December 2009 Newsletter

December 2009 Newsletter
Last Minute Gift Ideas! NCWU T-shirts with Logo - $25.00 (Shipping Included) White and Pastels in Small and Medium Sizes White and Gray in Large, XL, XXL, XXXL NCWU License Tag - $25.00 (Shipping Included) Order On-line at www.NCWU.net Or call Robbi at 252-475-1133

Letter from the NCWU President

Ladies and gentlemen of the NCWU,

I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Life on the political front has been pretty rugged the past few years. Frustration seems to rule the day when truth seems to be overcome with a lie that is preceded with a big check. The “Pay to Play” scheme is alive and well in the political world, and the din caused therein often drowns out the messenger bearing truth. We are not, however, going to lose sight of our original tenet – and that is to tell the truth. A truth is easily defended, but the lie has to have an ever-expanding circle of more lies to perpetuate itself. A lie is a lie, is a lie, is a lie, no matter who tells it, and although an ill wind has buffeted us, we will prevail. Truth is the easiest hill there is to defend.

This past year has seen some great improvements in the NCWU and the services we provide our members –

We have an awesome website with Links to our Members’ Charter/Headboat and Industry pages.
We are emailing our Membership with Alerts, Reminders and items of general interest.
Our Board of Directors never ceases to amaze me. They never “let up,” and I wonder when they have time to sleep – as they work and wage a daily battle against senseless regulation and radical environmental groups that do not have a clue what it means to live on a Sand Spit and try to provide for a community that does a great juggling act between tourism and working watermen.
We have a new Board Member from the central coast/Morehead City area who is right in the heat of the fracas surrounding fishery regulations that have no basis in science or truth.
Robbi, our Marketing Director, is continually expanding our Membership, and Melba, our Executive Secretary, continues to say that she “loves this job,” as she writes letters and sends a cascade of emailed information down the line to you, our Members. We could not be where we are now, if it were not for these two awesome ladies!

Thanks to all of you. I am privileged to be surrounded by this group.

The New Year finds us going back to you – our original supporters –the very cause of the inception of NCWU. We continue to need your support more than ever. Although you may question the rationale for paying your dues, the reasons are more evident than ever. Area closures, M.P.A.s, catch-shares, quotas, vessel monitoring devices and electronic logbooks are just a few of the things coming down the pike that are going to be facts of life for the Charter/Headboat Industry, if we can’t get some traction. We need both your membership dues and your time. We have two open seats on our Board of Directors; if you are interested, please contact one of our Board members for more information. The work we are doing is ever-growing and having two paid staff members is very important to keep you abreast of what we are doing.

Memberships start at $20.00, and there is every reason to join. If you look at the things we have done, not only for the commercial sector, but also the Charter/Headboat Industry, it will become evident that ALL professional watermen should be paid members. We are fighting for each one of you every day.

We are starting to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

The most important strides we have made on the political front this past year is making inroads with the political establishment. Our dialogue with the Governor’s Office, our State elected officials and our NC US Congressional Delegation has grown substantially.
The completion of our Economic Impact Study – showing a direct contribution of $688 Million Dollars per year from the Charter/Headboat Industry into the state coffers – has had a positive response. This document is opening many doors. Thanks to all of you that completed the Captain’s Survey and to those who were kind enough to have your charter parties complete the Passenger Survey.
We are forming alliances with a growing network of people around the nation, and we have proved that we are a force to be reckoned with. We will continue this legacy in the coming year.

Have a safe and profitable New Year and give thanks where it is due this Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord. It is a pleasure to serve you, and I am generally available to discuss anything.

Standing by,
Shack
info@doghousesportfishing.com

North Carolina Fishing

What a Year!
by Ernie Foster

Charles Dickens’s phrase “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” may be an appropriate analysis of the past year for the professional fishermen of North Carolina.

So much has happened, so any things have come into play, so many actors have revealed themselves so clearly that I have actually developed a little bit of optimism. That’s right --I said optimism. And all you professional fishermen also share in the belief that things will get better.

Yea, you try to pretend otherwise but you still make “one more circle” or “one more set” or “one more drop” and you fish another fifteen minutes when it’s time to go, and you do it because you know from experience that you sometimes get that last bite or that last good set and that belief makes you an optimist too. It’s part of what makes us fishermen.

