First off I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and I hope
everyone’s season went well.

I wanted to bring everyone up to speed with where United Boatmen of NJ
has been and where we are going.

1)    Life Raft Issue: To date many of us have put a lot of time in on
this issue.  If you are not aware by now, Congress passed a bill last
year forcing all inspected vessels no matter where you sail from to
carry new inflatable life rafts.  The old shark feeders as we call
them will be obsolete Jan 1, 2015.
UB has formed a coalition with the following organizations to fight this issue:
    NACO, NPBOA, RFA, PVA, Maryland Charter Boat Assoc . and a couple of
other from guys that are part of the main groups mentioned.

To date we have been successful in lobbying Congressman LoBiondo to
add an amendment to a bill HR2838 that was introduced a couple of
weeks ago that forces the Feds to do a feasibility study to see what
the impact on industry would be and if they have justification to
force us into buying these rafts.

Myself, and Ed Yates have a meeting with Secretary of Commerce Locke
and Kelly Penning ton staff to the secretary December 15 in Washington
to finalize the language Congressman LoBiondo introduced last month.
We will keep you advised of our progress.

2)    We spoke with Philadelphia MSO the other day and we would like to
set up an industry day like we used to do in the past for all
inspected vessels.  We are looking at late January and need a place to
hold the meeting somewhere in the Egg Harbor Township area to
accommodate everyone driving.  If anyone has any ideas please let me
know.

3)    Currently UB is  working with Senator Jeff Van Drew on getting me
appointed to the NJ Marine Fisheries Council.  All the hurdles have
been passed and we just need to sit down now with Michelle Brown in
the Governor’s office to finalize.  UB has the backing of the RFA and
GSSA on this issue.

4)    The Joint Fisheries meeting is this week in Williamsburg, VA.
Fluke, Cbass and Scup are on the agenda for this meeting.  If anyone
is interested in going please contact myself or Ed Yates.

5)               Please let me know if you have not recieved your NACO
membership and monthly emails from NACO.  We are working on keeping
everyone up to date with NACO. NACO's main office is our watch dog for
federal issues.  If no is aware, I am currently a Board of Director
for NACO and will be attending the annual meeting in Orlando in
January.

We will email everyone further information as the week goes on with
our progress with key issues.

We are currently looking for someone who would like to handle the
website and monthly newsletter emails to members if anyone is
interested in helping.  We are trying to keep all information done via
email and website and have no mailings to keep expenses down.

Please contact Bob Rush (starfishboats@gmail.com) or Ed Yates
(hunter.fishing@hotmail.com)


Bob Rush
Secretary / Treasurer