Posted by Steve Clark on July 16, 2001 at 22:19:24:
In Reply to: Re: To Individuals Interested in the Marine Life Protection Act: posted by robert on July 16, 2001 at 21:36:35:
I get angry at the thought of our marine ecosystems being further depleted and have a reaction that is something like "kill all the fishermen and the oceans will be OK again". Not exactly realistic but I get so riled up about the state of the oceans that I will condone anything that protects the ocean. As far as the boat operators who make a living off of this ecosystem, I feel it is not right to deplete the local oceans of huge amounts of squid, rockfisk, kelp, etc. so that they can make a living. As tough a thing as this is to say, I think that the financial health of the commercial fishing community is less of a priority than having a healthy, thriving ocean environment. When a resource is depleted you have to give it a break. I am in favor of no take zones being implemented for as long as it takes for the entire ecosystem to recover and rebalance to the point where there is enough food for all of the creatures in the food chain. Once the area has stabilized and rebounded, then I think we could open it up to limited intelligent commercial and recreational fishing.