EDITORIAL: They don't know 'jack; so let 'em have it, Destin

The armchair anglers who sit behind desks and act as captains of the fishing industry have done it again.

Talk about kicking you while you’re down. In announcing the early closure of the amberjack fishery on Saturday, federal regulators have again demonstrated that flawed data trumps common sense.

First it was our signature snapper, which our anglers were allowed to catch for two short months while spending the rest of the year practically beating them off with oars.

Now, we are set to lose the last large fish that charter captains know they can find for their customers.

No wonder we catch shark, one captain quipped. We can’t catch anything else.

And that would be funny if it weren’t so true. This action represents an ignorant attack on our heritage, and this repeated and reckless overregulation cannot be allowed.

The governor and all those politicians who represent Florida should be fuming.

We made the mistake of giving in once before when we went along with the regulators’ plan to lock down the snapper. The party line was “we take the bullet now and look toward a better tomorrow.”

This action by the feds shows us that such obsequiousness gains us nothing. We can bend over no more without snapping.

We urge any who care about this city’s history and what continues to distinguish our city from every other tourism enclave along the coast to stand up, speak out and fall in.

There is a rally on the harbor set for Nov. 7 that captains hope will ripple through fishing communities across the Gulf Coast. We want to see you there. Come display your righteous rage.