Posted by Marta on October 08, 1999 at 11:38:13:
In Reply to: Re: That's not the whole story... posted by kelphead on October 07, 1999 at 18:34:14:
In reply to kelphead:
Thanks for the lively debate. I couldn't agree with you more.
In reply to seahunt:
Gee, I just can't argue with logic like that. Literally. But I'll try. Kelphead did a wonderful job of with the otters, so let me give you another example....
When I was a kid in the '70's my parents used to have a beach house in southeast North Carolina. We used to get blue crab, shrimp, and clams right out of the sound behind the house all summer long. It was a wonderful experience. It taught me all about the little ecosystem behind our house and it gave me an incredible appreciation for how we're all connected to the land and water for our survival. I never grew up thinking everything just 'magically' came from the supermarket.
Well, I went back there about 10 years ago, and guess what - all over the place there were signs posted prohibiting the taking of any shellfish in the sound. The reason? Overpopulation of the surrounding areas caused fertilizer and sewage runoffs into the estuaries.The entire area is plagued by bacteria. And Hurricane Floyd just nailed the coffin shut last week. All the runoff from the flood waters - all the crap, dead animals, hog effluent, industrial sewage, etc... - has created a dead zone behind the outer banks that will NEVER recover. Now tell me - who's to blame for that? By your logic, perhaps we should blame the crabs for scavenging, or the clams for filtering polluted water, or the shrimp for breeding in brakish water.