Leroy Waters

This is for Leroy Waters..... One of the last generation of commercial gillnet fisherman. Alabama “law” says that these fishing license can’t be passed on, sold or transfered. Once these men are gone, commercial gill net fishing in Alabama will be over. Gill net fishing is probably the most selective type commercial fishing that exist, contrary to popular belief. If a fisherman is targeting mullet, he catches mullet. If he is targeting mackerel, then mackerel is what he catches. This is one of the most unjust, tyrannical pieces of legislation there is. Suppose Al enacts this for other businesses or Corporations ? What if Alabama legislators limited Car dealerships, construction companies, gas stations, hospitals or even Walmart? Just shut them down when the founders of those businesses are ready to retire. That field of business no longer to exist. All the investment, equipment, property and knowledge used in that business becomes instantly useless. The legislation for gill net fishermen was enacted years ago, but it is just as insane and unjust as ever. Commercial fishing in general is under attack from all sides. The shrimp industry is in dire straits because the United Nations uses your tax dollars to fund aquaculture in Ecuador, India and many other countries. Always shipping that product here to the US in direct competition of our domestic wild product. Crab fisherman have to compete with cheap Venezuelan crabmeat. Venezuelan government is run by a communist dictator. Cheap foreign fish are substituted as snapper/grouper at restaurants, even local restaurants, touted as Fresh from the Gulf! Oyster catchers have to stand in line in order to get their permission slip for the day before going to work. Then go back through a check point to get cleared for the day. Tracking devices License Permits Trip tickets Onboard observers Onboard cameras that record fisherman’s every move and send recording via text message to enforcement. The over reach beyond despotic! Our family has been Commercial fishing in Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico for 150 plus years. Who owns the fish, crab , oysters and shrimp off our coast and what gives some people that wear suits and ties the authority to regulate industries that they know absolutely nothing about? Whether it be Al governor and legislature, US Congress, president or United Nations. Commercial fishing is and has always been self regulating. If a fishery is overfished, the less productive exit the fishery. Over time, the industry recovers. That is the nature of the industry. No need for suits and ties intervening to “save the resource”. Think about all this when you sit at your local restaurant and order your foreign pond raised seafood. Because that is what most local restaurants serve. Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. Thomas Jefferson