Blackburn is part of a coalition of gulf fishermen fighting against further funding for catch share programs, a controversial form of fishery management that dictates the amount of fish that can be caught through the distribution of individual fishing quotas (IFQs) to fishery participants.

Although the recreational sector that the charter boats fall into is not bound by the catch share programs in place for commercial fishermen in the gulf, many charter fishermen fear implementation of further catch share programs on the horizon, and see it as a way for NOAA to privatize their right to a public resource.

Blackburn fears that younger generations of fishermen will not have a chance in the business, which he said is becoming more difficult to stay afloat in each year, and harder to acquire the necessary permits to fish in federal waters, required for charter and commercial boats that fish more than nine miles off the Florida coastline.

Read the complete story from The Panama City News Herald