NOAA Fisheries Town Hall Meeting In NJ

[CaptTB]

I was disappointed I could not attend this meeting last week, but work had to come first.

Here's a little blurb from Chris Gatley who was one of the attendees.

After speaking with several people who were able to attend it was nice to know the time was taken to listen to all concerns and viewpoints.

Click Here to see Capt. Chris Gatley's Comments on the Fisheries Town Hall Meeting

[dales529]

Tony,
Is there a "place" where one can find a schedule of these meetings in advance?
Tried searching the obvious websites and did not find an events page that provided updated schedule information about future meetings such as this. Probably ME but if you could provide any insight I would appreciate it.

Thanks

[CaptTB]

Originally Posted by dales529

Tony,
Is there a "place" where one can find a schedule of these meetings in advance?
Tried searching the obvious websites and did not find an events page that provided updated schedule information about future meetings such as this. Probably ME but if you could provide any insight I would appreciate it.

Thanks

The RFA was hosting this meeting and the people in attendance were invited. This was not a venue to simply have hundreds of anglers show up, the idea was to get those "in the know" so to speak to sit down with Andy Winer from NOAA and express our concerns and see what NOAA is going to do to address those concerns.

NOAA will likely hold their own meetings across the regions, this was more of a one on one at the behest of the angling community and industry in our area. Some of the guys from NY were invited and in attendance as well DE.

[shrimpman steve]

I am very sceptical about NOAA listening to the rec. community. we will have to wait and see. Personally the task force scares the hell out of me, as does almost all of Obamas policies!

Can you say "1984"

[captmark]

Tony, thanks for keeping us in the loop on any information and effort by everyone, I guess any steps forward are better than none..
Steve yes Obama and his admin scares me too

[Kup]

If I understand this correctly, "NOAA is going to be our representative with this new Ocean Policy Task Force". I'm sure Andy Winer was very understanding but I don't believe that NOAA can serve as representation. With all due respect to Chris Gatley this doesn't leave me with warm and fuzzy feelings. We need some kind of direct input if we are to keep vast portions of our recourses from being taken away from us.

Step by step we are being shut down and this is going to continue until there is nothing left to fight for. The fewer boats, tackle shops, marinas and others that depend on the recreational fishing industry are still in business the less voice we will have and that's their goal.

We are fighting against people that worship nature as a religion. Our very existence is a desecration of their alter.

[CaptTB]

Originally Posted by Kup

If I understand this correctly, "NOAA is going to be our representative with this new Ocean Policy Task Force". I'm sure Andy Winer was very understanding but I don't believe that NOAA can serve as representation. With all due respect to Chris Gatley this doesn't leave me with warm and fuzzy feelings. We need some kind of direct input if we are to keep vast portions of our recourses from being taken away from us.

Step by step we are being shut down and this is going to continue until there is nothing left to fight for. The fewer boats, tackle shops, marinas and others that depend on the recreational fishing industry are still in business the less voice we will have and that's their goal.

We are fighting against people that worship nature as a religion. Our very existence is a desecration of their alter.

I don't know that anyone in attendance was naive enough to have warm and fuzzy feelings (OK, I know of a couple......)

The point is when a meeting like this goes as it did, putting a negative or suspicious twist on it serves no one. Many people I know believe that Mr. Winer (sorry, I keep think of ...."We're the WHINERS") is genuine in his desire to work with anglers. The big question is, are his bosses? Make your concerns known and question the future, but still talk about the positives from the meeting if there were any.

At this stage of the game we all have our beliefs but must still continue to try and work within the system while at the same time working to fix the system.

[dales529]

I agree its tough to come away with an over optimistic view here BUT the fact that Dr. Lubchenco asked specifically for an audience with the RFA has to be looked at as POSITIVE until proven otherwise.

Also in doing some research today this Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is not as scary as the people and groups that can get their ear. Their 38 page Interim Report can be read in full at either NOAA's site or www.whitehouse.gov. Just do a search for Ocean Policy Task Force report.You can come to your own conclusions after reading the report but it doesnt seem much different than reports from previous task forces such as the 2004 US Commission on Ocean Policy's A OCEAN BLUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (again just search google this report is over 600 pages)


These "task forces" have been around for quite some time but without getting crazy lets just look at the past 10 years. In 2000 The "Commission on Ocean Policy" was created by the past admistration to basically do what todays task force is doing. Once the COP report was done and passed along to the Council on Environmental Quality ( CEQ, still a major council today) the "Committee on Ocean Policy" was instituted to carry on the mandate of the Bush Administration. All of this can be googled searched by looking up these councils. Again very similar mandates with very similar goals IN MY OPINION. Factor in the NOC (National Ocean Council) , OSTB (Office of Science and Technology) OMB (Office of Mangement and Budget) and you can see the levels of Councils and Committees involved. In all of these "task forces" the NOAA was listed as the Nations Top Oceanic council whose reports and reccomendations get full attention.

Given that, I think the difference is that we now have a more sympathetic ear in the current administration to the "extreme" environmentalist groups that have a much stronger lobby and enrollment of "activists" than we the recreational fishermen. So we either get LIKE them and fight or we get to complain about how far THEY got with their Agenda and we didnt.

I say best to get an ear with NOAA and do whatever it takes to TRY and get them to listen especially if they have extended an opening.

By the way the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force Report is open to PUBLIC Opinion Comment as well on the web. The public meeting from New Orleans is being web cast LIVE as I write this.

[Leif]

Originally Posted by dales529

I agree its tough to come away with an over optimistic view here BUT the fact that Dr. Lubchenco asked specifically for an audience with the RFA has to be looked at as POSITIVE until proven otherwise.

Also in doing some research today this Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is not as scary as the people and groups that can get their ear. Their 38 page Interim Report can be read in full at either NOAA's site or www.whitehouse.gov. Just do a search for Ocean Policy Task Force report.You can come to your own conclusions after reading the report but it doesnt seem much different than reports from previous task forces such as the 2004 US Commission on Ocean Policy's A OCEAN BLUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (again just search google this report is over 600 pages)


These "task forces" have been around for quite some time but without getting crazy lets just look at the past 10 years. In 2000 The "Commission on Ocean Policy" was created by the past admistration to basically do what todays task force is doing. Once the COP report was done and passed along to the Council on Environmental Quality ( CEQ, still a major council today) the "Committee on Ocean Policy" was instituted to carry on the mandate of the Bush Administration. All of this can be googled searched by looking up these councils. Again very similar mandates with very similar goals IN MY OPINION. Factor in the NOC (National Ocean Council) , OSTB (Office of Science and Technology) OMB (Office of Mangement and Budget) and you can see the levels of Councils and Committees involved. In all of these "task forces" the NOAA was listed as the Nations Top Oceanic council whose reports and reccomendations get full attention.

Given that, I think the difference is that we now have a more sympathetic ear in the current administration to the "extreme" environmentalist groups that have a much stronger lobby and enrollment of "activists" than we the recreational fishermen. So we either get LIKE them and fight or we get to complain about how far THEY got with their Agenda and we didnt.

I say best to get an ear with NOAA and do whatever it takes to TRY and get them to listen especially if they have extended an opening.

By the way the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force Report is open to PUBLIC Opinion Comment as well on the web. The public meeting from New Orleans is being web cast LIVE as I write this.

AHHH.....The voice of reason. Don't worry I have been reading every post and link.

We(Recs. and comercial) are already benefiting from things(Most fishery "acronyms") that have been done. Believe it or not.

Leif