Nuts To NOAA!

My name is Bob Elkins.  I am a commercial fisherman.  I have been fishing in the Florida Keys since 1978 and full time since 1983.  It’s an occupation that I truly love. I take pride in being fully invested in this kind of work.  Independent, self-reliant, fully autonomous a free agent if you may.  At one time commercial fishing was an admired profession in the Florida Keys.    That began to change surprisingly around the time that the Marine Sanctuary came on the scene. Now we are vilified as rogues and pirates.

I was around when the Sanctuary was founded in 1990.  I went to the meetings.  I remember the “Nuts to NOAA” coconuts. My wife was employed by the Sanctuary as an Education coordinator. I accepted the Sanctuary at that time as I was assured that their mandate stated that they would do no commercial harm to the people who made their living on the water of the keys.  That they would keep oil drilling out of the Keys.

Since then I have witnessed a systematic chipping away of those rights to make a living upon the waters.   We as an industry are being assaulted from every direction, with new laws, new restrictions, over bearing law enforcement, huge fines, even to the extent of big brother infringing on our privacy rights.

We as an industry are on the ropes and this latest “water grab” is now upon us.  This latest attempt to put us all out of business will be the final straw that breaks the fisherman’s back.

So in frustration I look around to find the culprit in all this.  That culprit is NOAA and the Marine Sanctuary.  They recently came out with a “report card “, on the state of the reef.  I knew when that came out that we the users of the sanctuary resources, were going to be in big trouble.

I understand that they have to validate their worth, to protect their jobs, to keep their funding, to show they are needed.  To keep recruiting the bright eyed, the idealistic, the romantic new students fresh out of college and just starting out in life with visions of really making a difference, to save the reef!

The reality is quite a different matter.

So I want to submit a report card on what NOAA/Marine Sanctuary has achieved since their founding in 1990.

They have overseen the die off of sea urchins .  The degradation of our near shore water quality.  The introduction of invasive lionfish.  The continuous dumping of non-native sand on beaches that were never beaches in the first place. The build up of cruise ships.  Oil spills in the gulf.  The list goes on and on.

The sanctuaries response to all these maladies is that it is out of the scope of their influence and jurisdiction. That they can’t help it, they can’t stop it.  So my view is what good are they?

Now let’s see about the cost to us the taxpayer.

A huge investment in expensive boats and law enforcement.  Offices up and down the keys. The people to staff those offices.  Grants to explore deep water reefs that none of us will ever see.  Grants to their own people to study the invasive lionfish without actually doing anything about them.  Underwater research labs.  Grounding assessments with huge fines, leaving multi-million dollar yachts on the sea grass bank for years.  Coral reclamation projects in wrong locations which are doomed to failure. The bureaucracy costs are astounding.

My wife no longer works for the Sanctuary.  She was gone a long time ago.  With a Master’s degree she was relegated to stuffing envelopes with propaganda promoting the sanctuary.  All the original crew is gone now, replaced with out of towners who know what we need here in the Florida Keys.

If the sanctuary has its way the reef will be off limits to all, and I mean all people.

I have a son Kaynan who is 18.  He is interested in beginning a career of working on the water.  I have to council him that it probably isn’t a good idea.  That what I’ve done for over 30 years, raising 4 children, living the life in the Florida Keys is now a wishful dream.  We as an industry are going extinct.

Recently because of the Grouper closure I have had to move out of the Keys during the winter months. To keep my house I have had to rent it out to tourist.  I have had to give up my homestead exemption. I’m one of the lucky ones.  I can do it.  It isn’t easy but I can do it.  Others are not that fortunate.  They are going broke. When did it go out of style to be self-sufficient, to work hard to provide a decent lifestyle for your family.  What has happened to this country?

I say no to the closures. I say no to the Sanctuary! I say Nuts to NOAA!