[Broad Bill]

Done with the following reply.

When's the last time there was a closure to a fishery with a significant commercial presence? Addressing the blue cat fish population in the Chesapeake and driving Cooke Inc. out of the Bay to give bunker a chance to clean up the cesspool needs to be done but Virginia lobbies not to because of the money they receive in kickbacks from Cooke Inc. and Omega Protein. Don't punish the recreational industry for the mistakes of Virginia. Increase enforcement with the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by recreational fishing to enforce the laws on the books and stop unabated poaching of stripers and give the fishery time to rebuild the biomass. Don't drive another nail into the coffin of this fishery which will have permanent and irreversible impacts on the stock and small businesses up and down the coast. You have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the resource without destroying the economy, there's ways of doing that without the need for a closure. Don't destroy legacy fisheries and businesses dependent on them because it's the easy thing to do and don't make decisions under a different set of standards for the commercial sector versus the recreational sector which contributes as much if not more to the economies of the Mid-Atlantic States.

I'll plead on behalf of all of us to take 5 minutes to make sure your voice, your opinion and your pent up frustrations are heard. The time it takes to make a cup of coffee is all you need to submit a reply which could have long term ramification and save a fishery and people's livelihoods who have utilized that fishery for generations as a means of survival. We've been shit on forever, these are the times when you need to push back and realize you have a chance to make a difference and tell these bureaucrats were done having their bullshit regulations forced down our throats causing the potential loss of another recreational activity. You can contribute to how stocks are being managed or you can be screwed by the *******s making those decisions. WE NEED TO SPEAK UP AND VOICE OUR OPINIONS AND CONCERNS WHILE THERE'S A FISHERY LEFT TO SAVE. IMAGINE WHAT HAPPENS WITH RECREATIONAL FISHING IF THERE'S NO PARTY BOATS OR CHARTER BOATS LEFT BECAUSE THEY WERE REGULATED OUT OF BUSINESS. Maybe that'll light the fire needed to invest 5 minutes replying to this link, I pray it does.