The post title omits the term, “Freshwater” because at this point I am sure you understand that fishery issues are discussed in the context of non-saltwater bodies.

For the sake of future ease of reference, allow me orthographical license to abbreviate an idea and a title with one acronym. Instead of refering to “bodies of freshwater” continually and combining the additional subject of “issues” to it, let’s reverse the first subject to “Freshwater Bodies” and add the second subject “Issues” to result in something easy to remember, “FBI“.

FBI’s are first created when people become involved with freshwater bodies in all the varities of ways they have interests in. Eventually when enough people are using them without the proper safeguards in place and proper implementation, the nature and state starts to change for the worse and responsible action is required to maintain an optimum level of health.

Herein lies the challenge which was first addressed by Florida’s people about a century ago. Without presenting a complete history of freshwater management in Florida, let’s start with the federal, state, and county agencies as they are today, in place and operating under the current State Statues the lawmakers put in place.

The people interested in FBs vary greatly in those interests, however many of the issues are shared in common within that diversity. It is this common ground that many FB users hope to build relationship upon in order to stand and be heard as one unified voice in the ears of the legislature.

A coalition is essentially a partnership centered on one or more reasons, efforts, and causes, that ulitimately have the same shared goal which all parties have a stake in.

Therefore their “issues” are defined as problems or deficiencies with the current plan, policy, and laws, that does not have an adequate or correct result as they veiw it. The end result is that people who expect to benefit from the lake management agencies plans and work, in the end do not, but instead suffer decline in the level of ability to enjoy their FB, thus an FBI is created and the need for responsible action arises on the part of the people involved.

The only way we can know what our issues are is for each one of us to sit down together in order to compare our information and understanding of situations we find unacceptable within the federal, state, and county management agencies’ end results and proposed future plans.

We hope you’ll partner with us so that we will work to define our issues correctly and form a plan by which those FBIs will ultimately become tomorrow’s optimum FB management plan, legislation, law and policy.