Contents:
Watching the news has caused me to reflect on many things from the past 40 years. I will cover three topics: fishing, water and energy (global warming).
I have been talking about water for the past 35 years. I live in Ocean County. Many of us still have well water. JCAA worked with Clean Ocean Action, Clean Water Action, and a number of other environmental groups to make the issue of draining our aquifers a topic of discussion. We pointed out the amount of water we were pumping along the coast directly from the sewer plants into the ocean was astronomical. Billions and billions of gallons are being sent into the ocean every year because we have no way to process gray water. We were looking for alternatives to pump it back into the aquifer, but the current programs did not filter out the chemicals that were having an impact on all of us. The amount of drugs we take, the amount of cleaners we use and everything that goes down the sink and the toilet, all ends up in the sewer system. The storm water system needs to be separate from the sewer water since it washes in everything from the roads and the ground due to non-pervious ground cover. I said that water would be more valuable than gold or gasoline and would certainly cost more. Talk to people on the West Coast and that will convince you. Thirty-five years later, even after all the Federal and State agencies have agreed to the problem, no agency has come up with a solution or been willing to spend the money. The water problems are just going to get more serious. There has been a lot of rain in many of those dry areas in the last few months but most of it just runs off and causes damage on the way.
We have been talking for years about how we diminish the fumes into the atmosphere from cars, trucks, planes, and ships. We have also been talking about getting more renewable energy and get off fossil fuels. We started to do some work because OPEC was fluctuating our gas prices. But the minute gas prices dropped, the work stopped. We never worked on the real problem, what all this was doing to our climate. Some of us started doing our part, we put solar panels on our roof and began driving hybrid cars. We also began changing our electric appliances to those that are more efficient. We went from incandescent to fluorescent and now LEDs to cut back on our power needs. But we are still generating too much carbon dioxide into the air. We talk about solutions, but the oil companies are spending money to keep us depending on fossil fuels, even when what they say is not true. Because of the changing majorities in Congress, there has not been a consistent commitment to dealing with global warming. This needs to be a bi-partisan issue. Your great grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren are depending on us to deal with this problem before it is irreversible. The World War II generation were committed to leaving a better world and a better life for their children. And they thought they could do it. The baby boomers forgot that and lived for the moment. We didn’t think for the future and the world is paying the price. Time for all of us to start working together, accept that this is a serious problem and work together. Time is running out.
One of the biggest disappointments of the last 40 years is what is happening with fisheries management. In the 90’s, we promised both commercial fishermen and recreational anglers that short-term pain would result in long-term gains. We were promised that rebuilt stocks would allow both groups to expand their catches. I cry when I think about what we have done. Just read Paul Haertel’s article below and see what we are doing with scup, summer flounder and black sea bass. NMFS has totally betrayed their commitment to the fishing community. Their regulations, many done needlessly, have cost thousands and jobs with the loss of the commercial and recreational community. We put regulations in place just because a plan says we must without considering the impact on human beings. We know the quotas on recreational fishing should be larger.
Many of the stocks can support a higher quota. But NMFS refuses to use common sense and uses the law as their excuse. Truthfully, I think many of them did not plan for global warming. But I had scientists who acknowledged the coming problems 30 years ago. Those scientists told us that the difference of a few degrees totally changes the recruitment. The weather patterns also have a huge impact on spawning with runoff into streams, bays and the ocean. Now NMFS has committees studying the impact of global warming and developing ideas for climate sustainable fisheries. I hope this is not too little, too late but it certainly seems that way.
We need to wake up. If this article depresses you, time to get to work. When I was in the service, I was taught to work as a team to accomplish a task. We need to clearly identify the tasks ahead of us, put our own personal opinions and agendas aside and find a way to work together. Now it is up to you.