To me fishing ethics debate doesn't do much to protect fish.
It's all about the oldest human trait of believing that everyone should do as they do.
Whether you floss them, use a shotgun to tear them to pieces, blow them up with dynamite, use rat poison to poison them,
the bottom line is this:
- We are all allowed to fish when we pay a license fee.
- We all have the same limits of the number of fish we are allowed to catch per day.
So a flosser may spend 1 hour to catch 2 fish because his technique is successful. Perhaps "unethical".
On the other hand a so called "ethical fisherman" will need to spend 5 hours to catch the 2 fish because his technique is less successful.
At the end of the day the tally is 4 fish by law for the 2 fisherman regardless of the method.
Time and method are irrelevant. 4 fish were plucked out of the water and they will not reproduce.
The DFO is outlawing certain methods of fishing because they believe it will help conserve fish.
But somehow fish stock are declining anyway.
Who cares if I use a bow and arrow or a spear to catch it.
Police should jail people for serious offences not slap them with tickets.
Who cares about a $200 fine, People will just make more money and budget $200 more a month for the fines.
The number of times they will catch the offenders is small, it will pay off in the end.
THE PROBLEM IS THERE ARE TOO MANY FISHERMEN AND TOO LITTLE FISH.
It's so easy to catch fish these days. So much knowledge going around, so many fishing guides, boats, fish finders and fish haven't learned space flight to be able to escape to the moon.
If you want to protect salmon, stop fishing it and do some research into how you can help raise enough fish to feed the demand while leaving the wild stock alone.
Obviously current fish farming is doing a lot of "collateral damage" but they are just trying to fill the demand.
They should find a better way to farm salmon and fishermen should be the first to help.
Animals that were domesticated for food during human evolution thrived better than those in the wild.
P.S.
(In no way do I promote the above mentioned methods of fishing or breaking the law and I have no affiliations to any fish related industry.
I am simply a concerned individual just as all of you are.)