The fishermen’s flotilla: Showdown at Martha’s Vineyard
Continuing my coverage of the revolt against the White House ocean grab, here’s the latest on today’s fishermen’s protest flotilla gathering at Martha’s Vineyard while President Obama plays Scrabble and golf with his Chicago cronies.
Takeaway quote from this local news report from one of the fishermen outraged at the administration’s junk science-based catch limits: “All these politicians scream about is jobs, jobs, jobs. Why are they putting out of business?”
Related: Corruption, waste, and anti-fishing vendettas at NOAA have been rampant. Background from Richard Gaines of the Gloucester Daily Times here and here.
More from Andrew Malcolm at Top of the Ticket.
Get involved: More from the Fishing Rights Alliance and the Recreational Fishing Alliance.
***
A local fishermen took out a full-page ad in the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette. I’m reprinting it in full here. How about a fish and chips summit, Mr. President?
Northeast Seafood Coalition takes out full page ad in Vineyard Gazette
EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts – Aug 24, 2010 – The Northeast Seafood Coalition has taken out a full page ad in today’s Vineyard Gazette. The ad is an open letter to President Obama from Russell Sherman, captain of the Fishing Vessel Lade Jane of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The text follows:
“MR. PRESIDENT, WE NEED YOUR HELP”
Dear President Obama,
My name is Russell Sherman, and I am a life-long fisherman. Like New England fisherman before me have done for 387 years, I take my vessel, the 72-foot F/V Lady Jane from the port of Gloucester, Massachusetts, into North Atlantic waters to bring back cod, haddock, flounder, and other groundfish for America’s table. I hope that while you’re in New England, you and your family are enjoying a few meals of our fresh catch – there’s none better tasting or healthier in the world.
Mr. President, my fellow fishermen and I need your leadership. We are small businessmen and women who want to continue the profession we love. We have worked hard over the past 16 years to rebuild groundfish stocks. Today, some stocks are fully rebuilt, and most others are expected to rebuild in three years, by 2014. According to federal forecasts, a fully rebuilt fishery will yield a sustainable catch nearly five times current landings.
At a time when we should be hopeful about the future of our businesses, we are desperate instead. We are being driven from our work and the fishery we have helped to rebuild. Ironically, what’s putting us out of work are the rules to rebuild the fishery. The most recent version of these rules – effective on May 1, 2010 – impose very low annual catch limits on stocks for the next three years, and at the same time institute a
“catch share” system.Take my case. Under the 2010 rules, my permit allows an annual catch of only 60,000 lbs of groundfish. At an average price of $1.50 a pound, that’s an annual gross of $90,000, or about one-quarter of my business’ gross income last year. I simply cannot run my business and support my crew of four – each with a family – on only $90,000 a year.
My business is only one of hundreds facing extinction. While there will be a small handful of “winners” under these new rules, the vast majority of us will be losers. And when we “losers” are forced out, jobs will be lost, coastal communities gutted, and crucial commercial fishing infrastructure gone forever. Is this the way to rebuild our storied, centuries-old groundfish fishery?
I belong to an organization called the Northeast Seafood Coalition, a New England-wide organization of 255 small, entrepreneurial fishing businesses and allied support businesses that participates in the public process. The Coalition has tried to bring this matter to the attention of your Department of Commerce. We have tried to offer constructive solutions to the challenge of rebuilding fisheries without at the same time destroying them. But our efforts have fallen on deaf ears.
Mr. President, we desperately need your leadership. We ask that you please direct your Department of Commerce to listen to us and work with us. We know that we can meet this challenge by working together.
Sincerely yours,
Russell Sherman, Captain, F/V Lady Jane Port of Gloucester, Massachusetts
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Leadership? – Good luck with that.
Good luck Russell and other fishermen today. I fear this bho and team will not do a thing to help any of you. He wants control of every business in our country! I hope we can change things come Nov. for our Republic.
L
He’s just pissing of everyone, isn’t he??
Oops, off.. Pissing off!!
“All these politicians scream about is jobs, jobs, jobs. Why are they putting out of business?”
