Thoughts on Conservation and Harvesting the Fish we Catch

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The amount of fishing that goes on in this world is unprecedented due to the aggressive increase in human population. A report by the World Wildlife Fund in 2015 found that nearly half the marine life was lost in the last 40 years. Our impact on the world's wildlife population is both depressing and urgent. We must radically change the way we conduct the business of harvesting fish recreationally. In my opinion, if an individual is not relying on fishing to put food on their table, one should not be harvesting fish from the ocean recreationally. We cannot rationalize our decisions. We can't say that one fish won't make a difference because that is the same exact thinking that got into this situation. What I can only hope from my fellow anglers is to reconsider if they really need to eat the fish they caught, or if they could release it back into the waters in which it belongs. Think of your refrigerator and pantry at home, does it have enough food for you to eat, or do you have enough income to buy food. Even if the conservation laws in place say we can keep the fish, the people making these laws have obviously not done the best job. So let's try to make the conscious decision and think before we kill our local waterways.

Tight lines and fish responsibly!

-Joe and Paul

Comments

  1. Rusty SpoonsJanuary 1, 2018 at 7:49 PM

    Incredibly insightful article from our Senior Correspondent on Conservation - Joe!

    ReplyDelete

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