BlindHog wrote:Since we are all being playful with this thread, and I have accidentally hit some nerves --- here's a REAL debate starter:
Who has more rights to the ramp at Econ or Steinhatchee: a Georgia trout fisherman or a Florida scalloper?
(OK, just to fess up I consider myself a fisherman who scallops occasionally and I am a native Georgian who lives in Florida.)
P.s. Hooked Up, you are right on the money.
Nobody has any more "rights" than anyone else. However, it is normal and traditional for frequent users of any resource to feel they should have a bit more say (and are likely to care more) about using and protecting a resource than the guy that comes out a couple of times a year to assault the flats with a crew of ten on the pontoon boat. What we have are
obligations to everyone that is on a ramp or uses the resource, as we do to the resource itself.
Again, no more "rights" are owned by anyone, just the natural way people feel. I use the ramp quickly and skillfully, because I practiced and feel an obligation to others. Likewise, I use the resource the same way, taking care not to upset other boaters, minding my limits, being careful to release alive and well anything I don't need, getting training, wearing my PFD and kill switch so I do not have to get myself rescued, and not digging up seagrass with my motor or feet. I obey the rules, don't act like a jackass on the water, and know what I am doing. That's because I care, and I take the time to care.
That isn't so for a heck of a lot of other people on the ramp or on the water, no matter what they drive. On the other hand, pontoon boats carrying a dozen scallopers that can barely swim much less understand marine issues doesn't tend to produce a good outcome. Likewise, most folks driving jetskiis are out there to act crazy because that is what the machines are basically set up to do. Doesn't mean it has to be that way, but it normally is.
So, there is my two cents.
EJ
