SCE Forum 2009 Watermen

Comments to All Watermen

From: High Quality H20 - Waterman - JWHS(M) Statement

3/31/2009

As watermen, we agree with your point of view. You've given a lot of examples, and your

paper was really well-organized and researched.

Watermen

Awesome North Harford H.S.

3/13/2009

The problem concerning the Chesapeake Bay’s health affects us, the fisherman, crabbers, and

other watermen in a huge way. Recently we have had poor luck catching fish, crabs, and

oysters. The Maryland crab and oyster industry has always been a vital part of the culture of

Maryland. Although we are aware that fishing and harvesting for these sea creatures damages

their population, we realize that it is necessary to continue harvesting. There is a high demand

for the crabs and oysters and the profit from these is huge. Since harvesting the crabs and

oysters is our job, our well-being and the success of the companies we work for depends on

harvesting. When the populations of crabs and oysters decrease, it leads to problems

throughout the bay ecosystem. The other animals in the bay are less healthy, leading to a

downward-spiraling pattern. We feel that the best solution for this problem would be to create

oyster and crab sanctuaries for harvesting. That way, the bay populations could survive and

we watermen will keep our jobs. The culture of Maryland, our careers and lives, and the state’s

economy depend on the health of the bay ecosystem. Though these sanctuaries may cost

money, in the long run, it will not be a lot.

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Thoughtful Questions

From: Hampshire Anonymous Ask

3/18/2009

How does creating sanctuaries help with the Bays' problems with pollution and bald spots

where there is no oxygen.

Awesome 03-19-2009

From: Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

3/19/2009

The bass assassins agree totally with your plan of conservatories but we dont think your plan

contains enough action. The wildlife is costantly spiraling into a downward spiral of

unhealthiness. What else will you do to clean up the bay so that conservatories are not our

only options to save the wild life?

From: Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T) Statement

3/19/2009

you are talking a lot about the crabs and oysters i think you need to try to think how you are

going to fix this pollution problem.

From: The Black Panthers - farmer - JWHS(T) Ask

3/19/2009

We agree that we need to create less pollution so the crab and oysters population will

flourish. they are very important to are our culture as Marylanders. But could you waterman

start your own sanctuaries you are the ones who know their habitats the bets.

From: Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T) Ask

3/23/2009

Yes, this would be a good idea to help the oysters and crabs. But you cant forget about all of

the other water creatures you also need to save. There are way more than just oysters and

crabs in the water. How do you exect to keep the population of all the othere creatures up?

From: Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T) Ask

3/23/2009

While you are right about the bay affecting everyone, you have not provided a solution to

the problems you have acknowledged. You say that your job is to harvest the crabs and

oysters, and you also say that your profit margins are "huge". Why don’t you take some of

those profits and put them into releasing baby crabs and oysters into the bay to grow so that

you can continue your job. Saying that your jobs "depend on the health of the bay

ecosystem" is right, so why don’t you do something about it and save your jobs and the bay.

From: Catch o' the Bay - CB_Ecosystem - HHS Ask

3/23/2009

How are you supposed to have sanctuaries when the water is polluted? Your crabs and

oysters wouldn't live. If the water was cleaner, sanctuaries wouldn't be needed because the

crab and oyster population would increase. All you are concerned about is making more

money. You can't make more money without solving the problem first.

From: County of Talbot - local_gov - JWHS(F) Statement

3/24/2009

You make your point clearly and you came up with a logical solution that we will keep in mind.

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Statement

3/24/2009

your only talking about crabs and oysters. but what about the other animals we eat and fish

for? Yeah certain animals are less healthy but we need those things to eat.

From: Charlie's Critters - Other - JWHS(T) Ask

3/26/2009

dont you think we need to worry about the pollution? The animals are important too but we

have to stop all differnt kinds of polluion in order for our bay to be clean.

From: The Rainbow Bunch - developer - JWHS(T) Statement

3/30/2009

I agree I think your idea is great for the bay although the money you make from taxes

should go to perfecting the crab and fish and oyster population to 100%.

From: tourism and recreation klan - recreation - JWHS(T) Ask

4/1/2009

your idea is a good one although i dont see how you plan to start gaining money for the

sanctuaries at all. and also what would stop people from just taking crabs and oysters from

these sanctuaries causing you to go back from taking from the bay?

From: Charlie's Critters - Other - JWHS(T) Ask

4/2/2009

How is wildlife supposed to live if the water is polluted?

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

4/2/2009

pollution is a big thing in the bay. what are you going to do to get money?

From: Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T) Statement

4/7/2009

I think that you all should stop thinking about yourself and about making money and start

thinking about how you all are hurting the bay.