Because it’s words, just words.
A jobs crisis is a time they can take advantage and implement jobs destroying policies under the cover of the already existing crisis.
Elections matter. We got the government we deserved.
If they were unions paying huge contributions, they would be protected by the current administration.
But, that’s what they want. More people on the public dole.
Time for a “Codfish Rebellion”.
Dexter–much better alternative to a ‘codpiece rebellion’.
I’d rather have lobsters on my piano…
Instead of Whale Wars we get Shrimp Wars!
I’m so glad MM is covering this!! I wonder if anyone else will. Do you think this will get through to Obama? Highly unlikely. He has to know what he is doing and that it is destroying this country and that We the People KNOW what he is doing. So, if he doesn’t stop, what does that tell you? HE.DOESN’T.CARE. His ideology is so strong, he just wants to get it done. My God, even David Letterman said Obama needs to be a one-term president!!! I mean, David Letterman…are you kidding me? He is as progressive as it gets!
than crabs on your organ?
reshas1
Don’t you think it should be ON, not OFF?
Anyone who hasn’t read the original White House Ocean Grab article needs to do so (linked above). It’s pretty scary what can be done by “Executive Order” I’m surprised they don’t just do amnesty and cap/tax that way–probably will if they can’t get through in what will presumably be a lame duck congress. This bunch could give a flying flip whether a bunch of redneck fisherman (or oil workers) lose their jobs as long as they achieve their utopian green agenda.
The winners will be BO supporters.
This is not a mistake, or a bad policy decision, this is part of an overall plan to destroy this country and turn us into the United Socialist States of Amerikka.
These fishermen will be working on union run government boats if President B.O. gets his way.
You can’t get leadership from a non-leader. This guy is nothing more than a figurehead being controlled by a much bigger organization.
***
Why should the New England fishermen get any better treatment than the California Central Valley farmers?
***
Comrade Obama (PBUH)–destroying the U.S. economy–one job sector at a time! How’s that HOPE AND CHANGE thingy working out for you, America?
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The beatings will continue until the morale improves–in November 2010 and 2012.
***
John Bibb
***
You know it, Spacey!
This administration is VERY payback oriented. Gov Christie just got a $400m dollar screw you notice from this administration. The gulf states got a 5 month long screw you from the administration. The oil business is getting a moratorium screw you while Arizona is getting a lawsuit screw you, as is Sherriff Joe. The fishermen, like the coal business, like the cattle ranchers out west are on the hit list of one of Obama’s key constituent groups, so HERE’S TO THEM. The Chicago way, reward your sychophants, crush your opposition.
Barry must have been snorting something the day they taught Dostyevsky at Columbia…
From “Brothers Karamazof” – Grand Inquisitor to Jesus:
“If you wish to subject the people, give them miracle, mystery and authority; but above above all give them bread.”
If he wants his socialism to work he needs to stop pi$$ing off the proletariat. All his hopey-changey miracle, mystery and authority have vaporized. Now he’s taking away their bread. The Bolshevics didn’t buy it either. As I recall the “Czars” were annihilated in the revolution. Barry and his czars will come down also – hopefully via a peaceful revolution at the ballot box.
No, he says it’s just rain. While he eats arugula, quail egg with caviar, Kobe Beef Tataki, Norwegian Salmon … we won’t even be able to eat cod fish. The word elitist doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface in describing Obama. Two and half more years is going to be two and half too many.
To get leadership, you must first ask a true leader.
Their plea hasn’t fallen on deaf ears. Obrainless just has no idea how to lead.
We’re not picky.
Lead, follow, orget out of the way.You forgot Wagyu steak.
Mr. Sherman, stop groveling before Che Obamao. Take your bullet like a man.
(((((((((((((((((((blush))))))))))))))))))))
If they really wanted to get his help, they should have added one more sentence at the bottom of the letter, saying:
“In return for your help on this matter, my organization will bundle $200,000 for your next campaign.” (This is not an offer of a quid pro quo…wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)
In order to get progressives to act on your behalf, money is always a good motivator.
