Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnR
Balance Danielson, Balance.
A sportsman learns to conserve and act on behalf of their quarry.
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For the "sportsman" /recreational fisherman, I believe the sanctions set in place for the protection of most local species are sufficient to sustain or at least maintain a healthy stock level. So even for those who cannot police themselves, the laws are there.
IMO, the recreational sector is not the problem...it's the poor management of the commercial sector that's hurting stock levels.
When Mr. Cashuss Coin comes into the equation, that's when things get dicey.....Bottom Trawling, Mid-water Trawling, Dredging, Gill-netting, Long-lining, Purse Seining, Shore-worked Seine netting, Pots, Traps, Charter Boats, whatever else I missed, and let's not forget BY-CATCH!
I don't like bringing up problems without possible solutions, but I honestly don't believe there's a viable solution for this. Why? Because I also believe that
they have the right to make a living (legally).
What's wrong is when people try to compare the two....you simply can not. Not on the scale of intake nor the scale of damage done. How many recreational fishermen would it take, to equate the damage done by one haul of a bottom trawler? Incomparable.
What would you compare the bycatch of any large fishing vessel to... when applying it to the recreational sector? Gut-hooked fish? Improperly released C&R fish? It's ridiculously impossible to compare the two...
Then there are the independent Comm. guys....no officer on board to keep watch, no one back at the dock to inspect their catch....they don't go to market, they have their back-pocket mom&pop fish-markets ready and willing to save a buck by disregarding the laws....again, it's when money gets involved that things go amok.
Before I start making Comm. enemies, ....let me just add that I'm sure there are more honest comm. guys then dishonest....and yes, there are plenty of dishonest Rec. fishermen as well....but the scale is still incomparable. I still consider a non-commercially-Licensed fisherman selling to a back-door shop, a comm. guy....if you're profiting financially from fish, your a comm. guy...regardless of license or not....so a true dishonest Rec. guy is basically a guy keeping shorts or more than the bag-limit allows, again incomparable...IMO
So when you tree-huggin', farm-raised fish eating fishermen belittle the guy who keeps his legal limit each time out or whenever he chooses, you're not doing any of us any good. We'll never be on the same team if we continue to fight withiin our own kitchens. Our voices will never be truly united if we don't understand each other. I think those of us who keep and eat local fish understand the C&R guys....the only bad thing I think you're doing is picking on us because you think if we keep our legal limit, we're killing the stocks...
I know I'm an Ahole, but I respect our fishery...I practice C&R, I don't cull fish, I cut lines when/if I feel I can't remove my hooks in a timely manner or in such a way that would further hurt the fish, I don't field-goal-kick my C&R's back in, I always take whatever care and time it takes to do my best in setting them free...I've missed plenty of blitzing fish because of this...but I'm ok with that...and NO, I don't need to explain myself to any of you, but before you guys start with your "Fish-Kill" bull#^&#^&#^&#^&, think before you start typing...stop being a bully behind a keyboard trying to make us feel like we're doing something wrong....instead, come out into the real arena and tell me I shouldn't take a fish home to eat, see where that gets you.
...Now let's toss in medicine/health as a way to sway people on why we shouldn't keep fish...really?
So I should release a hard fought 30# bass, which may not make it...in hopes of catching an easily caught 30" bass because it's less harmful for me? What should I be more concerned for at that point? The health of the 30# bass or my own? Or should we take a poll to see what the consensus is?
I comfortably fish with the understanding that I'm going to hurt fish, I'm going to kill fish, I'm going to eat fish. It's all part of WHY I fish.
**Apologies to Toby as I know this isn't the direction that he had hoped for in starting this thread...