DEMONSTRATION AT THE DOCKS: Keep your hands off our amberjack — and our health care (UPDATED with PHOTOS and RODEO RAP)

Two dozen Emerald Coast residents descended on Destin harbor to tell Big Brother to keep its hands off the amberjack Saturday.

The protesters, who gathered behind AJ’s at the Destin Fishing Rodeo scales, were a sub-section of the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party, who were quick to admit that they weren’t necessarily fishermen.

However, the members of “The Tyranny Response Team” say they recognize when government “is destroying people’s lives,” and they wanted to lend their voice and signs to the cause of those protesting the government’s surprise lockdown of the amberjack fishery. They also took a couple swipes at President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan, with signs that said “No Socialized Medicine!”

“This is the government trying to run our lives. We have unemployment skyrocketing like crazy and now the government is trying to close down more industries. These people are trying to make a living with fish that are clearly available out there,” said Don Kreis, a Shalimar resident with the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party.

“We are just here to support the Destin fishermen. We understand the impact not only on the Destin economy but on the whole economy of the Gulf Coast. The action they took is gonna affect all our coastal communities — from Brownsville to Key West,” added Ken Walsh, who also lives in Shalimar and is a radio personality on WFTW 1260.

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To read about an angler's hellish fight with a shark and see photos from Shark Saturday, click here.

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Earlier in the day Mayor Craig Barker, who is also running for the District 4 Florida House seat, spoke to the group.

Barker told the crowd that the fleet's operations injects over $175 million in direct spending into Destin's economy — which including the money multiplier effect, generates over $349 million for the economy of
northwest Florida. The fleet is also directly or indirectly responsible for the creation of over 7,000 jobs that pay annual wages in excess of $150 million, Barker said.

Barker also explained that the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires fisheries management to be conducted in accordance with the "best available data," yet a full-blown stock assessment for these species has not been conducted since 1991.

"I believe strongly — especially in economic times such as these — that government at all levels should be advocates of business and commerce, not working to shut it down," Barker said.

The mayor called on the feds to fund a full-blown stock assessment for each species that is regulated by the Magnuson-Stevens Act in an effort to establish a near real-time data collection system, which fishermen have advocated for more than a decade. He added the act must be updated with this new data "so that faith and accountability can be restored in its scientific and management procedures."

As Barker spoke one of the protesters held a yellow flag aloft on a fishing rod. The message “Don’t tread on me” blew in the wind.

“The federal government on one hand says go eat fish and stay healthy, but you can’t even catch fish in the United States,” Walsh said pointing to China’s bustling fish exports.

The demonstration was a warm-up for a planned captain's protest in the channel on Saturday, Nov. 7.