It looks like the topic of fish wars has caught the attention of two major
national magazines, "National Fisherman" and "Saltwater Sportsman". I think
this is an important discussion and I am endeavoring to make the full text
of it available at the following link to all folks interested.
http://www.basspond.com/usandthem/
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An excerpt from Barry Gibson's response:
Let me clear up the first issue.: Rip Cunningham is no liar. End of
discussion. You will get no argument form anyone, commercial or
recreational. Secondly, yes, Jerry, a marine resource user is clearly
someone with a Shimano reel. It is also someone with a Penn reel, or a Zebco
reel. It is also someone with a tarred cotton handline wrapped around a
wooden spool. A marine resource user is also someone on a whale watch boat.
A marine resource user is also a six-year old child poking in a tidal pool
with a popsicle stick and dropping periwinkles into a plastic pail. There
are many marine resource users, Jerry, besides those who operate 150-foot
air-conditioned scallop boats that drag their dredges over the ocean bottom
24 hours a day in search of financial gain from selling living property
owned by all citizens of this great country of ours.
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Best,
Mike Flaherty
Wareham, MA