Will Poston, Policy Consultant, American Saltwater Guides Association
On February 17, I made the journey down to Tallahassee, FL, to join Captains for Clean Water and a bunch of fishing guides to watch the Florida Senate debate and vote on Senate Bill (SB) 2508. To say the least, it was powerful. I sat with generations of fishing guides from all over the state and all different fishing methods up in the Senate gallery. The gallery was dominated by Costa sunglasses, the accompanying tan lines, and Captains for Clean Water hats. The peanut gallery, if you will, was respectful and offered no outcry or excuse for the Senators to discredit or remove them. It was a textbook public pressure campaign, and it was effective.
Chances are you’ve heard some rumblings about SB 2508 over the past couple of weeks. If you did, you probably heard about it through your favorite tarpon guide, a fishing buddy, or Captains for Clean Water. You also might be wondering why we’re even talking about an issue a thousand of miles away from our core membership; we’re talking about this because within the fight over SB 2508, there are lessons that we can apply to our striped bass/Amendment 7 battle—hopefully finding similar success.
Originally, SB 2508 was a suspiciously filed bill that would have disrupted efforts to restore the Everglades to the benefit of one primary special interest group. For example, the bill originally contained language which would have threatened funding for the highest priority Everglades restoration project, the EAA reservoir. This is an incredibly complex issue—entire books have been written about this decades long fight…
While SB 2508 was certainly bad policy and process, something else stole the show: the power and effectiveness of a grassroots, organic—whatever you want to call it—group of people who were motivated, educated, and passionate for a cause. That’s exactly what happened down in Tallahassee on Thursday, February 17 and for the week leading up.
This experience really showed me what a grassroots movement of fishy people can accomplish. In just over a week, this group of fishing guides, coastal residents, stakeholders, you name it, was able to substantially influence government and legislation for the benefit of Florida’s estuaries, fisheries, and coastal communities.