Posted by Steve Clark on April 11, 2001 at 10:28:02:
In Reply to: It's Time To Be Responsible posted by Jim Hoffmann on April 11, 2001 at 08:53:41:
I agree completely with your feelings and comments. You are putting your money where your mouth is. I think that an additional step needs to be taken by the local dive community. We need to be more active in the establishing of marine reserves with a no take policy. Divers were not being represented at the Channel Islands meeting regarding the no take zone plans last month. We who feel that the local ocean is long overdue for a respite from hunting, fishing, and harvesting need to get out there and make our opinions known as we go underwater and see with our own eyes what is happening over time. I think Farnsworth Bank would be a good place to start. It's beautiful, attracts a lot of sea life, and over the years is getting more inundated with fishing nets (I saw a brand new one last week), monofilament line (I got my fins tangled up in a big spagetti mess of the stuff on the same dive), and discarded fishing lures. It would be nice if we could have some large areas where the life and habitat are as abundant and healthy as they were a couple of hundred years ago.