Posted by Jon Davies on March 31, 2000 at 22:42:43:
In Reply to: To take is not a right, it is a privilege. posted by Jusfer on March 30, 2000 at 09:43:10:
Evidently, not enough hunters have the self-restraint to regulate their hunting activities depending on cirmstances.
How many hunters return to a dive site and say to themselves "Gee, there aren't as many scallops/sheephead/lobster etc. here as there were last year -- maybe I should take less than I am able to or none at all"? Not enough, I guess.
Sooner or later all the legal-sized game species will be taken from the oil rigs, just as has happened at every other popular dive site in Southern California. The growing fish will be taken as they near or exceed the legal limit. Divers new to these fantastic sites will never experience the abundance and variety of life that I saw when I first dived the rigs three or four years ago. Similarly, I can only imagine how California waters teemed with big fish 20, 30 or 40 years ago.
The bottom line is that the hunter's and fisherman's right or privilege to take game directly detracts from the enjoyment of all other divers. Argue all you want but any way you fillet it, that's an inescapable fact.
Support SB 241.
Jon Davies