Injustice and Tryanny on the Ocean Reef
A Matter of Public Access
By Anthony P Mauro, Sr (c) 2011
Conservation Corner w/ Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
USA –(Ammoland.com)- It may seem like an unlikely title for a topic about ocean reefs, but please humor me a bit.
Frankly, I don’t fish New Jersey’s ocean reefs.
I go striper fishing and fluke fishing a few times a year, but not over ocean reefs.
Regardless, it is as plain as the nose on our face that an injustice is occurring on the ocean reefs and most of us realize as members of society that any injustice allowed to continue will ultimately spread and affect all of us.
The injustice I am referring to is one where the ocean reefs have been taken from their rightful owners. The commercial fishing industry has spread tens-of-thousands of feet of fixed gear (traps and pots) over the ocean reefs and by doing so they restrict access to others.
Those who are restricted from accessing the reefs are the public; recreational anglers and divers. It is the recreational angler and diver, using hook and line, and spear, for whom the ocean reefs were intended. They have paid for the building of the reefs, and for their continued administration, by excise taxes on their fishing and diving gear. The commercial fishing industry does not pay excise taxes on their fixed gear (traps and pots), and therefore pay nothing for the ocean reefs. In essence, they operate their businesses rent free and at the expense of the paying public.
However, this is a deeply rooted injustice being carried out against the public. The injustice is also perpetrated by our own state government. While our government has seen enough of the injustice to have written a bill that to end it, it does not have the determination to pass the bill. Instead the same state government that wrote the bill employs a parliamentary procedure to block its passage. What kind of state government does this? It is certainly not a state government “of the people, by the people, for the people.”
The federal government has designed laws and policy that are meant to ensure that state governments do not allow fixed gear (traps and pots) on artificial reefs, these laws and policies are designed to guarantee access. It is called the Federal Sport Fish Restoration Act, which states that the ocean reefs are designed for hook and line, and spear use.
The federal government returns the excise taxes paid by recreational anglers and divers to the states to administer the reefs for purposes of hook and line, and spear fishing. How should we label an injustice that is committed by our own state government against the very people it is meant to represent? What type of state government defies the laws of our federal government that is meant to ensure fair treatment of “the people?” Isn’t this the definition of tyranny? Isn’t this a form of taxation without representation? Isn’t this the same form of tyranny and injustice that that gave birth [...]

Give Us Back Our Reefs!
By Anthony P Mauro, Sr (c) 2011
Conservation Corner w/ Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
USA –(Ammoland.com)- Why You Should Get Involved in the Fight for Access to Our Ocean Artificial Reefs and What You Can Do to Help.
Q. Why should I be concerned about having access to ocean artificial reefs?
A.As with public parks, ocean reefs are open to everyone as long as they use the type of gear for which the reefs were designed; hook and line, and spear (DEP Reef Plan). During the past 20 years commercial fisherman have put their lobster and fish traps (commercial gear) on these reefs to the point where the public (recreational and commercial anglers) are restricted from accessing the reefs.
It’s no different than a company setting up a business on a public park and profiting from using the publicly funded location, while restricting access to a public that has paid for the park for the purpose of recreation. The issue is a clear violation of the intended use of a public trust.
Q. How do recreational anglers pay for the artificial reefs?
A. Beginning in 1989, the administration of the state’s Reef Program has been paid for with funds from the Federal Sport Fish Restoration Act. These funds are derived from excise taxes on recreational fishing and diving equipment. These monies are returned to state natural resource agencies ( NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife) for specific purposes, such as artificial reef management, that directly benefit recreational fishermen and divers. It is a users pay, users benefit program. Also, numerous fishing and diving clubs have donated millions of dollars to assist in the construction of artificial reefs over the past 25 years.
Q. What are “lobster and fish traps?”
A. Lobster and fish traps are 4-foot long boxes made of plastic-coated wire. Traps are attached to long ropes stretched across the sea floor. A typical trap line is 1500 feet long, with 2 dozen traps attached. Sometimes, the ends of the trap line are marked with surface flags. Once set, trap lines are left on a fishing spot for months at a time.
Traps have net funnels that prevent fish and lobster from escaping. Lobster traps are baited, fish traps are not. Compared to hook and line, traps are highly-efficient gear, capable of catching 24 hours a day, day after day, throughout the entire fishing season.
Q. How does fixed commercial gear (traps) present a problem for recreational anglers and divers?
A. The thousands of feet of trap lines and hundreds of traps stretched across every reef site act to snag anglers’ rigs, anchors, and even immobilize boats when trap buoy lines wrap around propellers. This is costly to recreational anglers and can also be dangerous. A DEP survey in 2009 found that 57 percent of anglers stated there was too much commercial trap gear on reefs. Many anglers stop fishing on the reefs when there is too much trap gear.
Q. Does the gear conflict created by too many traps on reefs jeopardize federal funding of the state’s [...]

