Grays Reef Advisory Council meeting Report

[Charlestondivin]

I apologize for being so late in posting this report from the Grays Reef meeting. It was a meeting that was to discuss the various public input and was open to the public. The meeting was held at a seafood restaurant on 1-95. Jason DeLaCruz and Paul Kerr drove up all the way from St Pete (thanks guys). All three of us were given a chance to speak before the advisory council. I wish I could have made a better impact on them but my public speaking skills are not the best.
As far as the advisory board goes we were completely abandoned by Ms. Judy Wright, Sport Diving Representative. The only person who stood up for us at all was Bing Phillips the fishing representative. He was our only voice and worked very hard to defend our fishing rights. Bing, a member of the Georgia CCA, brought one of the State of Georgia CCA officers to the meeting to speak also. Bing stated that if fishing was allowed, spearfishing should be allowed. The board members appeared to have their minds made up before even considering what is fair.

My opinion:
The general feeling that I got from the meeting was that all of the letters, meetings, and calls meant NOTHING. They already had the plan in place and the public meetings and input were a technicality. The efficiency of spearfishing gear in taking the large fish was the reasoning that they seem to be deciding to go ahead with spearing ban. This is based on emotion, not science.

I looked through the entire book of official public comment and only saw 2 letters that supported the spearfishing ban. Over 160 against the spearfishing ban. One of the council members said that this is skewed data since the spearfisherman are in trouble they are more vocal. It was said that since there were so few spearfisherman could do so much damage they must err on the side of conservation since there was little scientific data about spearing. I also was informed that fishing or spearfishing is a PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT (Uh… pursuit of happiness is not a RIGHT????). This was repeated several times.

The public has a RIGHT to access this resource. We PAY for it! A member raised the concern of being able to defend this decision in litigation. Another member mumbled something about not being guided by the threat of litigation. They think that they are above the law. While taking away MY RIGHTS!! I’m really pissed. Where the hell is F Lee Bailey when you need him?

[Spear One]

Welcome to reality! We will just have to dig in a little deeper.

[biggsy]

Originally posted by Charlestondivin
Where the hell is F Lee Bailey when you need him?

Unfortunately he is on retainer by the rich and powerful. We are rich in membership, not cash and the support is growing.

Originally posted by Charlestondivin
As far as the advisory board goes we were completely abandoned by Ms. Judy Wright, Sport Diving Representative.

The board members appeared to have their minds made up before even considering what is fair.
It must be sad for them to know they ignorant and misinformed. How about proving their case and being open-minded?



Charlestondivin, thanks for the report and don't feel bad it is late in coming. You did a lot. Thanks to Jason DeLaCruz and Paul Kerr for driving all the way up there.

What is the next step?

biggsy

[Reefrat]

Judy's dive shop (Island Dive Center) is well known for her anti-spearfishing agenda. I wish I would have known that she was involved I would have giving you guys a head's up.

There whole attitude toward divers is just plain shitty, they don't have a compressor(rumored to be getting one), have had a couple of divers lose their lives on there charters, had there boat sink, supposedly lose customers equipment and then all of sudden find it after having the law brought in, and just all around trying to screw you out of your money!

We highly advise dodging her shop at all cost's!

[seabeast]

Since Ms. Judy Wright is the sport diving representative, everyone on this board should let her know what we think of her as being OUR representative. The best thing about it, is it's her nickel paying for the call. 1-800-940-3483. Feel free to call the number as many times as you want.

[Charlestondivin]

If you do call Judy please be respectful. I do not think that harrassing her would be beneficial but I would by all means let her know that it was expected of her to represent us sport divers.

Nobody represented the spearfishing community while they were putting this together. The FISHING representative does support us but did not know it was part of his responsibility until I spoke with him and forwarded him a document with everyones comments.

They have proof of damages to the reef from fishing yet it will still be allowed at Grays. They have proof of damages to the reef from diving yet it will still be allowed. They have no scientific data on spearfishing but choose to restrict it because no one was there to stand up for us.

They will soon learn that what spearfisherman lack in numbers we make up for with our level of dedication to our sport.