Seriously. If he voted for Obama, he should stop whining and enjoy the change he voted for. If he voted against Obama, he should realize there will be no mercy without complete submission.
So did he include a ‘campaign donation’ with his letter?
God help you, Captain. If you didn’t contribute your first-born to his election campaign, you won’t get squat-ola. Furthermore, I doubt if he’ll ever see your ad; his HANDLERS will make sure to remove that section from the paper before he gets it.
Drat. You beat me to it.
Leadership from THIS president? For American small businesses? Dont expect to get it.
I’m afraid Mr. Sherman would have been better off paying his bills with the money he spent to take the ad out in this newspaper.
The Sock Puppet and Spud Bud Antoinette are too raping the office of the POTUS to be interested in the common man.
I’m barnstorming a bit here but would 60k of fish be able to sustain 4 crew if the state and federal income tax was abolished? It is the government’s job to protect the local population and to a large extent it is the only legitimate function of the government. New England does not face a serious threat from any other country and there are no roaming pirates in the coastal waters. The communities should consider exiting the State and Federal protection agreements since they are now unnecessary. If they fishermen own their homes, they might consider updating their agreements about property taxes. Finally as they exit this union, they will no longer be bound by the edicts coming from NOAA.
I simply cannot run my business and
Tell them to file for unemployment.
sin,
Obummer.
My guess is a lot of folks that voted for hope and change regret it.
Preview is your friend, Solo.
Oh, and under my proposal Obamabo would need to go through customs to enter Martha’s Vineard during all future visits.
Black people in Chicago love him. He has done nothing for them but they think he has so they love him. Unless they only love him for the color of his skin.
He still has 40-42% of the country that think he is doing a good job. Thats a lot of people. It seems that historically, Presidents have that kind of “low” rating in their first year. I think he thinks he is sitting pretty.
We have lots of work to do. Money, time, spread the word. November 2010 is the time. Harry Reid going down would be the best start on that. Taking over the house so Nancy is not speaker, and ousting the leader of the Senate who helped engineer this mess would send a very clear message to his followers.
Dear Mr. Sherman,
Who did you vote for for President in 2009?
First they came for the Auto dealers, but I did not care, I didn’t sell cars.
Then they came for the doctors, but I was not a doctor.
Then they came for the oil workers, but I was not a roughneck.
Then they came for the fishermen, and I looked about for someone to help me save my job, but all about me all I could see were lines and lines of unemployed laughing at my misfortune, for they knew that I had voted for the regime and that if anyone deserved to lose their job, it was an Obama voter.
Don’t worry Captain, I’m sure President Earnest Lee Sincere will give a rousing speech on your behalf. (Before he gives you the shiv in your kidney, that is).
So…I’d like to see Barry play this scene….
“You go in the cage…Cage goes in the water.Shark’s in the water …. OUR shark…
Farewell and adieu, to you Spanish Ladies! ”
Cage goes in the water
Mr. President, we desperately need your leadership. We ask that you please direct your Department of Commerce to listen to us and work with us. We know that we can meet this challenge by working together.
Sherman is clearly a Barry supporter from way back… until he got “hooked” by his own petard… Now he’s appealing to The One’s superior intellect, “caring” and (falsely) presumed leadership skills.
Good luck with that Shermy….
Hey today the EPA released their comment period on banning Lead Fishing weights … and of course, lead bullets.
My guess is the EPA has never heard of Leadville Colorado and other exposed surface lead deposits.
Talk about junk-science it seems that is all we get anymore — Now that we have put science back in it’s proper place, as a tool for big government to bludgeon the free market with.
I can imagine it now, Thad Allen will be called to (this) duty very soon.
Not necessarily. Just wait until Big Government has your livlihood and the well being of your family directly targeted for destruction. You will say many humiliating things as you beg for mercy.
Democrats are evil. This is not hyperbole. It is not an exaggeration. It is what they are. You cannot be a Democrat politician today without having sold your soul to the devil, figuratively or otherwise.
Maybe those Noreasteners should have thought of that before they voted the idiot into office!
