Let’s Continue To Spread The Truth on the Skyway Fishing

[Mackerelman]

Let’s Continue To Spread The Truth.

Please make sure to make your voices heard & opposition to the potential rules changed!

If We don't, the Friends of Pelicans & Others may take Your Fishing Rights on the Skyway Fishing Piers Away from All of Us.
Let's Stop Them before they do.

The FWC is Still Accepting Emails of the Fishing Concerns at the Skyway Piers.
email to:  [e-mail] or phone at 850-487-0554

The Next Meeting will be in February.
I will update You when I get the Date & Time of the Event.

[fishsci]

If you all keep ignoring my advice about insisting that FWC only act based on scientific data...and just keep pissing and moaning...you may lose almost all fishing from the skyway.

As I said, the Commission is only supposed to act on real facts. What few pissing fishermen say will have almost no effect. What you claim to have seen or know would and should be as irrelevant as you claim the pelican friend claim...except the latter tend to have more political clout.


Piss and moan at your own risk......

[Flatsrunner]

There's a reason for ignoring your advice.

[seabird]

The more people that write and give reasons to oppose the unreasonable rule changes the better. It's a numbers game and hence political in nature.
Regarding a few fishermen pissing and moaning...not true. There are facebook sites with many more people than the Skyway Proboards forum.

[fishfinderbill]

I posted on the FWC web page. It was easy and I hope it does some good

[fishsci]

I am only trying to help Skyway fishermen avoid losing their fishing opportunities. I have had a lot of experience with the FWC commissioners over many years. When the commissioners are appointed, they are told that they should come to decisions based on facts and data, and not based on emotions. When at a meeting someone makes an emotional, personal comment, you can see their eyes roll as they sit there and patiently wait for the emotional rant to end. They almost completely disregard the personal comment.

Even a few hundred emotional comments do not stack up against a few rational, factual, data-driven comments or findings. Unfortunately, fishermen, outside perhaps formally organized fishing groups like the CCA, have very low political influence. Dozens of angry comments from Facebook groups are unlikely to have as much influence as a couple comments from an organization like Friends of Pelicans, Audubon, Nature Conservancy, etc.

So, again, I am only trying to help you make your efforts count. If you want them to count, your comments should be civil, rational, and based on facts and data.

[fishsci]

I am only trying to help Skyway fishermen avoid losing their fishing opportunities. I have had a lot of experience with the FWC commissioners over many years. When the commissioners are appointed, they are told that they should come to decisions based on facts and data, and not based on emotions. When at a meeting someone makes an emotional, personal comment, you can see their eyes roll as the sit there and patiently wait for the emotional rant to end. They almost completely disregard the personal comment.

Even a few hundred emotional comments do not stack up against a few rational, factual, data-driven comments or findings. Unfortunately, fishermen, outside perhaps formally organized fishing groups like the CCA, have very low political influence. Dozens of angry comments from Facebook groups are unlikely to have as much influence as a couple comments from an organization like Friends of Pelicans, Audubon, Nature Conservancy, etc.

So, again, I am only trying to help you make your efforts count. If you want them to count, your comments should be civil, rational, and based on facts and data.

[Flatsrunner]

Try actually reading all of the FWC officer reports and their facts stated and interviews with experts and how they believe there was no merit in FOP's claims and the negative Image that's portrayed on all anglers that use the pier's and the fact that no one making these claims will submit a sworn statement to the fact and then you might understand why some people get emotional with their comments. Yes there are pelican's getting injured in that area but there's not definitive proof that all came from the piers.

[fishsci]

Jan 29, 2023 7:38:31 GMT -5 Flatsrunner said:

Try actually reading all of the FWC officer reports and their facts stated and interviews with experts and how they believe there was no merit in FOP's claims and the negative Image that's portrayed on all anglers that use the pier's and the fact that no one making these claims will submit a sworn statement to the fact and then you might understand why some people get emotional with their comments. Yes there are pelican's getting injured in that area but there's not definitive proof that all came from the piers.

Yes, I agree.  That is exactly the kind of civil, rational, reasonable, and data-based response that would be effective, if sent to FWC and just not here.  Others could/should amplify those points in similar replies.  Other similar comments about other largely baseless claims by the "Friends" would be effective as well.  For example, I doubt that there is any factual base for wanting sabiki rigs actually being significantly responsible for pelican deaths.  Also there is no rational reason or data to suggest that closing the pier at night would eliminate any pelican deaths -- pelicans typically remain in their roosts at night.  Their demand that fisherme,n remain within 3 ft of their rod, is totally unreasonable and there is no reason to suggest that 3 ft would be any better than 10 ft or maybe 20 or more ft.  If the commissioners were to receive a barrage of comments pointing out how the Friends demands were totally arbitrary and unsupported by any data or information, it would make i almost impossible for the FWC to impose any of the Friends demands or almost anything that has not been documented through existing data or study. That has been my point all along -- that angry, emotional, uncivil comments do very little good, but reasonable ones can help avoid rules that will negatively affect many or any fishermen.

[Mackerelman]

Flatsrunner is correct on this.
If Everyone here on Proboards would Log Onto the Site when I Post of the Meeting, Many of the Questions & Remarks could be Understood & Explained.
Also Write in at the FWC Site-:  [e-mail]  & Leave Your comments so We can Keep Our Rights to Fish at the Skyway Piers.
The Bird People are already taking away the way We catch Fish on the Piers.
If People don't write to the FWC, then We may Lose that Right to Fish the Skyway Piers.

[Mackerelman]

Also if Everyone reads the Report on the Friends of Pelicans-   skywaypiers.proboards.com/post/54908/thread , they have also been proved wrong.
They Lied to the FWC several times to My Knowledge & got caught stating things with No Evidence because it was not the truth.
Both Piers have Video Evidence about the Bird People Netting Bait & Feeding the Birds but nothing has been done Yet about that.
They have claimed that it is the Anglers feeding the Birds & that is not true.
The only thing that the Anglers have done after Netting the Bait is leaving Left-Over Bait that is not in their buckets on the Piers.

[tears143]

leaving dead bait on the pier does not really attrent pelicans. They do the small birds... usually the pelicans get chased away.