Quote:
Originally Posted by Southerly
it's been awhile since civics in high school (and i may not have been there that day) so i'm a little confused about the political process as regards a petition.
i've always assumed petitions either 1) showed intent of 'a bunch' of people to be used as part of some attempt to get the attention of lawmakers, but were not politically/legally binding in any real way, or 2) could be used to get an issue placed on the regular ballot as a process of law.
is one, or other, or something else the case now?
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You are correct in your assumption Southerly. MD has about 6 million people and even if 5 million signed it, it would not be law. It is an attention getter by the people to the legislature. It is a lobby which is also big business in MD.
Net fishing is also a business that does involve many different industries. We are attempting to change one aspect of that industry. Netting. Fish will still be caught, transported, processed and sold. This change is not a battle or punishment against commercial fishermen, it is a conservation issue to protect a fishery. We are giving this petition to the MD legislators, not he DNR. This is a legal process and bargaining is involved. Hopefully the end result will be a conservation of our fishery. It is protecting the commercial fisherman's future also.