From: Ashby Ecosystem - CB_Ecosystem - TAHS Ask

4/17/2009

I think that your idea of having oyster and crab sanctuaries is a great idea. Although I think you should also work on the problems we have with pollution because the animals depend on clean waters.
Also, how are you going to start up and maintain these sanctuaries?

Watermen POV & TQ Navigation

Awesome ScotsIrish Watermen Roy Roy the Water People Bass Assassians

Ronnie Colemans Chubert Inc. WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Fish Forever

High Quality H20 Water Warriors

Watermen

ScotsIrish Watermen Hampshire H.S.

3/13/2009

We, the watermen (fishermen, water animal harvesters, etc) are left with a poorly treated

stream where we are supposed to get our food from. The waters are damaged by pollutants and

waste. I for one will not have people be poisoned by the mistakes that others have caused. We

must preserve the ecosystem in the water shed not just for ourselves, but for the wildlife we

harvest. Though how do we clean the waters? First, try and block a certain point on the stream

and then start processing the waste and pollutants out of the water. Another method is

regulating the population of animals near the stream to help reduce animal produced waste. For

example we could make sure cattle waist would not get into the water shed by putting up the

right precautions. Though of course, we cannot do this by ourselves and this is a job where it

will take everyone to cooperate to see the stream be cleaned for all of us. Do your part and help

us clean the Chesapeake Bay and all the people living in the water shed can have a better and

brighter future living in the Chesapeake Bay area.As watermen, we help provide much of the

food in terms of watered based animals that you eat. These include fish, crabs, and oysters,

among other water animals. If the Chesapeake Bay’s stream is not cleaned, then this food

source will be severely weakened. So remember, do your part in helping clean the Chesapeake

Bay for not only humans, but also for the wildlife that lives there.

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Thoughtful Questions

From: Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T) Statement

3/19/2009

one thing you should think is where you are going to get the money to do all this because it

going to take a lot of money.

From: Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

3/23/2009

One of your methods is to regulate the population of animals near the stream to help reduce

animal produced waste by putting up the right precautions. What are these precautions that

you will make to sure your statement? In fact, instead of letting cattle for example to use

the stream, why not make your own pond for the cattle? Then you could block off the stream

from the cattle so they wouldn’t use it. Farmers could maintain their own pond rather than

worry about the stream that already needs help as it is. Is that the kind of precautions that

might help the stream or is there more affective ways?

From: Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

3/23/2009

Your team has a good plan but in my opinion your first plan of action does not seem very

helpful to the stream. In what ways does the sanctioning off of specific areas of a stream

and cleaning of that area alone and then moving along to another area help the older areas

that have been cleaned?

Response ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS

3/23/2009

I think for the funding to do all the things we need to do neccessary for us to save

the diminshing life in the water shed should come from goverment funding and also

taxes. I also think farmers should pitch in too to make a form of waste dispostal unit,

such as they use for chicken coops to hold the waste they get from their animals if

they can. I am sure if we all work togeather, we can save the water shed.

From: Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T) Ask

3/19/2009

Okay, so your going to try to keep the population of animals around the bay at a certain

amount. Where do you expect to put all these animals that you are not going to keep near the

bay? Where do you expect to put all of the polutants and waste that you would be taking out

of the bay? So how do you expect to stop the cows waste from getting in the water? No

matter where the cow is, its waste will end up in the streams, rivers, and your bay. All it takes

is one big rain to get the waste to a water source.

Response ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS

3/23/2009

I recently found a document that tells about a recent decovery UK Scientists have

found the remove heavy metal and pulltants from water.

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2005/August/Removing.asp Also for

run off from the land, it is quite easy to stop cow waste from running down stream by

putting up the nessary blockades which can be found on the stream cleaner flash

game which is right here on the site. Now these blockades do take up farm land, so we

may have to pay farmers to plant grass blocks or to dig trenches, but it's all for the

better good. I also think it wouldn't be a bad idea to contact some people from the

UK, which I can get ahold of due to the fact my father is apart of the green

movement in scotland, to help us with our water problem. They seem to have a good

idea on what to do and in the long run this affects everyone.

From: Awesome - Waterman - NHHS Ask

3/19/2009

Yes, we do need to process waste and pollutants out of the water. But you do not give any

idea of HOW to do that. What technique will you use? And where will the funding come

from?

Response ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS

3/23/2009

Like I told the bass huggers,the UK (United Kingdom)have a very good idea how to

remove exccess minrals and heavy metals from water. They use carbon glass like

spears to remove the pollutants and it's been proven to work. I think it would be in

best intrest to try and maybe get in contact with some of the people in England or

Scotland seeing as they have lots of rivers and lots of farm land, so I am sure they

would know something about our situation.