FAQ Questions on the Saltwater Registry
By Anthony P Mauro, Sr (c) 2011
Conservation Corner w/ Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
USA –(Ammoland.com)- Answering questions on the Free Saltwater Registry on behalf of the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance Conservation Foundation:
Q. I’ve heard conflicting information as to the position of the NJOA CF on the Free Saltwater Registry. Would you explain the organization’s position?
A. Although the NJOA CF originally supported a $2.00 administrative fee to cover the approximately $600,000 in costs needed to manage and implement the registry, there is no such bill under consideration. The only bill before the Governor provides for a free registry. Ever since the bill reached the Governor we’ve stated that we support the bill but we have recommended that people ask the Governor to designate funding to pay for the free registry from outside of monies currently spent on natural resources.
Q. Why are you recommending that monies be designated from outside of our natural resource programs?
A. The idea of a free saltwater registry, as we understand it, is based on the fact that anglers are paying too many taxes with only a tiny fraction of the money being returned to our fishing resources.
If the Governor signs a free saltwater registry into law but then instructs that the money be taken from the current Bureau of Marine Fisheries budget (the entity that manages our fishery resources), we would be acting to defeat the purpose of seeking a free registry. In this scenario we’d be paying for the registry ourselves, while causing further erosion of the programs provided by BMF.
In other words, we’d look unwise for demanding a “free” saltwater registry based on the argument that we don’t believe we have enough tax dollars returned to our natural resource programs – but then allow the Governor to take the cost of implementing and managing a registry from the same measly, fixed amount of tax dollars we complain about receiving.
That’s why we’re recommending to people that they let the Governor know that they don’t want the money to be taken from the current BMF budget. We’ve included a link below for people to contact the Governor with this request.
Q. What if the Governor doesn’t like the idea of designating funding for the Free Saltwater Registry and he decides to ignore the bill?
A. The Governor has 45 days from the day the bill is presented to him to act on it (note: If the House of origin is in recess on the 45th day, the time is extended until it reconvenes). If he doesn’t act on the bill it automatically becomes law after 45 days. A request for designated funding can not cause the Governor to ignore the bill beyond the 45 day confine of the law.
Q. Is there federal funding available for the registry?
A. We’ve been told by the federal government that the registry does not qualify for Wallop-Breaux funding. We’ve been told that there is a Federal fund available that would support the development of a registration program but this not [...]

Another Q & A on the Free Saltwater Registry
By Anthony P Mauro, Sr (c) 2011
Conservation Corner w/ Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
USA –(Ammoland.com)- Q. Mr. Mauro, I think you are missing the main point of why people want a free registry. Nobody owns the ocean but we just keep paying more to the feds or the state to hunt or fish. When the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance (CF) says it wants a $2.00 registry it is jamming its foot in the tax door.
A. When the people of the United States chose to have the federal government be the administrator of our national natural resources (by means of various acts and laws) we also chose to assume the financial burden. The same goes for our state government. Our federal and state governments don’t generate revenue by making and selling products, instead they tax people.
The federal government is now telling state governments to implement and manage a saltwater registry. The National Saltwater Angler Registry is the law and is a tool meant to help better count fishermen and their catch. If we are in favor of a “free” saltwater registry then we have to recognize that there are costs to implementing and managing the registry and since it is being done by our state government then the people of New Jersey will likely bear these costs.
If we are demanding that the registry be ”free” as a means of rebelling against federal and state government oversight of our natural resources then our rebellion should be targeted toward removing federal and state supervison of the conservation and management of our fisheries, and not be fooled by thinking that a “free” registry will accomplish the task. On the other hand, if we believe that federal and state government oversight is useful then we will need to consider the broader aspects of the matter in order to be productive.
What I have been pointing out in my commentaries is that as the anglers of New Jersey demand a “free” registry they are gambling with the very resources they hold dear. They are betting that the state of NJ, which is responsible for implementing and managing the registry by using our tax dollars, will take the money from somewhere other than the tax money used for managing our natural resources (fisheries, reef management, etc.)
I’m also warning that it is a high-stakes gamble to think that the money to manage the free registry will come from a place other than natural resource accounts, because New Jersey is facing a $10.7 billion budget deficit. The likelihood is that as anglers demand a free registry our state will respond by taking monies used for managing fisheries and artificial reefs and transfer it to the implementation and management of the registry, which is projected to cost approximately $600,000.
The gamble we now face could have been avoided if the free registry bill specified where the funds would come from to pay for the registry, and it could have easily been included in the bill. [...]

