BREAKING NEWS!!!!!
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Right now is when we would be catching flounder with our gill nets but not anymore since its closed. It was opened a few weeks ago when it was not time to catch fish yet, but it was all in their plan, to make you quit. Also for the first time ever up the sound, we couldn't set until dark and have our nets up by daylight, basically working in the dark. Not very smart thing to do out in the middle of the Albemarle Sound when it's blowing. Nice way to work, wondering if you are going to drown. Not to long ago, they made it so you couldn't leave your small mesh nets unattended. Basically you had to spend the night with them instead of setting them, going home, eating with your family, going to bed and getting up early in the morning and going fishing. All in the plan to make you give up and quit. Another obstacle to make you quit. I hear talk of moving inland water line further south. Why? To take away where you fish and make you fish in a not as productive area. All in the plan to make you quit. No more large mesh other than 3 weeks for the shad fishery in March. What about the Rock quota? How is that going to be caught? How about the Blue Cats along with the Rock that are eating everything in the sound? How are they going to be kept in check? They won't close the fishery, just won't let you set the net that fits them. All in their plan. The reason for the large mesh closure was supposedly the flounder being in trouble. Well we don't catch any flounder in the spring. The experts say they migrate down and out to the ocean in the fall and winter and come back in the sound when the water warms up. So why close large mesh? Because they can and no one stops the ones that want it closed. Its on the table now to make areas where Crabbing has always been done, to make it a sanctuary. They say crabs are in trouble. The past few weeks, the Crabbing has been so good that some days the crabbers can't go because the market is flooded with crabs. Same thing last year. I could go on and on all night about stunts just like this that have been done but you get the picture. It's Unbelievable. You say, who is doing all this? There is a long list of names but you just have to look at the top. Who oversees all of it, the Governor of North Carolina. Roy Cooper. He is in charge of the Marine Fisheries Commission, that votes on all these rules and regs. He could have stopped all this nonsense a long time ago. But he chose not to. Not just fishermen but restaurants, retail seafood markets, commercial gear companies, and people that just want to buy and eat fresh, healthy seafood, are the ones that he is destroying. If all this was warranted, it would be one thing but it is not. So when election time comes around, remember all the damage he has been responsible for, and all the people and families he has destroyed in eastern NC. I'm lucky enough I have something else to do other than commercial fish full time but it rips my heart out for the ones that do it full time and have done it their whole life, to see it taken away. Remember, we can't make the rules but we have something to say for the ONE that oversees the whole mess. God Bless all the Commercial Fishermen, everywhere!
-BARRY SAWYER
Right now is when we would be catching flounder with our gill nets but not anymore since its closed. It was opened a few weeks ago when it was not time to catch fish yet, but it was all in their plan, to make you quit. Also for the first time ever up the sound, we couldn't set until dark and have our nets up by daylight, basically working in the dark. Not very smart thing to do out in the middle of the Albemarle Sound when it's blowing. Nice way to work, wondering if you are going to drown. Not to long ago, they made it so you couldn't leave your small mesh nets unattended. Basically you had to spend the night with them instead of setting them, going home, eating with your family, going to bed and getting up early in the morning and going fishing. All in the plan to make you give up and quit. Another obstacle to make you quit. I hear talk of moving inland water line further south. Why? To take away where you fish and make you fish in a not as productive area. All in the plan to make you quit. No more large mesh other than 3 weeks for the shad fishery in March. What about the Rock quota? How is that going to be caught? How about the Blue Cats along with the Rock that are eating everything in the sound? How are they going to be kept in check? They won't close the fishery, just won't let you set the net that fits them. All in their plan. The reason for the large mesh closure was supposedly the flounder being in trouble. Well we don't catch any flounder in the spring. The experts say they migrate down and out to the ocean in the fall and winter and come back in the sound when the water warms up. So why close large mesh? Because they can and no one stops the ones that want it closed. Its on the table now to make areas where Crabbing has always been done, to make it a sanctuary. They say crabs are in trouble. The past few weeks, the Crabbing has been so good that some days the crabbers can't go because the market is flooded with crabs. Same thing last year. I could go on and on all night about stunts just like this that have been done but you get the picture. It's Unbelievable. You say, who is doing all this? There is a long list of names but you just have to look at the top. Who oversees all of it, the Governor of North Carolina. Roy Cooper. He is in charge of the Marine Fisheries Commission, that votes on all these rules and regs. He could have stopped all this nonsense a long time ago. But he chose not to. Not just fishermen but restaurants, retail seafood markets, commercial gear companies, and people that just want to buy and eat fresh, healthy seafood, are the ones that he is destroying. If all this was warranted, it would be one thing but it is not. So when election time comes around, remember all the damage he has been responsible for, and all the people and families he has destroyed in eastern NC. I'm lucky enough I have something else to do other than commercial fish full time but it rips my heart out for the ones that do it full time and have done it their whole life, to see it taken away. Remember, we can't make the rules but we have something to say for the ONE that oversees the whole mess. God Bless all the Commercial Fishermen, everywhere!
-BARRY SAWYER
Council Seeks Applicants for Federal Fishery Advisory Panels
Applications are now being solicited for the following positions:
Dolphin Wahoo Advisory Panel
(1) Open Seat
Habitat and Ecosystem-Based Management Advisory Panel
(1) NC Seat; (1) SC Seat; and (1) FL Seat
Information and Education Advisory Panel
(1) Recreational Seat and (1) Commercial Seat
Mackerel Cobia Advisory Panel
(3) Open Seats
Marine Fisheries Commission Nominating Committee to meet Oct. 23
More info on the News & Events page!!
More info on the News & Events page!!
MISSION STATEMENT
The North Carolina Watermen United organization represents the needs of our coastal communities by protecting the livelihood of the people who rely on fishing to make a living and provides a voice for fair regulations.
Fishing is much more than fish.
It is the great occasion when we may return
to the fine simplicity of our forefathers
- HERBERT HOOVER
North Carolina Watermen United
Protecting your freedom to fish.
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PO BOX 536
HATTERAS, NC 27943 |