On August 26th, 2010 at 1:11 pm, Roland said: Not necessarily. Just wait until Big Government has your livlihood and the well being of your family directly targeted for destruction.
I don’t know Rol, Shermy put so many breathless “Mr. Presidents” in his letter I couldn’t help but hear Marilyn singing to JFK..
Roland, no, I don’t think I would, I’m more confrontational than that, but then again I wouldn’t be writing letters to him either.
Sure, but when those coastal communities are gutted, all the “beautiful people” will swoop in and build condos and homes. Besides, the government will have taxpayer-funded handouts for all of the effected workers won’t they?
bho doesn’t care.
On August 26th, 2010 at 1:55 pm, rambler said:
bho doesn’t care.
precious few black or muslim fishermen..
I agree. BHO is cold blooded and does not care. He has never had to meet a payroll or actually work for a living. I own my own small company and actually have to work for a living. BHO is a community organizer, he has never even run a lemon aid stand. You 52% happy now?
Ok, so kids used to eat lead paint- now they are eating lead bullets? Where are the parents?
Unless you sell that thing and replace it with a 72′ dhow, the F/V “Lady Wahibah”, it ain’t happening.
On August 26th, 2010 at 2:21 pm, Azygos said:
I agree. BHO is cold blooded and does not care. He has never had to meet a payroll or actually work for a living. I own my own small company and actually have to work for a living. BHO is a community organizer, he has never even run a lemon aid stand. You 52% happy now?
—————————————-
He is still a far-left ideologue for the same reason most leftists his age still are; lack of real-life experience.
Sweet! Why use lead when you can use depleted urainium?
When do I get to comment to the EPA on the rising mercury levels that seem to be accompanying the use of “green” CFL lights?
The level of “green” stupidity is almost limitless.
The Law of Unintended Consequences has no Sunset Clause.
Deregulation, at the Federal level, should be a mantra.
Perhaps the good captain will get the help he seeks if he throws a few “Allahu Akbars” into his next letter. That, or he builds a mosque next to Gloucester harbor.
Impeach the creep!
He is so anti-American-did you see the UN report he sent on his ‘own country’
The Kenyan Commie is deplorable!
O/T, but related by way of the fact that Barack said that America is no longer a Christian nation, and now, as he vacations in Martha’s Vinyard, I think he should watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdhWitlgkd0
It includes some things about the history of Martha’s Vinyard, and the country as a whole, that you probably don’t know…
That’s part 1 of 5, but I highly recommend all 5 parts…
Obummer simply can’t fathom how a market economy works.
He casts a wide net and doesn’t care who gets snared.
Most of his advisors are bottom feeders.
On issues of race, he never fails to chum the waters.
I don’t think he realizes that when you hit a snag, there comes a point where you need to cut bait and try something else.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
Mr. Sherman are you a union fisherman with a union crew? No? Well, you are S.O.L.
Regards,
The Obama Administration
He does not want to. He learned as a small boy and was taught all his life that a market economy was evil.
“What do you think of your Messiah now Moses”?
That full page ad will fall on deaf ears. Better to have taken out the ad pointing out the damage right before the 2012 election.
Agreed. There is no point attempting to convince these elites of our position. They assume we are too stupid to understand what we need. We need only shut up and do what they come up with.
Yes, use the money as you suggested.
Don’t look for the GOP or the Chamber of Commerce to help.
This system means that the bigger corporate fishers will buy out the shares from the smaller, independent fisherman, thereby turning over yet another sector of America over to corporations.
Captain Sherman wrote a much kinder and more civil letter to the president that I think I would have been able to do!
President Obama, put on this shark suit, get in the water with the conservatives, and let me know if it hurts when they bite…
“Here’s your sign!”
I think that it’s time the oil workers shouted “screw you!” and go out and work the rigs. It’s time the fishermen say “Screw you!” and fish the oceans. It’s time the border states say “Screw you!” and build their own damn fences.