For those of us who charter fish, the economy is awful. It is “the worst of times.” Slice it anyway you want, but business was off for the fleet - up and down the coast. We can sugar-coat it, but it still tastes worse than a false albacore. Awful! So what do you do on a slow day or a slow season? You keep on trying.

However, in some ways 2009 was also “the best of times." There were plenty of fish and our clients experienced excellent fishing this season - and that bodes well for our future. While there is no crystal ball with regards to the nation’s economy, there are lots of reasons to think that things have stabilized and with economic stability will come a renewed desire for our customers to fish.

As charter fishermen we offer a great product. Sport fishing touches a need within us all to connect with nature, to be in contact with creatures that are at once both mysterious and powerful. To be on the open water in an element not their own is an experience most people do not get on a regular basis. The opportunity to reconnect with a primal part of themselves is one of the things that will always draw our customers back. Simply put, lots of people like to fish!

And then there was the long awaited Economic Impact Study - requested by NCWU, funded through Sea Grant, and conducted through the UNC system - that provides irrefutable proof of the economic value of having a thriving charter fishing industry in North Carolina. From a political prospective this is not just good news, this is great news!!

On the commercial fishing front there is a lot going on! From the CCA and its desire to eliminate watermen, to the environmental front where the death of any turtle or marine mammal becomes proof positive that we should stop harvesting seafood, to the continued increases in cheap seafood imports there are lots of threats to those citizens of the USA who continue to provide food to the masses by commercial fishing as it has been practiced since before the country was even founded.

So where is the good news? Take your pick --- The economic recession is a godsend. For example, can you name a group who can still generate income without government help? Of course, it’s commercial fishermen. In fact, it’s government interference that holds us back from generating even more revenue and paying even more taxes. Finally, there is a strong reason for politicians to take close note of the fact that there are small businessmen who are independent operators, who contribute to their communities, who feed not only themselves but also others and who pay taxes and contribute to this nation’s self sufficiency. They do all this without asking for subsidies of any kind and they do it in tough economic times and that’s a fact! Finally, there is a strong reason for politicians to acknowledge that coastal regions need a diversified economy - that putting one’s eggs in only one basket is a bad idea. Part of that diversity is a healthy commercial fishing sector. And the cost to the politicians? Zero.

Here’s more good news. The extreme portions of the environmental community have over-played their hands. The best specific example is with IFQ’s or Catch Shares. When the second in command of the Environmental Defense Fund went to a conference of investment bankers and venture capitalists and recommended that they invest in IFQ’s (Catch Shares) it was a clear and absolute indicator that they intend to rid the country of small independent fishermen. You do not go to individuals and institutions that invest billions and billions of dollars to talk about small independent fishing operations. No, you go to talk about big dollars and big business. Fishing, in their vision, will become “big business, really big business.” We’re not talking independently owned 50 foot boats and one to three man crews here, not at all. Oh, and all those small communities with their heritage and traditions and tourist appeal and contributions to the local economy -- well they can simply go to hell --along with the phrase “vibrant fishing community“ that their propaganda machines so routinely pump out.

The fact is that most of the people of this country find the idea of wiping out small time independent fishermen and their communities repulsive, repulsive to the extreme. Even the CCA has begun to recognize that selling all fishing rights to the highest bidder does not bode well for the vast majority of casual anglers. It is good news indeed when that group begins to “see the light of day”.

Up and down the coasts of this country - Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific - there is an ever-increasing awareness by politicians of what has been happening to working watermen. Yes, the wheels of justice grind slowly and all of us have, for way too long, been aware of the farce that much of fisheries management has become. The list that proves that last point is long. (But of course my stories are only anecdotal and cannot be considered.)

However, it is the best of times when county commissioners and state representatives and congressmen and senators and governors from both parties and all coasts finally begin to look at the facts - and they are. It is the best of times because the facts are the truth and the truth has this funny way of winning most battles. This battle is over the survival of America’s independent working watermen and with the truth on our side, we will win!

And knowing that the men and women who make their living as working fishermen will survive and thrive is indeed “the best of times”.

Fishing on a Foggy Day

Upcoming Spring Events

NCWU
Member Appreciation Socials

Hatteras – Sonny's Restaurant – Monday, April 5
Manteo – Darrell’s Restaurant, Wednesday, March 24
Morehead City – Sanitary Market – Date to be announced

Food! Raffle Tickets! Fun!
More Details Later

The North Carolina Watermen United
would like to wish all of its
Members and their families
a very Merry Christmas and
a Glorious New Year!