My name is Frank Nichols and I started fishing in Southeast Alaska when  I was about 13,  It was the perfect time to be a fisherman.  there were plenty of fish, no quotas, and the price of fish was high.  The first place I fished out of was Sitka Alaska,  A beautiful place in the summer.  It sits on the ocean protected by multiple small islands as a natural sea wall.

At the time there were two main ways to make a living in this small town,  Fish or hit the tourist for everything they had,  I remember the first time seeing a cruise boat pulling into town launching smaller shuttle boats filled with people to go into Sitka.  I looked over at my uncle as we coming back from fishing out at sea saying wow uncle looked at the size of that boat,  he put a frown on his face saying yup filled with terrorist.

Over the years there were less fish,  companies were starting up fish farms making huge profits on the fish they were selling.  and in turn the price that the fisherman were getting per pound sank to very low and even depressing numbers and over the years the taxes kept being raised,  on top of that the government decided to put what they called a quota.

Now this quota was not like a cops quota to fill,  meaning the more tickets he gives out the better.  No this quota was a number that someone pulled out of their hat.  This is how it worked, they took a total of the past 5 years of pounds caught  for certain species and then divided it by five.  So if a fisherman had one good year and four lousy years,  His quota that he was allowed to catch was very low.  Or how about the fisherman that had just started fishing their own boats and didn’t do well.

Now if they were so worried about the fish being killed off so much then why did they let the major corporations keep fishing,  I’ll tell you why because major corporations have connections with the politicians that make these rules up.  If you think they weren’t payed off,  then you are more nieve then a woman thinking that men actually likes the idea of marriage.

So now instead of having thousands of fishermen making good money and giving people work strengthening the economy , we have some fat bastard politicians and major corporations making the money killing our economy.  Until I got to Florida at the age of 35 did I finally realize that this was not just a regional thing.  I sailed my boat from Texas to Florida,  all that way every fishing town I came across was pretty much a ghost town.  They ran almost every fisherman out,  the ones that were able to hold out still feel the pressure today.  With lowered quotas and shorter fishing seasons, they are not able to make a living.

Stop the politicians and the major corporations from killing this industry,  an industry that not only made money but built towns, raised families, and showed this man how beautiful the oceans really are.   Maybe one day even show your children an advantage of a life time.