Capt. Bob is back in San Diego for the final week of PFMC meetings for 2007, so the next day the Queen of Hearts will be running will be when he returns this Saturday. Which brings me to my next soapbox moment: There is an outrageous misconception about these meetings that I have to set straight: Bob receives no money whatsoever for the time he takes off to go to all the meetings he goes to. The PFMC pays for his expenses consisting of transportation, hotel and a per diem food allowance, but that is it. He receives no wage, no salary, no compensation. Bob is not paid by any organization to attend these meetings, not by the PFMC, not by Golden Gate Sportfisherman's Association or by any lobby, government agency or charity. On top of that, we (as in Bob and I) either pay for another captain to take Bob's place so the Queen can continue to run, or we cancel our trips like we have done this week and let our boat sit idle. GGFA would reimburse us for a captain to run while Bob's at the meetings, but we don't seek reimbursement as unfortunately GGFA needs every penny it gets to be able to survive and continue it's vital work behind the scenes to keep our fisheries alive. So why does Bob go to these meetings? The same reason he is in this business: he loves fishing and sharing it with others. It would be tough to find anyone along the entire California coastline that has run more fishing trips than Bob over the past 20 years. The information he knows is absolutely vital to be presented to those who are seldom on the water but decide based on the numbers that come out of their computers when and where and how we can fish. And Bob really cares. He doesn't get his name in neon in the limelight even though oftentimes he should, but he knows what he does at these meetings and he knows he does make a difference, and everything he does is done as fairly as possible taking everyone's needs to heart, at times even to the detriment of our own business. So now I'll step back down off my soapbox, feeling a little pressure off my chest, and hope what I have said is understood to be an honest explanation and not taken any other way than that. Even my own relatives wonder why we're in this business at times and why we do what we do. All they have to do to remind themselves is to go fishing on the ocean with us one day and they'll know why.