Exactly how much does the government need to know about a fisherman in order to ensure a sustainable supply of seafood for the tables of America? Do they need to know where his boat is every minute of every day? Do they really need to know gender, or ethnicity? How about the amount of food he eats on a fishing trip, the amount of his loan payments, or the amount of income taxes he paid?
The fishing bureaucracy collects all of this and a lot more, through the use of Vessel Monitoring Systems, economic logbooks, and multiple information forms. In order to keep their licenses, and therefore their jobs, fishermen are required to supply all requested information. None of these have any reasonable connection to maintaining healthy stocks of fish for the American public. Each represents an unconstitutional intrusion into the lives and businesses of free citizens, and reveals the government’s ever increasing constriction of individual liberties.
Vessel Monitoring Systems are the most visible sign of ‘big brother’ watching us. Each boat with a Gulf Reef License must install the tracking device, and have it transmit the location 24 hours a day – year round. Originally termed an ‘enforcement aid’, VMS was apparently necessary to keep your typical law breaking fisherman out of the ecological reserves. In other words, the VMS is an ankle collar for people who have never been convicted of anything, but may break the law if not monitored very closely.
Possibly as a result of law suits over individual liberty, fishery managers decided to start calling VMS, just ‘one more tool for science’. By tracking boats and matching catch records, scientists are able to determine exactly where a fisherman made his catch, and not have to depend on unreliable reporting by ostensibly unreliable fishermen. Then presumably, the most prolific areas, such as Riley’s Hump, Tortugas Bank, and Pulley’s Ridge (all of which have already been taken) can be turned into reserves, and saved from the dreaded commercial fishermen.
Any fisherman who has been accorded the honor of being ‘selected’ to fill out the economic logbook, understands the full meaning of government intrusion. On a monthly basis a fisherman must report all of the income and expenses, related to his fishing operation. Then at the end of the year, he must file a ‘long form’ which exposes every detail of his private business including his income, expenses, loan payments, and even the amount of income taxes paid.
How did it come to this? How did the National Marine Fisheries Service acquire more power than the IRS? With the 3% deduction on Catch Shares, they are now levying and collecting taxes, and requiring fishermen to supply them with all the information that is supposed to be within the confidential realm of the IRS. Adding insult to injury, non-compliance results in loss of job, through loss of license. Even the IRS doesn’t have the authority to levy taxes, or take away one’s livelihood.
Where did they get this power? Was it actually given to them by congress? Did they just slip it in, figuring fishermen would never notice among the existing morass of regulations and reporting requirements? Could it be, that they have made another one of their hazy connections to scientific research, or do they casually dismiss the power grab, as just another management tool? Or….Is it possibly – just another one of those fantastical rabbits they are always drawing from the magical Magnuson-Stevens hat?
What specific use do they intend for all the financial information they accumulate on each fisherman? Is it part of some wealth redistribution scheme? Does it have something to do with justifying Catch Shares? Is it just ‘one more tool’ they will use against fishermen in rule making? Or is it just another step towards breaking down the stubborn individualism of ‘fishers’, by forcing them to expose confidential details of their private lives?…Try as I might, I can’t think of a single sensible reason, why the amount of my loan payments has anything to do with stock management. But to be fair, maybe it’s just because of this headache I’ve gotten from thinking about it.
The Saltwater Products License renewal application for the State of Florida, now includes gender and ethnicity. Once again, I have to admit they have me stumped. In commercial fishing, much like the population at large, we have Cubans, blacks, whites, women, Catholics, liars, firemen, and convicted felons. They are all judged by their peers on the content of their character, and how hard they fish. How is the government going to judge them? I guess some ‘tuned in’ person, is going to have to explain to me exactly what the fishery managers are doing with their ethnicity and gender stats.
Oh, by the way. We presume, of course, they have heard of the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action programs. I mean, they wouldn’t be intending to award licenses or catch shares based on the ethnicity or gender of a person, would they?
This government obsession with accumulating every scrap of information on every person is why our bureaucracies are so bloated and inefficient. If the information they are collecting is so valuable, then tell us exactly what difference it makes to the fish, whether it is caught by a woman or a Hispanic, and why it is critical to know the amount of taxes paid by a fisherman? What part of stock management is it anyway, that demands to know the ethnicity, gender, and finances of a fisherman?
In truth, our government demands the information simply because they can. Though the information is useless for stock management, there is no one to stop them, and the data provides a continuous stream of busywork for the progressive expansion of the bureaucracy. It is degrading for fishermen to be forced to supply such personal financial information, and it’s embarrassing that our fishery managers still dwell on the group separation mentality of the past. It makes it appear as if the bureaucracy has a stake in maintaining the divisiveness of identity politics. If fishermen don’t care about race, gender, and financial standing, then why should fishery managers?
If not stopped, our government will soon have video cameras on our boats, and our incomes completely limited with Catch Shares. Do not be surprised even, if they soon require medical records, and limit the number of hours a fisherman is allowed to work. Be assured, that any bizarre restriction one can imagine, has already been thought of by someone in the bureaucracy. Unfortunately for our industry, there is little time left to curb the unlimited power of fishery regulators. While commercial fishermen have long been known for their individualism, this is the critical year to join together, and send a resounding message to our politicians in the November elections.
