Jacob Hicks wore his green slicker rain gear and waved a sign denouncing fishery regulators. Skip Feller wore a new jacket with the name of his head boat on the chest. George Wagner waved a flag fastened to a beat-up old fishing rod.
A commercial fisherman, a charter captain and a recreational angler – all stood side by side Wednesday outside the Capitol in a show of force and unity.
They were joined by nearly 4,000 others, including four busloads from Hampton Roads, at a rally to push for changes in the way the nation's saltwater fisheries are regulated. They came from East Coast ports north and south, from the West Coast – even Alaska – to draw attention to rules they say are crippling their industry.
All of them want more flexibility in a law, originally passed in 1976, called the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.