You know, I rarely post how I feel about our sport fishing restrictions.
No one loves catching them more than I do. I mean it, you might like catching fish just as much as I do, but not more. That feeling.
But, call it brain washing, or uninformed, or ill informed, I can’t help but think that there’s really no downside to the population of salmon on this coast if we stop fishing for a while.
I like to think I’m a decent enough fisherman, but I’ve weeded through slot sizes and hatchery fish and knowingly fed salmon to seals, accidentally left hooks buried deep in lost fish, and accidentally harmed fish while trying to release them. I can’t deny my pressure on the resource even being as careful as I can, and I’ve seen a lot of it around me too.
Also, I can’t think of anyone else the government IS capable of reducing fishing opportunities to besides us.
The consequences of those measures are incredibly hard on the people who depend on sport fishing for a living, many of whom I love and admire. I have no answer for that.
I also don’t want to lose the right to fish for salmon forever, and would submit $500 as per the original post if that’s what everyone thought it would take to keep it. But, what if letting them be for now and concentrating on bringing them back is the thing to do instead? Hard as it is and as much as others could be doing more, if we did our part and applied zero pressure for a while, what would happen? Would it make a big difference? Maybe not.
Would it make a small difference? Maybe, and maybe that’s the threshold now and any difference is enough to make it worthwhile?
I doubt any of us want to tell our grandsons we caught the last ones, or at least I don’t.