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Old 01-01-2009, 09:28 AM   #1
Crafty Angler
Geezer Gone Wild
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Join Date: Nov 2001
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Quote:
Originally Posted by numbskull View Post
... Blaming housewives' detergent while you kill as many fish as you are allowed to keep or sell for your own benefit/profit may be accurate, but it is far from altruistic.

Let's face it, we make sport out of salt-water fishing, which is sort of a a patrician concept that was begun in earnest in the middle 1800's by very wealthy men for the sheer pleasure of it and we all spend a considerable amount of time, money and personal energy on that pursuit today.

If we wanted to truly preserve the fishery, we wouldn't put so much effort into dragging 'em around by the lips for our own enjoyment with the attendant risk of C&R mortality if C&R is your thing.

If the proposed saltwater fishing license ever does what it's supposed to do - which is get an accurate assessment of the rec catch rate - I think it will finally put to rest the notion that the recreational sector is completely blameless in stock declines.

This could be a long discussion and I've got other plans for the day, but sure, I realize there are plenty of flies in that particular ointment. Data already available would suggest just that there's plenty of blame to go around on a number of different fronts.

Numbie, none of us, regardless of what we do to put food on the table or keep a roof over our families head, does so without impact on the environment in one way or another.

Discussing altruism is a slippery slope.

"There is no royal road to this heavy surf-fishing. With all the appliances for comfort experience can suggest, there is a certain amount of hard work to be done and exposure to be bourne as a part of the price of success." From "Striped Bass," Scribner's Magazine, 1881.
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