Free Registry: Are Saltwater Anglers Picking Their Own Pockets?
By Anthony P Mauro, Sr (c) 2011
Conservation Corner w/ Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
USA –(Ammoland.com)- We’ve all heard the cliché that tells us that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
We all know that if something appears to be free, there’s a catch and we end up paying in one form or another.
When a business offers something for free the cost is actually hidden in the price of the products it sells. If the government provides something for free it is paid for by our tax dollars.
We know that a free saltwater registry will cost something to implement and manage. Estimates are in the range of $600,000. We also know that it will be paid for by state government in the form of our tax dollars. The important question saltwater anglers need to be asking is where the money will come from to pay for the registry. If we are to be “pick pockets” we should know upfront if it is our own pocket we will be picking.
Some of us might be thinking that it will be the “general public” that will have their pocket picked. In this scenario, we might feel comfortable thinking that the money will be taken from some obscure account that will not impact us directly. However, with a $10.7 billion budget deficit facing our state it is unlikely it will be paid by the general public since there is a shortage of money to pay for even the most essential things.
Therefore, it is more likely that the money will come from the department responsible for the free registry. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is likely to own the pocket that will pay for the saltwater registry. The DEP’s core mission is to protect our air, waters, land, and natural and historic resources.
The DEP has several pockets and will likely choose the one that pays for the protection and management of natural resources; the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). It is this pocket that pays for things that have an impact on fishing, hunting, forestry, and threatened and endangered species. This is our own pocket; the brotherhood of anglers, hunters and nature enthusiasts.
But who will be the party that assumes the financial burden of the free registry? Freshwater anglers and hunters pay for a license to access land and water quarry. Their license money helps to protect and manage the resources they enjoy. To pick their pockets to pay for the $600,000 free saltwater registry is not only unjust, but it will pit saltwater angler against freshwater angler and hunter; brother against brother.
However, it is likely that the DFW will choose to pick from the pocket of the saltwater angler since it is he or she that benefits from the free registry. The DFW will likely remove $600,000 from the Bureau of Marine Fisheries (BMF.)
Therefore, when the saltwater angler supports a “free” registry he is likely to be impacting his own fate – the [...]

Truth and Outdoor Recreation
Excerpt from the book “Color the Green Movement Blue”(c) copyright 2010
By Anthony P Mauro, Sr (c) 2011
Conservation Corner w/ Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
USA –(Ammoland.com)- Truth is found in the outdoors. A truth that is native to the soil, the water, the air, and the yawning canopies of forests.
It is an elementary truth, one that also ripples and swells through the essence of all humanity. It is quiet and inconspicuous.
It is absent from the man-made comforts. Pursuit of such comforts only serves to lead us further from the wisdom that resides in this truth.
It is recreation in the outdoors that untethers our thoughts from the earthly stresses and allows us to flirt with freedom and wonder. Recreation is the profit of the outdoors, a dividend to be splurged by the spirit and not recorded as an entry in a ledger. Recreation is the carnival of the soul.
Recreation is not a time of idleness but of discovery of life. Its benefits cannot be counted like the gizmos produced by the chugging factory, its measure is found in refreshment of the mind. It does not march to the ticking of timepieces; its charm is in its ignorance of such twinklings.
I have spent boundless hours fishing and hunting and remain uncertain as to whether it is fish and fowl that I am truly after. I often come home without either at my side and feel equally satisfied for the effort. Give me the earth, give me the skies, give me the waters and wildlife for my leisure.
These are the things that unfetter the mind and allow it to mingle with the meaning of life.
Color The Green Movement Blue
About:
Anthony P. Mauro, Sr, (also known as “Ant” to friends and associates) is Chairman and co-founder of the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance.
In addition to NJOA, Ant’s commitment to the principles of sustainable use of natural resources and stewardship for the environment helped to found the New Jersey Angling & Hunting Conservation Caucus. The NJAHC is the first outdoor caucus of its kind in New Jersey and is designed to educate opinion leaders and policy makers of the principles of conservation and the benefits that confer to the state’s wildlife and ecology.
A lifelong resident of New Jersey, Ant is an international big game hunter and avid conservationist. He has authored two books on conservation and hunting, including “Color The Green Movement Blue“.