http://www.floridasportsman.com/confron/
Overfishing No--Fishing Yes
Those few words could send our battle cry.
We must shout that simple message loud and clear, or we'll
face massive recreational fishing bans.
The shutdowns are proposed by well-meaning but collectively
cowardly folks spraying millions of dollars all through society in the silkiest
of public relations campaigns. They can't muster the fortitude to stand up to
longstanding large-volume commercial overfishing. So their simplistic answer is
to lock out everyone.
Blitz it is. We're getting hammered.
In the latest round of hoopla for Marine Protected Areas,
fisheries managers are actually mulling proposals that would close many of our
most treasured fishing grounds, as detailed by Editor Jeff Weakley in this
issue's On the Conservation Front.
It's fisheries management at its worst.
There's absolutely no justification to ban family-level
fishing in large areas of the ocean.
Non-commercial hook-and-line fishing under carefully imposed
limits never depletes a population.
That's why personal angling is fostered in places like the
Everglades and Yellowstone, places which, amazingly, are cited by the No-Fishing
gang as examples purportedly supporting the sweeping prohibitions against
everyone.
Sadly, the general media tends to fall for the No-Fishing
sham because of a sweet environmental coating that mixes all fish catches
together with an extinction-threat flavoring.
Still, let's be clear about our position. No one has fought
overfishing harder than we have over the years. Most federal management was
nothing but a cheerleading section for commercial excesses, and so we've said
many times.
On the recreational side, we've favored stricter size and bag
limits whenever appropriate. Changes are made continually. It's working.
Moreover, some federal laws actually have and are making a
big difference, including a new ban on most longlining slaughters.
It's important to realize that many improvements were made
under standard management systems after the draconian No-Fishing idea was first
suggested, and rejected, in the mid 80s. It was a bad idea then. It is even
worse now.
Some veteran biologists and managers privately agree that the
MPAs are nonsense, for a combination of reasons. They cite a lack of good
research and poorly conceived boundaries that do not cover a marine animal's
life history movements and thus leave them prey to overfishing outside the
limited walls. There are also many gross exaggerations and phony claims that go
unchallenged.
But most opponents of the zones have been cowed into silence.
So, comrades, it's your job again. Just when you thought you
had earned a furlough, you're needed at the front.
Sound that battle cry. They will hear you.
--Karl Wickstrom
We hear you KARL. Loud and clear.