[Denny]

Great job, Rob! Don't let those small minded fish huggers get you down. Reed, Becky, Judy, Cathy... they all have a BIG surprise coming their way.
God, I can't wait to post it. Just a few more days...
In the meantime, I have lost much respect for Reed Bohne and his staff at Gray's Reef. Funny story: I sent a strongly worded letter to Judy Wright in December and received an admonishing email from Reed about how his opinion of me was lowered after reading this letter. What a manipulative bunghole.

The gloves are off now, Reed. You need to be managing a tropical fish store somewhere.

Judy Wright deserves to hear some static. Just wait until it is re-appointment time.

[Slay Ride]

They think our presence in the comunity is small. Well I'm here to say it's not. Like that stupid girl on the TV reality show with the scary eyes.......GAME ON SAFMC. Junk science is not going to take away our RIGHTS!!! That is insane. Water belongs to EVERYONE!!

[Denny]

I'm not so sure that the SAFMC would be on board for this decision. When the decision is made public (OFFICIALLY public, as opposed to the unofficial decision made public at their last meeting), we will see what happens.

TO THE GRAY'S REEF STAFF:
You know what is legal and not legal to do. One of your own advisors, as well as a STATE OFFICER of the Georgia CCA, know what is fair. They both told you. ON THE RECORD.
The public has spoken. ON THE RECORD.
Excluding spearguns while allowing hook and line fishing is unacceptable and without merit. Fishing or no fishing.
Ignoring the public you serve should be considered a serious breach of your fiduciary duty.

[Screen Name]

Does anybody know the disposition of this?

[Denny]

The decision making process is still underway. I heard there will be an active legal effort to assure that our rights are NOT taken away unfairly. ;)
Charlestondiving and Slay Ride kick azz. They will see the fruits of their labor.

[FredT]

When dealing with folks like this its time to:
1. Organise!
Get the local divers educated as to HOW this went down. Once that is done you have ground troops.

2. Perform proper research.
Detail and document the actions of the board.
If someone on the board has a pre-existing agenda that differs from the stated purposes of the board, document this hidden agenda.
Determine exactly who appointed the members of the board and under what legislation.
Determine who pushed this legislation in Congress and how local congresscritters voted.

3. Use the research
Politely let individual politicians know you don't appreciate being raped on this matter and find out what HE intends to do about it.
Make sure he appreciates that if what he does is effectivea at addressing the problem he will garner real support in his next election cycle. If what he does is lip service at best he will probably have the ground troops working even harder for his opposition.

Remember: DO NOT NEGLECT THE PRIMARY RACES. Due to the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act and the gerrymandering done to make "safe" districts more incumbents will loose the primary than will loose the general election, and a stiff primay opposition weakens the incumbent during the later general election in a relativly evenly split district.

In this one instance letting the local area dives know just how well their representative on the board protected THEIR interests would be a good thing. If the individual divers choose to not support her establishment, that would be a good thing.

[Denny]

Fred- Ditto what you said.
Check out the FRA's updated, but still under serious construction, website at www.thefra.org

[BluewaterRocket]

Rob,

Thanks for investing the time to participate in this meeting; albeit we have not made any progress on grays reef, our persistance will demonstrate that we are not going away.

I gotta believe eventually this will go our way, especially with FRA and SPORT starting to get up a head of steam.

[Charlestondivin]

I just hope they show some sense and remove the spearing portion of their plan. They cannot honestly believe that banning spearing is going to help that reef. I will call Monday to find out when the draft management plan is scheduled to be complete.

I may actually have to make the run to go spearfish down there after this is all over.

[Denny]

How about the Gray's Reef Open? We could have a little tourney, open to all tackle types. Maybe even stop by Island Dive Center while we are in the area. I bet IDC would be a sponsor.
When would be a good time, Rob? Peak of tourist season?

[sharkbait]

Originally posted by Charlestondivin
I just hope they show some sense and remove the spearing portion of their plan. They cannot honestly believe that banning spearing is going to help that reef. I will call Monday to find out when the draft management plan is scheduled to be complete.

I may actually have to make the run to go spearfish down there after this is all over.

Better sooner than later, I have a couple of guys that do dive the reef from Greenville. I'm gonna go with them next time to see for myself what the fish huggers are all stirred up about.