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Statement

3/20/2009

I believe that you were supposed to state the problems you had with the bay, not answer the

problems. You can't do it alone.

Response ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS

4/3/2009

I am aware that we can not do this alone and that we will need the help from

everyone. The pollution of this river effects all. We need money and people who are

going to help clean up the bay. I never said we were going to do this alone.

From: Charlie's Critters - Other - JWHS(T) Ask

3/20/2009

Hello! Althouh you have some great point of views, i belve some of the things you have

suggested arent going to happen, in order to keep our Bay clean. You were talking about

mainly getting rid of all the farm animals so there waste won't get spread in our bay. Dont

you think, you should worry more about the factories polluting our air, and the fisherman in

boats with oil spills? The animals need a home too! Why shoud they be moved when you could

change other things? Like moving factories, or making fisherman clean up there trash and

waste products? This is just my opition on your statement.

Response ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS

4/3/2009

This is about the condition of the bay, not the air and it is much harder to control the

pollution that goes into the bay through the air. We can regulate the toxin's that are

being pumped out by the factroies. Oil spills are even less friequent and we can

protect ships from this. More over, the animals are not being moved, but we can find

ways to block off more minrals from getting into the bay and is much easyer then the

things you have mentioned and will deal with alot more of the bay's problums.

From: Da ottonos - local_gov - JWHS(T) Statement

3/20/2009

wow,you pretty much said it all, everyone weather its local government or state government,

watermen, or farmers...needs to participate in the processing of cleaning up the chesapeake

bay...this project is in the hands of the willing people...

From: Fish Forever - Waterman - SCHS Statement

3/24/2009

First you cannot just block off a stream it would have to be rerouted over virgin soil thus

ripping off all the top soil and sending even more sediment and minerals not to mention

there's a good possibility it would be rerouted over fertilizer rich farmground. Also what

would you do with all the water that backs up behind the dam? It would deplete a vast amount

of ecosystem for existing fauna and force them into a smaller area causing overpopulation.

Response ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS

4/3/2009

We never said we were going to block off compleatly. I also do not think we will use

a dam for it. We were thinking along the lines of blocking the river off from more

minirals from coming in such as putting blocades around framers feilds (exsamples

of this can be seen on the stream cleaner game right on this site) and try to keep

more harmful run off from getting into the rivers. I also have suggested a harmless

way of cleaning up the rivers that they have been using in the UK, carbon glass like

balls that pick up pollutents in the river. I hope this had answered some of questions.

Watermen POV & TQ Navigation

Awesome ScotsIrish Watermen Roy Roy the Water People Bass Assassians

Ronnie Colemans Chubert Inc. WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Fish Forever

High Quality H20 Water Warriors

Watermen

Roy Roy the Water People James Wood H.S.- Takarsh

3/16/2009

We are the watermen. We fish and eat from the Chesapeake Bay. You could say that it’s our lives. Fishing is how we feed our families. With businesses growing and more people moving in

our town, the more pollution there is.

We are affected by the pollution in many ways. The businesses throw out things that can be recycled and so do the tourists. They dump plastic, bottles, paper, and other dangerous things into the bay. It is harmful to the fish and plant life in the bay. It kills the fish that we need to survive. We sell the fish in markets that help us pay the rent.

The solutions will help us in many ways, but it will also hurt us. It will help make the water cleaner and safer for the fish. It will also make the fish cleaner to eat, which makes a profit for us. We may have to give up some of our fishing time and land, but that’s a risk we’ll take for cleaner water.

The solutions will benefit us directly because our work is in the water. If all the fish die because of pollution, we won’t have a job or a house for that matter. The inconvenience is that the solutions many cost a lot or harm the fish too.

We are willing to participate in seeking a solution because we need the fish to live and stay in our homes. If other groups realized what was going on, then they would want to use the solutions. If we were so harmed by the process that we disappeared, then fish markets would close down and people

would not be able to buy fish for a good price, the cost would go up.

In conclusion, we need the solutions to survive and so do the fish. The businesses and factories do not realize the danger of dumping pollutants into the Chesapeake Bay. If they knew, our bay and world would be a cleaner place.

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Thoughtful Questions

From: Awesome - Waterman - NHHS Ask

3/19/2009

You did a good job of describing the actual problems and how they are caused. However, you

don’t give a real solution to the problem. It is good that you say you are willing to sacrifice

for the health of the water, but what exactly will you do? If your only solution is to fish

less, you won’t have work, and people demand the bay creatures for food.

