From DNR. I don’t fish offshore but thought some folks here might be interested:
We are looking to pair observers with captains who bottom fish out of safe and reliable vessels. We are having trouble recruiting captains for this task so I would like to reach out to you personally to request your help.
If you or anyone you know would be interested in hosting an observer on an offshore bottom fishing trip, please let me know or contact observer@dnr.sc.gov. The observer is NOT a law enforcement officer and will stay out of the way of fishing activity. They solely want to observe and record data on depth, temperature, what is caught, any interactions with sharks, and condition of fish at release/harvest.
I cannot stress how important this is for data collection and understanding how anglers encounter and interact with fish. Anglers, taggers, and colleagues tell me all the time that biologists aren’t understanding the full picture of what is happening during these offshore fishing trips. This is your opportunity to show us what you experience out there. Fish as you always would, pretend they’re not even there, and in return you will be compensated $300/trip.
I am happy to talk about this in further detail so please don’t hesitate to call or email with any questions.
The problem with most government interaction is just that, the interaction. People are sick and tired of government over reach. Investigate the Comercial fisherman and put regulations on them, the people that are applying the most pressure to the resource and impacting the resource the most. Leave the recreational guys alone, who put the most effort and money into the resource and who impact it FAR less.
We want less government. We want smaller government, so no, you can’t come on my boat. DNR already has too much power as it is.
Lighten up bruh, I didnt know you regularly bottom fish?
Joey Coz, I will invite you in the very near future, in the process of outfitting a new rig right now, but will be ready soon. Hopefully our schedules can work out. I have a cousin that will be bottom fishing on a regular basis, after he returns from Big Rock tournament, I will see if I can arrange a ride for you on his boat too.
I thought SAFMC set the rules and regs on commercial harvesting, not DNR ?
@Bolbie , I had pasted the body of Joey’s email above, so he won’t see this post.
Side note: I tag/fin clip for DNR and am a fan of the folks I’ve met there.
The contact for the observer program is at: observer@dnr.sc.gov
Wouldn’t worry about it, give someone a title or a suit with a badge and they immediately turn against the common man like there a god, buy a cane pole and fish from the bank and run like hell if they try to check you, lots of people already do that u know. It’s all down hill from here more laws on top of laws Play by the rules till the end so ull have story’s to tell the grand kids of what once was
I must have missed the pics from your regular bottom fishing trips…
There are many,many pics of spot tail bass that you’ve landed, SCDNR has been stocking and re-stocking spot tails since 1999, or earlier. Observations and fin clips helped guide this stocking program throughout the years, shame on that Government over reach!
Perhaps a past violation with SCDNR has you unhappy with the entire organization?
Blame it on the weekend fishing warriors that catch 2-3 fish like me on depletion of the stock, that’s the gov way, that big ass ocean and we fish with hook and line by the rules and pay our dues for lisence every year only to get cut in how many we can keep, what’s next ? Are we gonna have to have an electric motor ? And ban 4- stroke engines cause we catch too many fish?
I appreciate you, what you have, and where you come from. I really do and I think you know that. It’s why you have the opinions that you do. I don’t come from that, so I have a different opinion about many things. I want less government in my life. That’s all. I disagree with ALOT that the government spends my tax dollars on.
From the evidence I’ve seen, DNR does a very poor job at law enforcement, but a better job at the research. They do a good job on public education about fish and game when I’ve attended those type of events in the past. Again, just my opinion. There’s a lot of LEOs after the “caught ya!” doing something wrong on a technicality when that isn’t even the person’s intent. Just like cops that wait behind the tree trying to “catch” the guy with a loaded trailer running a yellow light because he can’t stop 20k lbs on a dime. I would imagine that most people would agree with me but who really knows these days? I believe intent to do something should be considered in most interactions with LE… but sadly I don’t believe that happens.
I want to be left alone and have the least amount of government interaction as possible.
Do you really enjoy the government knowing all your business?
And it seems like I’m picking on DNR here. That’s unfair. I believe all of our LE agencies alike need improvement.
We pretend they are there to maximize “public safety” but really they’re just tax collectors with too much firepower and ego these days. I think if we’re all honest with ourselves, it’s hard to argue that. Protecting the public from real crime, real danger is less than 10% of their jobs.
