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Bonefish,
My point is that political action requires consitant work in developing relatioinships and trust. Becoming part of the process and participating. Why would I be interested in something new to do what is already being done for me now???
Also, in the recreational fishing community there are very few willing to get even mildly involved. Adding more organizations just further dilutes the strength of our message. When recreational fishers are split there is just too much redundancy in effort and less actual gain.
Another point is money. Pure and simple money is required to get things done. Whether that be to stipend or reimburse expenses, enable representatives to stay in the hotels where most of the action is done around meetings not in meetings. Funding is also needed for information campaigns, press releases, mailings, conference lines, etc, etc, etc. Once again the more diluted the community the weaker we are.
Another reason I am good with RFA today is that instead of forming a MA chapter asap they took some years to reach out to the established local organizations and work with them, assist them and let them make the call on local issues. This worked because they came to participate and be a part of, sharing expertice but not runing over what has existed for years.
I am far from closed minded, I am just a part of something successful now that has been around and joined the cause, not tried to take over the cause.
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