From: Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

3/23/2009

i agree to a lot of this but i think you should try to look at fixing a little area of the bay and

not the whole bay

Response Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T)

3/24/2009

why do you think we should fix a little area of the bay? i mean if we fix only a part

of it, it wouldn't be right. It would still have polution. We would still be getting sick

because of all the animals we eat that are in the bay.

From: Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T) Ask

3/23/2009

Yal described the problem but what are yal willing to do to fix the problem?

Response Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T)

3/24/2009

We're going to set up crop covers for your crops that are polluting the water. We

can also set up fences so your animals aren't polluting the bay either.

From: Fish Forever - Waterman - SCHS Statement

3/24/2009

You guys did a good job describing the problems that are present and some of the effects

that could happen to you if the problems aren't fixed. But you didn't explain at all on how to

help yourselves or how any one else could help. What are your solution ideas?

Response Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T)

3/26/2009

Our solution ideas to help the bay are to help raise money to fund the processes of

cleaning the bay

From: The Black Panthers - farmer - JWHS(T) Statement

3/24/2009

All we are doing about the pollution is holding hands and talking. who's gonna step in first to

help. As a farmer i place my foot down first. Whos next?

From: Barefoot Developers - developer - HHS Ask

3/30/2009

Do you guys know about the law that states that for every tree you cut down you must or

should plant one tree for that one. And you do decide where you build as long as you buy the

land or lease it. Plus if you do cut down trees then we will still have oxygen, TREES ARE

NOT THE ONLY THINGS THAT GIVE OFF OXYGEN! More then half the oxygen on Earth

comes from algea. Thanx! :)

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Response

3/31/2009

Excuse me, but trees and plants are the top providers that give HUMANS oxygen. Algae(how

it is correctly spelled) may give off plenty, of oxygen but trees give off enough to keep us

alive. Yeah, you can choose where you develop, that's the home buyer's place, not yours. You

build where they buy. And no, thank you.

Watermen POV & TQ Navigation

Awesome ScotsIrish Watermen Roy Roy the Water People Bass Assassians

Ronnie Colemans Chubert Inc. WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Fish Forever

High Quality H20 Water Warriors

Watermen

Bass Assassians James Wood H.S.- Takarsh

3/17/2009

As watermen our livelihood depends entirely on the health of fish and the Chesapeake Bay itself. In 2008 the Bay suffered its worst “dead zones” since 1985. We need to be able to have

healthy fish that we can sell and use as food. Most watermen own their own equipment and

their only source of income is the fish that they catch and sell. The Chesapeake region is home

to 17 million people and countless species that are not found anywhere else. We need to clean

up the bay so that the ecosystem can remain in tact and our poor economy can turn around.

The first problem that needs to be solved is the pollution caused by sewage. The sewage causes

excess levels of Nitrogen and Phosphorus which depletes the bays oxygen levels. This kills

many of our fish and puts many of the watermen out of work. In order to improve the health of

the bay in terms of pollution we will seek resources to pay for upgrades and educate the public

so that they understand the dangers presented by sewage and pollution.

Air pollution from power plants is the leading cause of mercury that contaminates the fish in

the bay. As watermen this is devastating to us. The health of the fish is the key to our wellbeing

and the power plants are sacrificing that. It is the responsibility of the power plants to find

cleaner ways to produce energy that won’t harm our environment. Anglers are warned to limit

their consumption of fish because of the presence of mercury. In order to help the air quality

alternative and renewable energy resources need to be researched and low emission vehicles

need to become more reliable.

In order to put an effective plan into place it is going to cost money. While it is difficult to

estimate the cost of the plan it can be expected to cost millions of dollars. While the overall

cost is quite high if everyone does their part the burden will not be too great. Farmers have

already invested 357 million dollars in plans to keep the environment clean. If everyone

commits then we can save the Bay’s watershed, while it is expensive it is necessary. The bay

creates many economic opportunities and helps keep our ecosystem healthy. We need a

commitment from everybody in order to save the Chesapeake Bay. The bay is more than just a

“bay” it is our necessity for a middle class lifestyle. Please take the time, money, and

responsibility to aid us in our plan to save the bay.

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Thoughtful Questions

From: ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS Ask

3/23/2009

We understand what you mean, my question is this, how are you going to get the money, and

once you do, what type of equipments and methods would you use to help clean the bay once

aquired?I only ask this because all the groups (like my group) are trying to figure out how

to make the money needed or what methods to use and so forth.

Response Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T)

3/30/2009

Thank you for your respectful, well educated responce. Your question is a good one

because it is unclear to us just how much money and equpiment is needed to begin our

plan to "Save the Bay". The plan we have chosen for gathering the money mainly

includes grants from the government and donations from local, commercial busineses.

