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On Wed Jan 30th the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council will be meeting at the Radisson on 12600 Roosevelt Blvd. in St Petersburg 33716, and public comment will be taken from 130-530PM.
Folks, I don't know how else to put this.......if you are a recreational spearo that hunts on Florida's Gulf Coast there has NEVER been a meeting more important for you to be in attendance at. What can occur from this meeting is a worse case doomsday scenario of a ONE GAG GROUPER BAG LIMIT with a FIVE MONTH CLOSED SEASON which will go into the books as early as 2009. There is the very likely possibility that an emergency ruling will be created to immediately put these measures in place until the permanent regs go into effect. Are you going to spend $3.50 per gallon on fuel or $550-$600 on a weekend charter to shoot one gag grouper seven months out of the year, one red grouper, one amberjack (or half of one ), and two red snappers five months out of the year? Of course not. These measures are exactly designed to eliminate recreational fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Game over.
Do I have your attention? If there is any way possible that you can come to this meeting then your presence is imperative. You don't necessarily need to speak if you don't want to......I personally feel that there is more impact with the amount of the public in attendance especially if the print and TV media are present more than anything that is specifically said in public comment. I however want this thread to be a guide for those that do want to speak. Please feel free to add talking points to the ones that I post.
If you absolutely cannot attend the meeting then I would like you to email the members of the Gulf Council with in essence the same message that you would say if you were able to go to the meeting. Send the email during the meeting on Wed Jan 30th in afternoon so that their Outlook inboxes are burning up while they stare at their computers avoiding our eye contact, and doing their best to ignore our public comment. Go to Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and click on the Council Staff tab. You'll see a listing of all the Council members with their email addresses. There is no excuse to at least do this!
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