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You'd have to know what it was like before the moratorium........then of course, DURING the moratorium.....to understand the impact of things. It's those who've lived through it and those who've heard or read about it that are most concerned right now.
I wouldn't doubt that a lot of the people that hit the canal this past week, wouldn't miss fishing if they never fished again or if a certain species went MIA for a few years...they wouldn't blink twice. Kind of like someone who goes with a friend to the shooting range, "yeah, that was a blast!!"....but then talk to them about gun rights, laws, etc...and you'll lose em' 5 minutes into the conversation. They're not guilty of anything, they didn't break any laws, they just don't have the same mind set. They simply enjoyed the "moment". One doesn't think futuristic-ally about something they don't truly love?
I'm not saying anything is right or wrong, I guess we just need to accept that it is....what it is.
There's a huge variable to consider when fishing the canal that I don't think many consider...catch and releases are like no where that I've ever fished before. So much energy is exhausted from the fish that a much longer release is most times required. Those that don't understand that, cause the most harm. It's a lot different than a fleet of boats sitting on top of a school off RP or Chatham. Those releases are less harmful in many ways...(not to say those releases are perfect, but they're definitely easier on the fish as a whole IMO,)...I'm not including any commercial factors to this, I'm strictly focused on the Rec. group with this post.
I'm also guilty of once thinking that... "it's a circle of life, if the fish doesn't recover, it will feed the ocean in many ways"....so I wasn't too concerned about a fish that might not make it,.... perhaps I've gotten smarter...or less dumb, but that's not the way it's supposed to work. We're unknowingly speeding up that process with the "deaths"....while not considering how long it takes for a fish to mature to that size again, adding back to the "life" of the species.
All that being said, I still wouldn't hang up my rod during a full out blitz, nor drive by one out of fear of hurting too many fish. I'd concentrate on my releases more, but my natural instinct would be to get that lure back out there. I'm not trying to sound hypocritical, but I can't lie about my actions either.
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