The bass assasins method of cleaning the bay would include mainly large scale rivers

and streams. We would start as far up stream as possible and set up cleaning

barriers that would filter certain metals and pollutants out of the water for a certain

area then move that area down to the next section. Our method of cleaning would also

include education of locals on how to dispose properly of waste and chemicals.

Statement Opequon Homeowners Association - homeowner - JWHS(F)

3/31/2009

Good Job. Read minez....and respondz to it pl0x

From: Ronnie Colemans - Waterman - GCHS Ask

4/2/2009

The idea of trying to get everyone to co-operate and gain more funds because the task of

cleaning the bay is expensive, but how do you purpose to gather the necessary money and

participation of a critical number of people clean the waters up?

Response Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T)

4/16/2009

We can gather a number of people to save the bay by educating the public so that

they understand the dangers presented by sewage and pollution.

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Statement

4/2/2009

you did a really good job how your going to save the bay.

Response to: County of Talbot - local_gov - JWHS(F)

Response Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T)

4/3/2009

Personally, I don't believe that anyone who responded to this POV actually read the

article. For those of you who said how are you going to get the funds and clean the

bay? That is the whole purpose of opening a facility. Now, the facility is not going to

close once the bay is in good condition. It will remain open and continue to keep the

bay clean. They are not getting ahead of themselves! They clearly have a plan as to

where to get the funds and where to start. Maybe you guys should read the post, think

about it, and make a sensible response, as opposed to what your doing now.

Watermen POV & TQ Navigation

Awesome ScotsIrish Watermen Roy Roy the Water People Bass Assassians

Ronnie Colemans Chubert Inc. WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Fish Forever

High Quality H20 Water Warriors

Watermen

Ronnie Colemans Gonzaga College H.S.

3/17/2009

Waterman POV

1) How do you develop the will to get it done? This solution is one of the easiest in comparison to some of the problems we face with pollution management. Once you make people aware of the levels of pollutants in water where they enjoy food from there will be a large outcry. You can use this to gain supporters to help pass some legislation to limit pollution levels and also be able to limit overfishing.
2) How do you build a community consensus that makes it easier for local elected officials to pass Bay friendly laws and ordinances? I believe we must simply inform the public about what is going on and that will be a great start. We can then use the media to spread the word even farther and start to pester lawmakers to vote for environmental causes. Money from bay support groups can also be used to hire lobbyists to convince senators and congressmen to pass laws that support us.
3) In most cases, efforts to clean up non point source pollution are voluntary and, even when there is money available to help cover some of the costs involved, real success depends on a majority of the people taking action. So, the question is - Does voluntary work? If not, what are the alternatives? Like many other issues in our nation, voluntary efforts are some of the most helpful and influential ways to help the cause. In the cases of the Patuxent River, voluntary did not seem to work until recently when larger, more organized groups started to take more action. In most cases, voluntary programs are being used to control pollutants that have not yet been regulated and for which legislative authority may be difficult to obtain. But these do not work because voluntary emissions cuts are not sufficient. Too few companies take part in these initiatives; even power companies mostly agree only to business actions that don’t make an impact on rising emissions. Only binding laws on global warming pollution will create the structure needed to push businesses to take the steps to reduce global warming pollution.
4) After we work out the “getting society behind it” part, there is still the “paying for it” part to figure out. Can we find solutions that pay for themselves, or even turn into moneymakers? All renewable resources pay for themselves once they start generating energy. The only barrier between them and us is the money that it would initially take to build and innovate the technology used to harvest this renewable source. Like the movie “Kilowatt Hours” showed a man with a big enough solar panel can actually make money from the power company by selling back the excess power he gets. The money cannot solely come from the government and taxes on us won’t cover the cost either. Donations and volunteering are the only ways that we as a nation, as a world, as a race can overcome global warming.

5) Can we get major point source polluters to help pay for cleaning up non point pollution? Can we get major point source polluters to help pay for cleaning up non point pollution? The answer to this question is tricky. To make this actually feasible would be a great struggle. Slashing nitrogen discharges is a good thing for watermen, but very hard to do and will be extremely costly, maybe more costly than possible. A plan to sell and trade pollution credits is similar to that of the carbon cap trade system which in the end may not really benefit anyone much. All this does is allow for a few more dollars to pass hands but a near same amount of pollution in the end without much of a major effect. So to make point sources pay for non point source pollution really isn’t doing much and is extremely difficult to make work.

6) The question is this – "what do we do if the effort needed to reduce agricultural pollution to the levels required to meet the Bay Program's goals is greater than the farm community can undertake and still remain economically viable?" The problem with reducing the farming communities pollution output, but maintaining economic reliability by them is very important. I feel that it is more important to keep the farms running than to reduce pollution to a level where they can’t. People need to eat and without farms we cannot do this, so there is no reason to lower pollution to a point where we can’t even support ourselves. Pollution should be lowered as much as possible in the agricultural sector, but not to a level where the farms cannot economically support themselves.