Government Intrusion
Monday, April 19th, 2010 Posted in Commentary, Industry
Exactly how much does the government need to know about a fisherman in order to ensure a sustainable supply of seafood for the tables of America? Do they need to know where his boat is every minute of every day? Do they really need to know gender, or ethnicity? How about the amount of food he eats on a fishing trip, the amount of his loan payments, or the amount of income taxes he paid?
The fishing bureaucracy collects all of this and a lot more, through the use of Vessel Monitoring Systems, economic logbooks, and multiple information forms. In order to keep their licenses, and therefore their jobs, fishermen are required to supply all requested information. None of these have any reasonable connection to maintaining healthy stocks of fish for the American public. Each represents an unconstitutional intrusion into the lives and businesses of free citizens, and reveals the government’s ever increasing constriction of individual liberties.
Vessel Monitoring Systems are the most visible sign of ‘big brother’ watching us. Each boat with a Gulf Reef License must install the tracking device, and have it transmit the location 24 hours a day – year round. Originally termed an ‘enforcement aid’, VMS was apparently necessary to keep your typical law breaking fisherman out of the ecological reserves. In other words, the VMS is an ankle collar for people who have never been convicted of anything, but may break the law if not monitored very closely.
Possibly as a result of law suits over individual liberty, fishery managers decided to start calling VMS, just ‘one more tool for science’. By tracking boats and matching catch records, scientists are able to determine exactly where a fisherman made his catch, and not have to depend on unreliable reporting by ostensibly unreliable fishermen. Then presumably, the most prolific areas, such as Riley’s Hump, Tortugas Bank, and Pulley’s Ridge (all of which have already been taken) can be turned into reserves, and saved from the dreaded commercial fishermen.
Any fisherman who has been accorded the honor of being ‘selected’ to fill out the economic logbook, understands the full meaning of government intrusion. On a monthly basis a fisherman must report all of the income and expenses, related to his fishing operation. Then at the end of the year, he must file a ‘long form’ which exposes every detail of his private business including his income, expenses, loan payments, and even the amount of income taxes paid.
How did it come to this? How did the National Marine Fisheries Service acquire more power than the IRS? With the 3% deduction on Catch Shares, they are now levying and collecting taxes, and requiring fishermen to supply them with all the information that is supposed to be within the confidential realm of the IRS. Adding insult to injury, non-compliance results in loss of job, through loss of license. Even the IRS doesn’t have the authority to levy taxes, or take away one’s livelihood.
Where did they get this power? Was it actually given to them by congress? Did they just slip it in, figuring fishermen would never notice among the existing morass of regulations and reporting requirements? Could it be, that they have made another one of their hazy connections to scientific research, or do they casually dismiss the power grab, as just another management tool? Or….Is it possibly – just another one of those fantastical rabbits they are always drawing from the magical Magnuson-Stevens hat?
What specific use do they intend for all the financial information they accumulate on each fisherman? Is it part of some wealth redistribution scheme? Does it have something to do with justifying Catch Shares? Is it just ‘one more tool’ they will use against fishermen in rule making? Or is it just another step towards breaking down the stubborn individualism of ‘fishers’, by forcing them to expose confidential details of their private lives?…Try as I might, I can’t think of a single sensible reason, why the amount of my loan payments has anything to do with stock management. But to be fair, maybe it’s just because of this headache I’ve gotten from thinking about it.
The Saltwater Products License renewal application for the State of Florida, now includes gender and ethnicity. Once again, I have to admit they have me stumped. In commercial fishing, much like the population at large, we have Cubans, blacks, whites, women, Catholics, liars, firemen, and convicted felons. They are all judged by their peers on the content of their character, and how hard they fish. How is the government going to judge them? I guess some ‘tuned in’ person, is going to have to explain to me exactly what the fishery managers are doing with their ethnicity and gender stats.
Oh, by the way. We presume, of course, they have heard of the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action programs. I mean, they wouldn’t be intending to award licenses or catch shares based on the ethnicity or gender of a person, would they?
This government obsession with accumulating every scrap of information on every person is why our bureaucracies are so bloated and inefficient. If the information they are collecting is so valuable, then tell us exactly what difference it makes to the fish, whether it is caught by a woman or a Hispanic, and why it is critical to know the amount of taxes paid by a fisherman? What part of stock management is it anyway, that demands to know the ethnicity, gender, and finances of a fisherman?
In truth, our government demands the information simply because they can. Though the information is useless for stock management, there is no one to stop them, and the data provides a continuous stream of busywork for the progressive expansion of the bureaucracy. It is degrading for fishermen to be forced to supply such personal financial information, and it’s embarrassing that our fishery managers still dwell on the group separation mentality of the past. It makes it appear as if the bureaucracy has a stake in maintaining the divisiveness of identity politics. If fishermen don’t care about race, gender, and financial standing, then why should fishery managers?
If not stopped, our government will soon have video cameras on our boats, and our incomes completely limited with Catch Shares. Do not be surprised even, if they soon require medical records, and limit the number of hours a fisherman is allowed to work. Be assured, that any bizarre restriction one can imagine, has already been thought of by someone in the bureaucracy. Unfortunately for our industry, there is little time left to curb the unlimited power of fishery regulators. While commercial fishermen have long been known for their individualism, this is the critical year to join together, and send a resounding message to our politicians in the November elections.