Mike,
I'll try to keep this civil, but you have your facts WRONG. Radical environmentalists do outnumber the fishermen that are active in the MLPA process (up until the last meeting). To say that they have no power, is not only wrong, it's naive. I have experienced their power and political tactics first hand. Believe me, they know what they're doing. I've promised people I wouldn't talk about some of the things that are going on, so I won't, but believe me, they have more power than we do in this situation. They are backed by organizations with millions in their budget. We have UA, RFA and SAC. If that. We have hundreds, MAYBE thousands in our budget. These enviros have people that get paid to go to these meetings, they have people that get paid to lobby in Sacramento, etc. We have Tom Raftican and Bob Fletcher as our two paid representatives. They have hundreds. They are working the system much more effectively than we are. I agree that most of these radical environmentalists are nothing but air headed pot smokers, and it is hard to believe that they have more power than we do, but they do. Keep in mind, they are not environmentalists, we are. They are anti fishing lobbyists who don't care about the fishery, they just want to close down fishing. We are really trying to help the fishery.
-Brian