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Thoughtful Questions

Watermen POV & TQ Navigation

Awesome ScotsIrish Watermen Roy Roy the Water People Bass Assassians

Ronnie Colemans Chubert Inc. WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Fish Forever

High Quality H20 Water Warriors

Watermen

Chubert Inc. James Wood H.S.- Fordyce

3/20/2009

There are many different view points when it comes to the Chesapeake Bay watershed and

fishermen have always been important to the world. Since the ancient times fish have been a

main source of food, and today fish are one of the biggest money makers, an essential in this

bad economy.

Sadly, people tend to think we simply throw grenades into the water and scoop up the fish.

This is untrue; we want the fish to be as healthy as the environmentalist. Clean fish are better

for all parties involved, including us. We don’t want to harvest a bunch of four eyed mutant

fish. Now don’t get me wrong, I like four eyed mutant fish as much as the next guy. But we

don’t want to package them up and send them out to the public. Besides, we’re all for helping the

environment.

On the other hand, we don’t want super righteous militant vegans to

impose their regulations until the point we can’t function. We all have families to feed, and

environmentalists don’t take the time to understand the struggle of feeding their families. They

are willing to criticize but they aren’t willing to take a walk in our shoes. We do need to have

some limits and there are fishermen who are excessive.

But at the same time we shouldn’t have too many limits because the environmentalists

personal digression. Now when it comes to cleaning the environment we will be all arms on

deck. This world’s ecosystem is getting worse by the day and fishermen, environmentalists, and

all need to play their part. We can no longer argue about this, at this rate we won’t have to

worry about a dwindling fish population. We’ll have to worry about a dwindling world

population.

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Thoughtful Questions

From: YES! - Youth Environmental Stewards - Other - SCHS Ask

3/24/2009

Which would you worry about more, the crabs that can't be eaten everyday or meat and other

crops that are part of an everyday diet? You have to worry about the whole ecosystem, not

just one or two animals. There are plenty of other plants and animals that are affected in the

bay. Remember an ecosystem needs to stay in balance.

Response Chubert Inc. - Waterman - JWHS(F)

3/26/2009

I fail to see any relevance in you're statement. I never said anything about not

wanting to help the environment. To the contrary I said that we need to fix the

environement or we will face dire consequences. I'm a fisherman so naturally im

going to argue about issues that are relevant to me. If i was a vetrinarian i wouldn't

go tell a plastic surgeon how to do their job.

From: WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! - Waterman - RvrHS Statement

3/27/2009

No one thinks people fish with grenades

From: Bass Assassians - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

3/30/2009

As hilarious as your statements about the fish were, perhaps you should look at this problem

a bit more seriously. First of all you said that pollution was a problem but failed to identify

its source. There were no facts or ideas as to what to do. If your going to ask other people to

help you clean up tell u what you want to do, rather than attempt to entertain us with four

eyed fish stories.

From: Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T) Ask

3/30/2009

Who in the world thinks people fish with gernades? Who ever told you that? If you had any

common sense you would know people catch fish with nets. I have also never seen a four

eyed mutant fish. You guys really need to work on your knowledge before you do an

assignment like this.

Response Chubert Inc. - Waterman - JWHS(F)

3/31/2009

If you had any common sense you would see that the catching fish with grenades was

a metaphor. One about how people tend to think fishermen are carless when they

fish. Do I have to spell it out for you. Anyways, I was refrencing pollution as a

worldwide problem. People tend to worry about facts far too much. The more prudent

issue is finding solutions. So for solutions, I'm for completly doing away with fossil

fuels. If we can fish, drive, heat our homes, farm our crops, and live our lives

without any dependence on oil we need to find that way. But realisticlly there is little

anyone can do. Much of the damage can't be reversed and the best we can do is

prevent it from worsening. It would sound far too cliche' if i said "recycle man...it's

good for the earth" So the best we can do is change our ways and hope for the best.

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

4/2/2009

certain people aren't going to want to change their daily lives. i mean i understand what your

getting at. how are you going to get people and the money to help clean up the bay?

Response Chubert Inc. - Waterman - JWHS(F)

4/6/2009

If people don't want to drasticly change their lives they can at least do the little

things they can do to help. Its not that hard to walk to the store instead of driving or

maybe ride a bike.

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WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Riverheads H.S.

