[piemma]

Originally Posted by DZ

I know many of you are frustrated, rightly so. But our arguments and public comments were not good enough to turn the vote - consider that the three members who voted to oppose 2 fish were two recreational fishermen and a Rod & Reel commercial fisherman. And one of those two recs appeared that he supported 2 fish but without the capt and mate allowed to keep any. I don't believe he or the R&R Comm would have supported one fish - they were looking for the compromise formerly endorsed by RISAA. So basically we had only 1 member, Rich Hittinger, supporting 1 fish. The five members who voted to support two fish were a member of the Party & Charter boat association, a Professor of Fisheries, an Environmental Engineer, a Shell Fisherman, and a Gill Netter. At one point of the meeting the Gill Netter looked at me and asked, "How many people would come to RI to just catch one fish?" Normally council members are not permitted to have exchanges with the audience. I couldn't believe he asked the question - so I responded, "Plenty". Then a Charter Captain from the audience looked at me and asked me, "Would you pay me $700 to catch one bass". I was shocked and would have loved the opportunity to answer but thought better of it.
Crazy night.

The law wouldn't have been to allow you to CATCH one bass. It would be to KILL one bass. These stupid bastards cannot differentiate between catching and killing. I assume that catch & release doesn't compute in their myopic brains.