Thanks Dobrolub. You clearly get it.
People here seem to forget that we anglers are just a tiny minority of the population (less than 1%), and that in the big scheme of things our opinions and wishes mean little more than nothing.
Most people today feel that catching and releasing fish is a barbaric practice where a human being (the angler) unnecessarily tortures an animal for his or her pleasure. While this sounds outrageous to most of us, it reflects the feelings and opinions of all but the smallest fraction of the population.
Animal rights activists worldwide are all over this, and as much as we may look at PETA et alles with disgust and disdain, they are gaining traction worldwide. I can foresee the day when catching and releasing becomes illegal everywhere, except in carefully managed (and expensive) private fisheries. It's happening already. In Switzerland and Germany catch and release has been legally banned for a few years now. You can only fish if you kill your catch. Releasing a fish back into the water after playing it will bring you a stiff fine if you are caught. A number of other European countries are considering following suit.
In today's world, the only thing that gives our sport some legitimacy is when we fish for FOOD. And while many among our very own ardent C&R practitioners laugh us off by saying that we can go and get the fish much cheaper in any supermarket, many anglers (myself included) shudder at the idea of buying farmed or commercially caught fish. I like to know where my fish comes from and how it was handled. With the fish I catch and kill, I do know. With supermarket fish...not so much. I am also slowly but surely getting back into hunting for the very same reason.
In the event that some myopic lawmakers end up heeding burbot's advice, in a few years we will witness the closing of hatcheries because catching and releasing only would make them pretty much redundant. With the demise of the hatcheries, conservation management will lose traction. Emboldened animal activists will start staging protests on the rivers and prevent us from torturing animals for our pleasure. Rampant poaching will follow. Eventually, sport fishing will be banned altogether as an unnecessary and inhumane practice. Not long after that, poachers will kill the last of the wild fish that manage to escape the commercial nets and long lines and we will only be able to catch fish in computer games and eat commercially farmed fish (shudder).
I have no problem catching and releasing the fish I cannot legally retain (or is not suitable tablefare)
while I am trying to catch those that I can kill and eat. But I have stopped partaking in fisheries where I do not have a chance of catching a fish I can harvest (i.e. sturgeon fishing, trophy trout on C&R only lakes, Thompson steelhead, etc).
As long as I can continue to spend my down time on securing some natural and 100% organic protein for myself and my loved ones, I will continue practicing this controversial, yet beautiful blood sport. But if the C&R only crowd has it their way, I will reluctantly look elsewhere to invest my most precious asset.
Tight lines and many chrome smiles.
Milo
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Topic: 2015/16 Chilliwack River steelhead fishery information & water condition updates (Read 343792 times)