3/20/2009

Being Watermen in the Bay watershed is beginning to show its problems. Pollutants are

killing off many of the Bay organisms and the ones they don’t kill are starting to not become

harvestable because of the pollutants inside them. This is a problem because without the types

of food we can provide for the population many people will be without the foods they love and

worse others will be out of jobs because of the businesses that rely on our catch as their main

food dishes and/or fresh food products. Not even including our own job being at risk of

failure. One solution to this problem could be to create fisheries where fish, oysters, and/or

other Bay organisms can be farm raised in a safe environment. However, we do have a problem

with this solution. If fisheries are created then our job will be lost; there will no longer be a

great demand for fishermen. But we could be persuaded to give our support to the fisheries

being created if they promised us a job where we can keep earning our livings. In our opinion,

however, the best solution to this problem would just be to clean up the Bay so that the fish,

oysters, and other organisms can prosper more in an unpolluted environment. This is why we

believe we should all help to clean the Bay. Many people get their livelihood from some sort of

job off the Bay and if we can’t get it cleaned up then most of them will be out of jobs.

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From: ScotsIrish Watermen - Waterman - HHS Ask

3/23/2009

I read in your pov that fisherman are losing there jobs due to the loss of fish and other

organisms. My solution to your problem is to try to find another place to fish b/c at the pace

the bay is going (pollution wise) all life will be lost most likely. And with the economy being

bad they wont waste the money and time to clean it up so your best bet is to find a new place

to fish, like for example fishing in the Atlantic Ocean for different kinds of fish.

Response WE CATCH YOUR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! - Waterman - RvrHS

3/27/2009

The Government doesn't need to give that much money. Community support is the

most important factor to help clean the Bay. How about you go do your job

somewhere else.

From: Charlie's Critters - Other - JWHS(T) Statement

3/24/2009

thank you! you said that people are hurting the critters,and that is so true! everyone should

help us critters live to help us and you all!

From: Grim Farms Inc. - farmer - JWHS(F) Statement

3/26/2009

we the farmers agree that creating fisheries will negatively affect the bay. if there is no

need to catch fish from the bay the health of the bay will be neglected. if the water is

polluted this could come back to Affect everyone in the chesapeake watershed.

From: Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T) Ask

4/1/2009

Is there any other ways to besides the fisheries to help thye fish? Anything less $$ and time?

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

4/2/2009

i like that you want to do fisheries. thats going to take alot of time do you have other ways to

help the critters that are in the bay?

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Fish Forever Southern Columbia H.S.

3/23/2009

*REVISED: 4/6/2009

We represent a recreational fishing club in PA known as “Fish Forever”. We are important because we are just one piece of the “puzzle.” To accomplish major goals, everybody needs to work together on various water clean-up projects. Although there may not be a whole lot of pollution we contribute to the bay, we are one of the influential people with anything involved in the bay. We can provide conservation efforts to clean up the bay and its tributaries and, without us involved, it would be a detrimental loss to anybody who is focused on cleaning the bay. We are just a fraction of the people that would want to help. Other conservationists would help clean the tributaries which is where most of the bay pollution comes from. Also high school students like the ones posting on this forum would help, either on their own or part of a school project. There are many more people that could help they are just not fully aware of the bay’s situation.
We are not a major part of the problem of the Bay. Some impacts we may have on the
Bay include litter and debris from fishing activities, accidental spills from motors, release of non-native bait that then establishes itself in the stream, and overfishing. But our fish philosophy is based highly off of “catch and release”, so the chances of us overfishing are very low. However with more knowledge spread among fisherman, we can educate those who do not believe non native species can ruin fish habitat and have a stronger concern of how we fish and prevent such simple problems. We can help by forming a public group of volunteers that can monitor fish types, numbers, and health to see if pollution is having an impact. In a small community, like ourselves, workshops could be organized to educate those interested in protecting the Bay and any avid fisherman would most likely be interested in keeping his own waters clean for the sport (which would in turn help clean the bay). This class could be a weekly thing and to get more people interested different propagandas can be posted about the community. You can’t make someone do anything but you can educate them and change their mind about something
We are concerned about the problems of the Bay because Bay issues can be a reflection of the water quality in PA streams. That is a concern as we rely on healthy fish populations and habitats. Also, migratory fish populations (such as shad reintroduction) that we would like to see return to PA streams need the Bay on their route to and from the ocean.

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From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

3/24/2009

When you say everybody needs to work together, not everybody is going to work together

with helping the Chesapeake Bay. There is a lot of pollution that is going to the Bay. Pollution

goes from the creeks to the rivers and then goes right to ocean. Your saying your a "catch

and release"? Most watermen have to fish to feed families. How are you going to get people

to believe you on non native species can ruin fish habitat? Your saying that you would get

volunteers to help you monitor the fish but who is willing to help? Not many people to take

time out of their daily lives to help the fish.

