Having spent time over the last 25+ years in and around the seacoast, and having seen the fishery go from bounty to scarcity, I have nothing but a great distrust for politicians and certain groups of fishermen.

Sustainable, productive fisheries are possible, but only if EVERYONE is subject to the same rules (Sen. Snowe........nice little exemption you carved out for the bastards who ruin fishing in the northeast). Recreational anglers are being hammered, with catch limit restrictions for the first time I can remember on recreational fishermen. There have always been size limits, but if you're going to restrict the number of fish I can catch with a rod and reel, and allow unlimited bycatch for commercial boats with no penalty, there's a problem. There's no reason for a herring trawler to be processing cod as bycatch.

The rules proposed by the current panel would take federal control of many rivers and areas which are not currently subject to federal control, which is the source of deep mistrust by recreational sportsmen.

Stop playing politics with the ocean, let scientists and fishermen work together to create a maintainable fishery, and let the regulations be uniform.

Until that happens, no one is going to trust anything coming out of DC in regards to fishing, regardless of who is in charge. What's going on right now is a powergrab with no rationale behind it.