By signing this petition I am asking people to do 3 things:
1. Hold BP responsible for what they have done to our ocean, do some of your own due diligence on the chemicals they used and the safety of your food after being exposed to them. It's still there you just don't see it!
2. Start paying out claims to the EAST COAST Commercial Fisherman, Businesses (fish houses, hotels, marinas etc.), Tourism Industry, and All of those who are clearly being affected by the oil spill.
3. Hold those responsible that allowed BP to continue to use these chemicals long after they knew the dangers associated with using them.
4. I was told Attorney General - Pam Bondi is working hard on our behalf to include us east coast fisherman, charter boats, and businesses (especially tourism related) in addition to signing this you can show her support in this mountainous task of getting everyone including our East Coast fishermen the settlement money they desperately need.

I am a commercial an charter fisherman out of Jupiter, Florida. I work on the water full time as a captain and waterman; I am speaking on behalf of East Coast commercial fisherman (primarily of kingfish and spanish mackerel), charter fishing captains, and commercial divers, and even unsuspecting tourists,(who are exposing themselves and their food to the chemicals BP has poisoned the Gulf of Mexico and Our Ocean with and falsely says are not there.) I am going to avoid the conspiracy theories and just tell you the facts. Most fisherman I talk to are still in denial hoping that better days are on the way and that things will get back to the way they used to be. Most of them along with myself are finding themselves further and further in debt trying to support themselves, their family, and keep their boat floating in the hopes that this will all blow over. The only problem is it's not! Last year 2011 was a really bad year (worst on my records as well as others) on many occasions I heard people say "One more year of that and I wont be able to survive!" Well, it happened again.. This year 2012 was 3 times as bad! The kingfish population looks to be crashing and not because of overfishing; It was well regulated and thriving with each year better than the last (that is prior to the BP oil spill).. A lot of these people are turning to side jobs and alternate work because the money in fishing is no longer there the way it used to be.

Quick well known fact: Kingfish migrate; Some migrate from here in Florida north and they are called the "Atlantic stock", the second that we fish here is called the "Gulf stock" they Migrate from Here in Florida to the Gulf Of Mexico. Another well known fact is that the Gulf stream travels from the oil spill location almost directly to our fishing grounds here in Palm Beach County! BP inundates us with commercials on how they are taking care of commercial fisherman and the beaches and seafood is safe to eat. BP has paid a lot of commercial fisherman in the Gulf to make up for losses in catch and told them this is only temporary and that fishing will get back to normal; and after their first settlement offered them a second settlement in the area of $25,000 but in order to get it they would have to sign a form saying they would not sue them in the future (big mistake). It is a mistake because the the chemical they used to sink the oil to the bottom of the ocean Corexit lasts for thousands of years and kills just about everything it touches including fish eggs. We are not only seeing the migration patterns of fish being altered (most likely due to depleted food sources - short term life span organisms: plankton, bait, squid, the whole food chain, etc. They are the first to go..) but a major worry is of future generations of fish their eggs and larvae because they are small and more susceptible to the chemicals. Also the same as ciguiterra or mercury the more of a contaminated fish a predatory fish eats the more he accumulates in his own blood stream, I am certain the same holds true with Corexit. All the oil you saw on the news and all that you didn't see was never cleaned up, it is all sitting on the bottom of the ocean wreaking havoc and will plague us and future generations. There are organisms that eat the oil because it is a naturally occurring substance, but the chemicals they sprayed are not biodegradable or eaten and will be there for a loooooong time.

BP has drawn an imaginary line that separates the Gulf victims from the Atlantic side where I live; Although, Clearly the dispersants travelled here with the Gulf stream and the fish traveled here through their historical migration patterns. By them drawing this line they are trying to get out of paying the thousands of commercial fisherman, charter fisherman, and businesses that are clearly being greatly affected by this oil spill. These people were hard working and had a viable income prior to this disaster, and would have rather kept fishing and doing what they loved. The loss of these charter fisherman and people that work on the water will greatly affect the tourism industry, many work hand in hand with hotels to books stays and trips. Everyone is extremely depressed and barely making ends meat, and eating a fish out of the ocean doesn't seem like a healthy choice. Not only are there fewer fish but the ones that are there run the high risk of being bad for your health. Fish houses don't want you to know about this either, but lets face it if we are not catching the numbers of fish we used to then they're not making as much as they used to; They should be compensated for this loss as well. BP is refusing to take responsibility for those that have been and still are being affected on the East Coast, Everyone else along with myself is tired of waiting for things to get better or get reimbursed for THEIR ignorance. They are not the solution they are the problem!