Response Fish Forever - Waterman - SCHS

3/30/2009

Your exactly right the reason the bay is in the state it is in is because nobody is

willing to work together so in order to achieve a healthier bay everybody must work

together. And to educate people about non native nuisance species - i can pick one of

several watersheds which have been affected by nuisance species such as the zebra

mussel in the great lakes which had greatly affected the native species of the lakes.

And there are plenty of people who will gladly volunteer on the level of smaller

streams above the bay which is what needs to be fixed before anything else, you must

start at the source. You can clean the rivers but it is not going to matter if the

polluted streams are still feeding those cleaned rivers. And we represent the

recreational angler who catches and releases and most of us who fish small streams

are catch and release. And next time you rag on us about not actually releasing our

fish (because we have to "feed our families") you should read the first sentence of

our post which clearly states that we are recreational fishermen (not

commercial)from Pennsylvania.

From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Statement

4/2/2009

well i mean i understand but its gonna be alot of work to get them to help you. do you have the

money and time to get people to help and to get them educated?

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High Quality H20 James Wood H.S.- McDonald

3/26/2009

Can you imagine the watermen’s way of life without fishing activity? Without doubt, their

livelihood, a way in which they earn their money, depends strongly on water and fishing.

Therefore, it’s important to note that a good quality of water and lack of pollution are factors

which benefit the watermen in many ways. With polluted water and poor fishing quality, it is

almost impossible for the watermen to maintain their jobs and keep their family well-fed. For

these reasons and many more the waterman feels that it is vital we clean up the Chesapeake Bay

watershed.In the past couple years there has been a huge decline in the seafood that comes

from the bay, that all originates from heavily pollutant substances such as sewage leaks, power

plants, and animal contamination. It makes the ecosystem very weak. We also feel that in order

to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, we need to control the farmers’ use of pesticides, the farm

animal waste, and use of fertilizers. The watermen can not continue to fish in contaminated

water; they can not sell or eat contaminated fish.

Contemporary issues includes nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that causes algae blooms which

block the sunlight to underwater grasses and remove oxygen from the water. This brings about

dead zones throughout the bay. These problems destroy the bay’s habitat for key plants and

animals in the ecosystem, including rockfish, crabs and oyster. Pollution is a key that can both

make or break our business. If there is a lot of pollution our business fails because all the fish

will be dead.

Commitment to work, that’s volunteering to help clean up the bay, is one of the significant steps

made to achieve desired result. Petition, written request to government signed by many people,

is a favorable way to get people and companies involved in the issue. Thereby, we may receive

help from the government, which includes time, commitment, and money. People should realize

that pollution of the bay does not only concern us, watermen. It’s an important subject for

discussion to a great many of people.

Pollution of the Chesapeake watershed not only hurts business for us, watermen. It also hurts

our environment and affects the lives of the residents in the area surrounding the bay. Water

is the key part to all humanity, so have a heart; play an important part, helping and cleaning our

waterways, and to make life a little better.

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Water Warriors Turner-Ashby H.S.

3/27/2009

We the Watermen depend on the livelihood of the Bay for our survival. We use the Bay as POV:

our source for food and for our income. The Bay is also an epicenter of a unique culture

that would be a great loss for everyone if it was diminished. The Bay has been polluted by

everyone, not just one group so it will take a huge effort to get the Bay to its former

pristine state. The pollution is decreasing the SAV, which in turn is killing the population of

the animals that use the SAV as a habitat. Pollution is also causing eutrophication, which

means that the plankton and algae are blooming at such alarming rates that the sunshine is

getting blocked. Eutrophication is why the SAV is dieing off. As Watermen we realize the

damages that we do to the population by harvesting, but we are doing as much as we can to

keep the seasons short and the catches legal. We can do things to help clean up as well.

Some of these things include each license holding fisherman could adopt a mile of shoreline

to try and keep the trash out of the Bay; also we could get monthly boat inspection to

make sure that the boats aren’t putting anymore pollutants into the Bay. We can fix the

bay if we all work together and use a little elbow grease and a whole lot of effort.

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From: Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T) Ask

4/2/2009

you say that everyone has been polluting the bay which is true. but not everyone is going to

help clean it up. there are people that are selfish and who won't help. certain fisherman

wouldn't want to hold a mile long of shoreline to clean up the bay. thats not fair to them that

they would have to take out time from there lives to just clean up. not many people are going

to want to clean up.

Response Water Warriors - Waterman - TAHS

4/3/2009

It won't be that time consuming because you can do it bit by bit. People will also help

think of the CBF there are plenty of people to help.

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