| 03 March 2010
The following message comes from Rick Roberts, Executive Director of the Snook Foundation. Read the message and view the video.
Dear Friends,
You probably have not had the chance to watch the video on our site, it is also on our FB page and on YouTube. It's something we feel strongly about. The fishing community has a target on its back. We are labeled as the problem because we "overfish".
We want to do something about that. We are hopeful that we can build a core group of anglers and guides doing the science so we can build our own certified library of baseline data. We are working with FWRI and are starting with snook but don't intend to limit the data we collect to a single species over time. Remembering that they (scientists) are few and we are many we only have to get anglers to "click" on this and we are on our way to being in leadership on data collection.We are doing this with the complete cooperation of FWC therefore the data collection methodology will mimic and match the scientific parameters they utilize in setting stock assessments otherwise it won't fly. The real problem with fish stocks is the loss of the once plentiful flooded river and creek plains that surround estuaries. We have lost a considerable amount of what existed 50 years ago, almost 50% and that number is verifiable...think of what we've lost since William Bartram came to Florida in the 1700s.
We can't allow ourselves to be in the position of being the fall guys for development. Sorry but hatcheries will only make the problem a little more complex when they exist. Once they build them who'll stop the developers then? Anyway that's another story. Here's the story now so if you don't mind please watch this video.
Snook Foundation
(www.snookfoundation.org)
"A brighter future for fisheries is in the hands of informed anglers."
William R Mote, Founder
Rick Roberts, Executive Director
The Snook Foundation
Leader in Essential Fish Habitat Preservation
