IB Hooked - Nov. 9, 2007

Sure was a nice vacation from fishery management crap but there’s been
some crap that hit the fan recently, matter of fact a pretty large load.
Sooooo, under that grab all of what ya’ll should know of what yall’s
government bureaucrats are about to do to ya’ll or may do to you here
goes.

Numero uno; The Gulf Council has reconstituted it’s ownself and for the
first time lord knows how long the Texas delegation don’t have a rep from
the recreational sector. Degraff Adams was replaced by Mike Ray, a nice
guy but also a long time TP&W bureaucrat, Adams I think was term limited
out. Sooooo, my spies tell me that Dr. Roy Crabtree of NOAA-NMFS is quite
perturbed with us Texians cuz of our flat refusal to follow them
charlatans down the rabbit hole and come in line with their ludicrous two
fish bag in State waters for red snapper. Yeah, the snapper crap is still
wont die much to the chagrin of the enviro-thugs and the federal
bureaucrats they feed. The new twist appears to be that Uncle Sugar’s
minions are now in a full court press and whisperin’ the word fundin’
quietly in some important ears, like the federal largess may well come in
to play or so my spies tell me, I’m bettin’ on my spies cuz ain’t nobody
talkin’ on the record.
Numero Two-o; The National Marine Manufactures Association and the
American Sportfishing Association finally sobered up from last Springs
euphoria over the new Mag-Stevens Act reauthorization they helped shove
through in a coalition with the enviros. Now that the fine print is
operative and their membership is lynchin’ mad they’re tryin’ like hell to
pry the lid off that can of worms. Seems that the requirement for a one
year or so rebuildin’ plan for a perceived troubled fishery is causin’
some major heart burn, not to mention a cash flow problem. The draconian
measures about to be put into effect on recreational snapper, shark,
amberjack and southern flounder have turned a normally genteel membership
into a mutinous rabble. You ain’t gonna see a press release on any of this
for obvious reasons, they been taken again. Now they’re stompin’ the halls
of congress in Sodom on the Potomac beggin’ and pleadin’ to change the
language to somethin’ more reasonable, all I can say is good luck and God
bless cuz it’s kinda hard to break a rubber arm.
Numero Three-o; I mentioned this a ways back but I wanted to firm it up
a tad. Ya’ll may not have noticed this but the Shrub recently signed an
exec order declairin’ red drum and stripped bass gamy fish in federal
waters which means no more commercial take. This is the beginnin’ of a
push that two Florida bureaucrats hope will end with the Shrub signin’ an
order under the Antiquities Act that would place an enormous portion of
the near shore waters of the Gulf into a marine sanctuary to be managed by
Billy Causey and Dan Basta along with a slew of Uncle Sugar’s other
minions. They’ve managed to do this as the top soy dogs in the NOAA-NMFS
bureaucracy are claimin’ to be mushrooms. One of the points they make is
that Mexico would be interested in joining in by declaring the Campeche
Bank a sanctuary. Some folks that have some horse power have gotten a bit
nervous about the idea and are makin’ inquiries of the mushrooms, since
these guys are Florida interests they’ll take care of their own. South
Texas has a huge swath proposed, from the canyon to Ranzell’s Rocks
because of the diverse bottom structure. Through Bob Zale the Gulf Council
is now aware of this, where they stand on it is anybody’s guess, have a
nice weekend.