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SAMPLE SPEECH:
Good evening my representatives,
I'm x and represent the interest of The National Wisconsin Freediving and spearfishing club. I would like to speak with you tonight concerning measure 76, which seeks to implement a statewide ban on all underwater panfish spearfishing. As a representative of and being a long-time spearfisherman myself, I would like to address some key items the proposed measure 76 fails to mention.
First, a few facts. -
The current underwater spearing regulations allow for skin and scuba divers to harvest panfish and rough fish, such as carp and gar. Also, as it currently stands, no game fish is considered legal quarry for spear fishing in the state of Wisconsin, yet we spearfishermen purchase and pay the same price for a fishing license as any other fisherman. Please consider that many other states give hook and line fisherman and spearfishermen equal rights. Wisconsin does not recognize fishermen equal rights, hence spearfishermen are limited to ONLY panfish and carp.
The citizens who drawn up measure 76 would like you to believe that SCUBA and freedivers are single-handedly depleting Wisconsin’s panfish populations. This fear is based on Nothing and you know it for sure when they fail to provide you with any shred of scientific, statistical or verifiable piece of evidence to back up their incredulous claims. If anecdotal evidence is to be used for the shaping of WI’s fishing regulations, you may just as well consider the following: Less than one-tenth of 1% of the in total xxx Wisconsin fisherman who bought fishing licenses last year actually went out spearfishing. Even if every spearfishermen in the whole state managed to collect the allowed limit of panfish on every outing, the amount of harvested fish is nigh-on insignificant in comparison to hook and line technique of fishing!
Measure 76 is also worded to steer people into believing it’s easy to spear a pan fish underwater – however as a experienced spearfisherman I can assure you this is simply untrue. It takes an enormous investment in learning, patience, gear, and physical aptitude to dive. The well camouflaged, shy, xxft deep and fast pan fish makes for a hard target. We spearfishermen are selective and well disciplined. We always check the fish size and type before catching. Our appreciation and care for nature is why spearfishing has been widely embraced by conversationalists world-wide as the most ecofriendly. Why? because we have zero bi-catch. No fish is thrown away. Zero bi-catch simply means that what you catch is what you keep. In contrast, how many unwanted fish are killed as bi-catch or simply from the trauma of 'catch and release' every year?
With the method of spearfishing, the only fish taken are the one’s harvested. There is no upgrading, there is no waste. When practiced within sensible limits established by the natural resources department, spearfishing has NO no negative impact on the fishing industry.
Should measure 76 pass, our few hundred spearfishermen in the state of Wisconsin will be left to pursue only rough fish, and no fresh healthy fish for the family diner table. Needless to say, it will mean the end of our ecofriendly sportive underwater hunting tradition. If you are truly concerned about a decline of panfish numbers, we should work together, recognize all the facts and then consider the non discriminating measure in this year’s ballot that promotes decreasing the statewide bag limit for panfish, for all the fishermen. This move would have a far more reaching affect than banning the very small numbers of spearfishermen which in turn has a next to NO impact on panfish population numbers.
We Wisconsin’s spearfishermen are ardent conversationalists and proponents of sustainability. The majority of us do our best to create a cleaner and healthier water system by continually removing its invasive inhabitants, pests such as the carp, which often reak havoc on panfish eggbeds during their spawn. We think measure 76 is totally based on the emotional feelings of a few, who clearly misunderstand our most environment friendly way of fishing. We trust you to vote on measure 76 in consideration of facts and reality, not baseless emotion. Knowing the numbers, you know the method of spearfishing has no yield advantage over the hook and line Method. To me it sounds as ridiculous as saying that bow hunting gives deer hunters an unfair advantage over gun-hunters. The only advantage diver have is the spearfishing method is the most ecofriendly. In conclusion I can wholeheartedly assure you that any banishment of the spearfishing method will have zero effect on either the size nor on the number of panfish living in Wisconsin waters.
We of The National Wisconsin Freediving and spearfishing club would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about spearfishing, and share more information about our sustainable tradition with you representative. Thank you for your time and consideration of this for us important matter.
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REGARDS,
T
After following me around they start to bitch about how I'm cheating and scaring away all of "their" fish and I need to get off of "their" spots. It's one of the reasons I like to spear late in the season, after the first snow, because they are all too damn lazy to be out. The guys that do go out in those conditions usually have my mutual respect. 
