Feds exposed again (red snapper article)

[BeastMan]

Great read by Al.com. The federal government has set up a racket

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/01/kingpins_of_the_gulf_make_mill.html

[FISHDAWG]

that makes me sick ...rec fishermen bring more money to the local economies than these 55 guys that control the commercial quota (which is way to high anyway) .... I can't tell you how many times I have followed a dead juvenile red snapper chum stream to a commercial boat.... I wished we had a congressman on this board

[SapperDawg]

Read that a few days ago. I can't believe that in today's society, we cannot come up with a better way to do this - without ruining the fishery, maintaining a year round catch, and supporting the local fishermen.

With the the AL legislature continually trying to take away the DNR WFF budget, which is against the law, I have to think they would rather have the millions of dollars the kingpins are making.

http://www.alafarmnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5553:the-realities-of-state-government&catid=62:from-wildlife-and-freshwater-fisheries2&highlight=WyJjaHVjayIsInN5a2VzIiwiY2h1Y2sgc3lrZXMi XQ==

[Johnson85]

I can't believe that in today's society, we cannot come up with a better way to do this

We can easily come up with a better system, there just isn't the opportunity for graft. The much simpler system would be to simply auction off the fishing rights each year or two or three, with the money raised going to support the fisheries. But who is going to contribute big money to a gov't official in exchange for a fair auction? The only opportunities for graft would be in how to distribute the money raised.

But if you set up an auction where 55 people will basically be given an average of $500k per year, how much would they be willing to contribute? Each of the 55 people getting the money having to pay $50k a year in political contributions would be a bargain at that point, so that's what we end up with.