Let the government open fire on their own people. This adminstration has proven they have no respect for the law. The only reason they are winning is that they threaten decent people with lawsuits. To hell with the lawsuits. Let civil disobedience be the rule of thumb for the rest of this administration.
They let the destruction of the gulf states happen after the BP blow out. Now, the New England fishermen are in their crosshairs. The CA/OR/WA coasts are controlled by enviros limiting their catches to almost nothing, which leaves Alaska. Alaska is one of the heaviest regulated areas on the planet for commercial fishing. Yet, the Russians, Japanese and Chinese have been illegally trawling there for years. Their big processing ships stay just out of U.S. waters and package and can everything they bring up. No matter how big or small or what it is.
This admin will not be happy until all fish and sea food are supplied to the U.S. by 3rd world countries. There is a very informative video floating about showing the conditions some of these farmed fish in Asia are raised. Totally disgusting.
As long as bho gets what he wants when he wants it, he has no reason to care about the “little people”. He still gets his sea food, golf games and his jetset lifestyle. If seems as though he effort to save the planet will result in no one using oil to power anything. To bad the public can surround the White House with a kind of blockade to prevent anything from getting in or out and then see how bho’s lifestyle would suffer.
S/B = fish in Asia and how they are raised. Preview is your friend I keep forgetting to consult.
Obama has the Cloward-Pivan Strategy running full steam.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/clowardpiven_government.html
I only wish people would have the courage to do just that! What could they do to stop it, besides throwing workers in jail for doing their jobs. I think we should try and get the word out that this is something they should do!! Any action taken against our citizens by the government would only show how corrupt they have become. It could work!
He’s asking Obeyme for Leadership??? Oh, that’s rich….bwaaahaaa. I feel sick.
Don’t accept $1.50 a pound for your fish. That’s right, raise your price, and if the processors won’t pay the increased price, you and your fellow fishermen load the fish into dump trucks and take them to D.C. and dump them in the street in front of the White House, the Capitol Building, the Department of Commerce, and the NOAA, preferably on a hot day. You can send some of your fellow fishermen to do the same thing in NYC ideally in front of the big window behind the morons on the Today Show. You’ll get noticed then.
Call it “Civil Disobedience.”
ECS
So the system is like Alaska’s “IFQ” system, from what I am reading. I have no problem with it, in theory. From living in Alaska for quite a while I can see how it was a plus up there. Rather than have to go out and fish, regardless of the weather conditions, a IFQ holder could go when the captain deems it best over a longer period of time. It did cut down the number of deaths in the fishing business. Since I was not in the fishing biz I am going by what I recall from some years ago. IFQ amounts were determined by a persons average catch for a number of years. IFQ’s can be bought and sold, like any other commodity. And they are worth big bucks. The trouble here seems to be with the feds allocating someones seasonal amounts based on multi-year stock estimates by THEIR people. It seems to remind me of a soviet type “5 year plan”
If the under system they have back east, if permits were a commodity that could be bought and sold, I am sure that Capt. Sherman would have mentioned it. And I am also sure a guy with a small setup like his would likely to be unable to afford to add to his quota. And 90k a year is sure not going to allow him to keep fishing.And while science and research into available stocks has it’s place, the opinions of local fisherman based on their actually being out there merits MAJOR weight. They are not going to destroy the industry they love and wish to pass on in the future.
While I am not a big fan of conspiracy theories. I can see how this would work to get the small fisherman out of the way and put the fishing in the hands of Big Business Fishing. The buyers, I am sure, would love to do away with any conflict over the price they pay. Much, much better for them if the fisherman are just their employees rather than independents.
Please chime in and correct me if I am way off base on anything above.
@24Klady
You are certainly right about farmed fish. I would not touch them myself. And there is also the very real risk of such engineered fish escaping their “farms”.
Funny story. Some years back I lived in Juneau. Tony Knowles was Gov. COSTCO began selling farmed salmon at its store there and the feces rally hit the fan over that. A real Coal to Newcastle situation and a slap in the face to any SE Alaska fishing people. A boycott of Costco was threatened, and even “Unca Tony” got involved. Costco stopped selling their frankenfish, at least in SE.