May 23, 2005
A GOOD WEEK FOR THE FISH
If you know me, you know that I'm totally opposed to catch-and-release fishing. I believe that we as human beings should have evolved to the point by now where we do not take pleasure from intentionally causing harm to another living creature purely for our own recreational entertainment. With that thought in mind, I'm please to share the following, which comes from Ret Talbot, a cherished friend and compatriot in the catch-with-the-intent-to-eat movement.
It was a good week for the fish--with the possible exception of the sturgeon in Canada, but that's another story all together. Usually the hapless victims of hooks and spears, trot lines and nets--even tickling and dynamite--the fish this week finally scored some points with a bevy of arrests, lawsuits and legislations in their favor. Here's a day-by-day sampling of their recent good fortune.
Monday
The week started on a positive note for the fish when a human-sized fish (actually it was a human in a fish costume) handed out free "Fish Flake" trading cards to middle school students in Phoenix, Arizona. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, "fish are friends, not food," and that was their message on Monday. In addition to the trading cards designed to "show the ugly side of eating fish," PETA members gave kids letters to take home to their parents. The letters informed parents and kids that "fish flesh is toxic" and "feeding kids fish and other sea animals is likely to harm their mental development." Sound like a fish tale? Just wait, because the PETA "Fish Empathy Project" is coming to a middle school near you soon. "Fish are intelligent, sensitive animals," say the media folks at PETA. "[They] experience fear and pain every bit as much as any dog or cat and that they are definitely not health food."
Tuesday
Then in Wisconsin, on Tuesday, the Attorney General announced her office was filing a lawsuit against a property owner and a business for violations of the state's water pollution control and hazardous substance spill remediation laws. The crime occurred last summer and resulted in the death of more than 7,000 brown trout that were suffocated when 215,000 gallons of liquid manure flooded their stream stripping the oxygen from the water. "The fish kill in this case was preventable," said the Attorney General. Unfortunately it will take eight years for the habitat to recover (three years if a proposed $13,000 fish restoration plan is implemented), and in the interim, the Department of Natural Resources estimates over $1 million will be lost due to lack of use by anglers and other members of the public. Be that as it might, if the lawsuit is successful and the defendants end up paying, well then all those browns didn't die in vain, as countless other lives will be saved when future polluters think twice before improperly managing their manure.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, the omnibus game and fish bill in the Minnesota State Senate passed 65-0 which, again, was good news for the fish--especially the state's resident walleye. More than 30 provisions are in the bill including the tightening of Walleye regulations in state waters. Under the new legislation, fishermen and fisherladies will only be permitted to posses one walleye greater than 20 inches in length. Period. So fisherfolk on multi-day fishing junkets will no longer be able to harvest a lunker walleye each day to bring home for cheesy walleye casserole, walleye and kraut sandwiches and walleye supreme to feed their friends and family and stock the freezer. Although the walleye are smiling gill-to-gill, terrestrial game don't fare as well under the new legislations, as it will now be that much easier for the little tykes and the visually impaired to get a kill. Not that I mean to be prejudicial, but I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't say that, in my humble opinion, twelve year olds don't need to be wielding high-powered weapons even within an arms length of a parent or guardian. Further, I don't care if they have a laser sight or not, totally blind people shouldn't go hunting, and nobody needs a scope on a muzzleloader.... but I digress.
Thursday
Then on Thursday, the San Diego City Attorney's Office filed misdemeanor criminal charges against two scuba divers and a boat operator involved in the April spearing of a 171-pound reproductive female sea bass that was, in the words of the perp, "threatening" him. The 34-year old man, who allegedly shot the docile fish in self-defense, has been charged with unlawfully killing a protected species inside the boundaries of the San Diego-La Jolla Ecological Reserve and two counts of misdemeanor conspiracy. When it's all said and done, he could spend three years in jail and owe $22,000 in fines according to the deputy city attorney Kathryn Lange. "She probably had 50 years of reproductive life left," said Lange of the estimated 12-15 year old fish, and while family and friends mourn her and her unborn young, the residents of San Diego-La Jolla Ecological Reserve must rest a little easier knowing that the City Attorney's Office has their back. In unrelated news, a scientist with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority on Thursday verified that the pygmy cormorants relocated from the Beit She'an Valley (where they were reeking havoc on the eighty fish per cubic meter fish farm ponds) had, in fact, stayed away. "It's important to manage nature," he said. "Otherwise everyone loses."
Friday
Finally, on Friday, the fish really knew someone was smiling on them when Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, announced he was having the worst year of his professional fishing career. "I've analyzed it and I thought about it," he told Tim Tucker, a senior writer for BASSMASTER Magazine and B.A.S.S. Times. "I don't have any conclusions. I'm not making good choices and I really don't know why." If the winner of eight BASS events--a man who has earned more than $1 million ripping lips--is not hooking-up and he doesn't know why...well that can only be good news for the fish. "My hopes were very high this year," Grigsby said. "I thought I would do well and have a good season." Although our sympathies go to Mr. Grigsby, who was unable to complete last season due to heart disease, you know the fish love to hear it when a fisherman of Grigsby's status says: "[I]t hurts you inside. You start questioning yourself."
And so wraps up a good week for the fish. "Right back at you," the fish say to Grigsby. "Do you know how much we have hurt inside every time you cleaned up at a tournament? Boating our brethren and weighing them like pieces of meat and all for your own glory and financial gain? We are intelligent and sensitive, and we do experience fear and pain just like Fido and Fluffy (although isn't "toxic" a bit harsh? Many of us eat a lot of fish too, you know)."
Now, on a sad note, about those sturgeon. Unfortunately, Canada's signing of the international Kyoto accord on the environment means that there is going to be a flurry of hydroelectric activity in central and western Canada, and there's little doubt that the already embattled and endangered sturgeon will suffer as their spawning routes are further disrupted and their habitat further degradated. "It's a bizarre turn of events that this species is now connected to Kyoto," said a Canadian zoologist. But, hey, that's Canada, and patriotic American Fish know that our President, a fish lover himself, wouldn't bring such an atrocity on his finned constituents. So, from us, the fish, we know you knew exactly what you were doing when you refused to sign Kyoto. Thank you Mr. President, from the bottom of our swim bladders.
Posted by Mikal at May 23, 2005 7:23 AM
| TrackBack
