe and ask him/her to tell us whether we are entitled to a fair share of our federal resources. Will we do this or will we stand silent, with hands in our pockets? Will we bow our heads and watch helplessly as NOAA and Councils convert the nation’s federal waters into a private fishing pond for folks who can afford to buy Quad 300 HP Yamaha Engines for their $150,000 offshore boats to go fishing.

The government policy makers in DC are gunning for the commercial fishermen in the southeast. The Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, removed all South Atlantic Council’s commercial fishing representatives from Florida and Georgia a few weeks ago. NC and SC have one commercial seat each so what sector do you think will get all the fish?

We hear them knocking loudly on our door. If we are taken down, who will help you when they come knocking on your door?
Oorah!

Bob Jones