The year in review: Let’s look at the issues.
Back in the news: Red Tide, Big Sugar, various coastal pollution. Septic tanks on the waterfront? Honestly and just think about it for a minute: How stupid are we?
Spend a tiny amount of money for permanent fixes. Or keep things as they are and we lose 100 million in tourist money every year with Red Tide scares?
I read the old articles from taking writers fishing. Snook and redfish circling us. That will probably never happen again. Doesn’t that bother you? I’m depressed.
“If humans are involved, it’s going to get screwed up.” I said it. I don’t take it back. Humans are hard on stuff. We pollute. We need to stop that, period.
Change is inevitable. But it is not for the better. As people, we make bad decisions. I haven’t killed a redfish in seven years. A snook, probably 15 years since I let a client keep one, in the beginning of chartering. Being out 280 days a year, that’s an impact. But it isn’t enough. Redfish, once great, are disappointing.
Snook. Snook are just dreadful. Cold weather knocked them way down in 2010. The FWC did the rest. The opportunity to have big snook back: Killed by decisions to allow people to keep them. All slot fish wiped out; those would have been our oversize sport fish for the next 20 years. Plus, more fish around to survive another freeze (which we got). Snook are in worse shape that they were in 2010. Red tide? It can also have an impact.
Trout, redfish and snook: Closed all year. The benefits, marginal. I’m fine with closures continuing.
The Florida Wildlife Commission: A dreadful failure. Case in point: They asked for input a few weeks ago. I took the time and typed out that input with excellent detail but not long winded. Like the other 100 times: My input got zero response. After everything I’ve done. After all I went through, my input still doesn’t get on the radar. In my input I make the suggestions to get the right people involved. Time goes on, it doesn’t happen. THEY DON’T EVEN TRY. If 10,000 of you spoke up and told them to listen to me it might work. Sadly, almost no one makes an effort. That is why things have gotten so bad. No one speaks up, nothing gets done. I’ll say it: I feel like a lone voice too much of the time. They do it wrong enough it will get interesting because I have the backing to take a swing at them if it becomes necessary. As it turns out: Some people care. Promises made, not kept. Contact expected, nothing.
The people there: They don’t follow through. That’s not good.
Water quality issues have become the first issue. From the Everglades all the way to the Panhandle, we need to find ways to stop the pollution we are creating and stop the trend toward environmental annihilation.
My efforts: It’s me. It’s Captain Scott Moore. Scott calls me all the time. Scott has been a guide longer than I have been alive. Scott knows the system. Scott knows the ecosystem. I have pushed and pushed to get the state to incorporate Scott in decision making. I have volunteered to assist myself. No progress. Honestly: They don’t want to do it right. It has been on a tee for them for years. They just don’t want to change their system. And their system doesn’t work. Snook are a perfect case-in-point. They have embarrassed themselves with snook management. My last conversation with Scott I told him “We will never see snook fishing what it was. If it ever comes back it won’t be in our lifetime.” Scott said, “Yes.” Scott knows that I’m closely connected. Scott knows that I’m a guy that is out there all the time, I have a brain and I’m not afraid to be heard.
But flounder: Not good. Pompano, two years straight: Not good. What gives?
What to do. We hit walls. Over and over. But we keep trying. Scott pushes CCA. I resigned from CCA after being on their board of directors for four years. Four years. And in my entire time in that position, I was getting everything done on my own and they didn’t join in or assist me in any way. They have a certain amount of respect for me even though I have dragged my feet supporting them since my resignation. They became a banquet agency. They point at the net ban. Sorry. That was 26 years ago. What have you done for me lately? Their banquets raise money to pay for lawyers. Not a terrible thing but when your name is Coastal Conservation Association, shouldn’t you be doing something for coastal conservation? Tampa Bay Watch does. Every day. If you want to support someone, look there. Peter Clark is great. My recent conversation with Peter I told him I will eventually be donating large sums of money to fund projects around the Bay. One day that will be possible. Peter was thrilled. He gave his thanks for my support of them over the years. It has been easy really. Going back, I was a volunteer. When things got tougher to be able to do that anymore I shifted to getting more people involved with them, something I have been very successful in doing.
The future isn’t as bright as it should be. We have thousands of new people arriving here every day. More people, more pressures. How do we handle the pressures? We do nothing. And because the pressures increase, the resource suffers. Sorry, that’s the bottom line. We haven’t done it right. The ecosystem is tough. Fish are good at procreation. But when it comes down to it, so many people using the resource, it could use a little help. I don’t want the restrictions but I believe in them. In this era, proper resource management is huge.
Red Tide: Is it done. Finally showing up in small concentrations, we had a year off from it.
Pollution coming out of the Lake: It most likely isn’t done. Sugar. Phosphate. Human creations that hurt.
Redfish. I’m redundant. What redfish? They just aren’t here anymore, not in any significant numbers. A hearty species: We have beat them down.
These things make an already challenged ecosystem “struggle.” What does the future hold? That will have a lot to do with what decisions we make. The FWC needs help. They can’t come up with the solutions on their own. How do we get them to listen? I would say to me, the trend should be to try to get the right people in there. People that are in there now: They don’t know anything about fishing. Or the fish. Or much of anything it seems with some of them. And they get paid? Truth is stranger than fiction, my father used to say. “If I was in charge” things would work better. Every time I said that to my father, he had a comment. He seemed to think if I was in charge there would be a lot less to complain about. He was probably right. I am a solutions guy. I always have been. Some solutions just aren’t straightforward.
A new governor: What will that do? We will find out pretty quick. I’ve already made an effort. He’s been governor long enough. Efforts in some places decent, in others, not cutting it.
I drove out to the Causeway, drinking coffee, watching guys fish that don’t know what they are doing. Looking out across the water, I remember back to when the fishing was as good there as anywhere in the state. Those days are gone. That fishery: Damaged by “sand projects.” Humans ruin everything.
Do your part. Cut down on your fertilizer use. Improve your communities. Make Florida the best it can be. Get involved.
Where do we go from here? Things can only get better. Will they incorporate people like me?? Time will tell. I will forge on. The Neil Blog will continue. The vaccine will make the rounds. Life goes on.
- The Neil Blog… - July 26, 2023
- The Catfish - July 26, 2023
- update - July 22, 2023
