Lets legalize freedom!

[JBird]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan (1986)

Good old Ronnie Raygun wasn't half as conservative as people remember. Overall, taxes went UP under Reagan and he and his administration helped deregulate Wall St. ( along with Slick Willy, Bush 1 and 2) which helped lead us to where we are now; the greatest disparity in wealth the country has ever known and a giant crap sanwich the 99% has been eating since 2008.

But I digress...

I believe NOAA mostly has their head up their butts but I also recognize that some regulation is needed. I believe that had we done nothing in the past (no pollution control, no seasons, no bag/size limits etc) we would have no fishery at all. For anything, really. The New York Bight would be a stinking, fishless cesspool. Do we need better science and research? You bet. Just don't be mad if the results don't please you.

Times have changed and the writing is indeed on the wall. Our worldwide human population will continue to put enormous pressure on the oceans to provide sustenance. Recreational anglers don't put anything on the endangered species list but we still need to recognize our impact and we must be good stewards of the resource that belongs to all of us.

Overall, we tried "freedom" for the better part of 200 years and it guess what? People are greedy. If we are all "free" to do as we please then you will end up with a lot of honest people doing the right thing and a minority screwing the whole thing up by polluting and overfishing (seriously, a garbage can full of flounder? and you wonder why we now have limits).
Been there, done that. That's why we have these restrictive rules to begin with. Are they stupid and useless and using flawed science at times? Yup.

But the alternative of total freedom doesn't work either, unfortunately, as we can see through years as some fisheries collapsed. See: cod, striped bass, redfish etc.

"But wait!" you say. "There are tons of bass and redfish and cod are coming back!"
Yeah. You know why? Rules and regulations. Sometimes it works. Sometimes.