Dear MNMS Advisory Council members, May 18, 2009
Although we are not able to be there in person, please accept these words in lieu of our attendance. We, Atlantis Charters, speak not only for ourselves, but also for tens of hundreds of recreational divers who have dedicated countless hours to discovering, researching, and/or repeatedly visiting the shipwrecks off the coast of North Carolina.
Please be sure that this letter is read during the public comment period, and thank you for including the complete text in the official meeting minutes.
It is frustrating that:
1. MNMS meeting agendas are not posted on the website in advance of the meetings.
2. MNMS meeting minutes can take 10 weeks to post on the website.
3. NOAA/MNMS meetings are held on weekdays, often in remote locations. This leaves far too many interested parties unable to attend and be heard.
4. Comments from the public seem to be valid only when made at ‘official’ meetings.
For example:
• -At the October 22, 2008 ‘informational’ meeting: many people voiced strong opposition to any imposition of the government into recreational diving activities. Where was that strong opposition documented?
• -Multiple direct individual comments (by phone) have been made supporting the status quo of NC diving. How have those comments been documented?
• -Individual divers and dive operators who visit the NC wrecks (and who stand to be most affected by the idea of sanctuary expansion) are not being represented adequately at official NOAA meetings. The average citizen: who will never dive these wrecks and will never be directly affected by government regulation of dive sites is being over-represented, while it appears that local and regional diver opinions are minimized.
• -NOAA evidenced a clear bias by releasing a series of press releases in 2008, which were unreasonably disparaging to the NC recreational diver. That method of influencing public opinion is neither impartial nor fair to all parties involved. Frankly, it reflects rather poorly on the tactics of a government entity. Even after repeated questions as to the intent or retraction of the published words, NOAA has yet to formally address their informal claim that their press releases were enhanced/altered by the media.
There are tens of hundreds of recreational divers who are against any change to government involvement in their diving activities off the coast of NC. Those people would like to know how their voices could be heard. They do not wish to discuss the actions, plans, or lack of plans for NOAA to expand the MNMS boundaries. They simply wish for the Monitor Sanctuary to remain as-is, and for their tax dollars be spent on matters of greater importance to the future of the United States.
There is nothing about the activities of recreational divers off the NC coast that can’t be improved by a simple grassroots effort of communication/education at the diver level.
Please let these comments (and any subsequent discussion) be made a permanent part of the official MNMS Advisory Council meeting minutes.
Thank you,
Renate Eichinger, for Atlantis Charters, et al. (Morehead City, NC)
http://monitor.noaa.gov/advisory/pdfs/minutes_051909.pdf
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