|
Apologies to fishbone. I was speaking to the tenor of the thread in general rather than anything he specifically has posted about striped bass or immigrants and regret that my post implied otherwise.
Slip, I phrased it badly but my point is that an ethic of saltwater fishing has always been to keep and kill the largest fish one catches. It feels good to do it, we have all done it, it is perfectly legal, it is an entirely valid use of a public resource,...........but it also is a major harm to that resource and thereby hurts other fishermen. When the ethic becomes to catch and release the largest fish we catch (and yes I know some of those fish die) we all will be better off.
When people rant about poachers it is usually implied that they are hurting the resource. They are, but so are we who fish legally, enough said.
As for the bit about breaking the law, that might hold water if the poster never broke the speed limit or crossed railroad right of ways, etc. Since that isn't usually the case, protestations about breaking fishery laws are usually hypocritical even though they feel justified.
The other ugly side of this is the xenophobic emphasis. The fact that the ethnicity of the offender is often prominently described is unfortunate, since it shouldn't make any difference.......but obviously does to many of us.
Finally, I'm not claiming to be holier than anyone. I don't keep large (or short) bass, but if I get a large fluke or large seabass I don't care about the resource one bit.......I'm keeping it. Likewise, I don't fish live scup, but if I decide to I don't plan to carry a ruler. And when a bunch of guys show up drifting seaworms both sides of me at Nobska and force me off my rock I have no problem referring to their ethnicity when I bittch about it later.
|