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NEWPORT NEWS
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is using money paid by recreational saltwater fishermen to keep its declining number of police officers on patrol.
The funding shift is part of the commission's cost cutting as it struggles with millions of dollars in budget cuts. Most of the saltwater angler fees used to fund projects such as fishing piers and youth fishing clinics.
The Newport News-based commission has also instituted other savings, such as printing on both sides of paper and not replacing workers who have retired or resigned.
Still, commission spokesman John Bull said the agency has fewer patrols out and fewer violators being caught.
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Not Only Youth Rodeos and Piers
The money was supposed to go to boat ramp maintenace, fish habitat and reef improvement, the list goes on. Now that the money has been diverted (so what else is new with Virginia politics!), we won't be able to get our boats in the water. Then what will all the water cops, with their jobs saved, do? No one will be on the water fishing anymore. I guess they can all go on retreats in Costa Rica to learn how to get the fishermen back.
It's all bad!!!
I don't even know where to start on this one:
1. They should not be going back on their word which was license fees are going to help the angling experience. New ramps, facilities, etc. Now they have to be put in the column of liars.
2. They need to concentrate on their job and not try to be the police. VMRC officers I have encountered seem to have a complex about how legit they are. They think they are state troopers instead of wildlife cops. I've heard bragging of pulling over drivers on I64. We have all the same authority as the police. Drunk boating enforcement etc. So what. Quit puffing up your chest and pretending you have a function other than fishing and hunting regs.
3. When on a boat you are very likely to be stopped, questioned, and interrogated by several law enforcement types. Marine police, coast guard, local police, and the VMRC. There is definitely no shortage of authority on the water. I have been checked by all four in a single outing. Then rechecked hours later by the same VMRC guy who forgot me. I started to lose my patience at that point and got an attitude. Give me a break...how many times do I need to be boarded in a day. I'm not a t
Scrappydo0
Sounds like the ramblings of one who keeps getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If you're not breaking the rules, you have nothing to worry about, or be upset about.
Not so....
Never caught...because I have not committed any violations. Perhaps you should consider that I "sound" like this because I am a law abiding citizen who is harassed by the authorities at an alarmingly increasing rate.
Consolidate
Why shouldn't the Marine Resources Commission be consolidated with the Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries? If I understand history correctly, they used to be one department. When the Marine Resource Commission was carved out on their own - the remaining dept. changed their name to reflect *inland* fisheries. I'm sure that was a political decision. During these lean budget years, perhaps it's time for another political decision to consolidate "like" agencies and save on some administrative overhead costs.