Posted by mike on August 19, 2002 at 17:00:58:
In Reply to: Re: i have a challenge for finfan posted by Finfan on August 19, 2002 at 11:29:43:
I'd argue that we all have a selfish interest in seeing that the local waters don't completely turn to s**t in our short lifetimes. The whole idea of CONSERVATION is based upon enlightened self-interest...we CONSERVE so that we may keep on sticking fish and grabbing bugs..when we're 65 years old, retired and have gone through 30 wetsuits.
You know, we spend huge amounts of money to buy our kids the best educations, the best medical care, we make sure we don't get leftist, criminal hugger politicians that'll make the streets and alleys dangerous for our kids..what is the difference here? We are simply trying to ensure that spending time in the ocean is every bit as rewarding for our children and great grandchildren. That to my thinking is the ultimate in self-interest...not the base, unguided self-interest of a dumb animal but the enlightened, calculating self-interest of mankind.
The current way in which we are managing things is akin to the ghetto-dweller who pisses away his family's rent and grocery money on cheap liquor and gambling; some of us are pissing away the fish populations that are like ecological money in the bank for short-term profit- and i know that it ain't MY profit, nor is it likely the profit of Jim Hoffman, Ken Kurtis, or Tim Burke - all pillars of the local hard-core dive industry. The commercial guys, and it looks like in some cases, the recreational anglers as well appear to be at fault here, but blaming them isn't going to solve a goddamn thing, no mater how righteous our arguement. Every idiot with half an ounce of sense agrees that fish populations are declining and when it's no longer worth even buying the replacement bands for my Riffe or JBL (and it's getting there!), maybe, just maybe, it's time to clamp down with some MPLA closures. The lack of shootable fish off of PV (compared to San Mig or San Clem..hell, even the back side of Cat, let's say) keeps me out of the water there unless it's bug season. The lack of PRODUCTIVE hunting ground has already caused me to hang the gun on the wall and forgo buying bands this year (yeah right..watch me show up with a fresh set on bands next weekend on the GE ;). The MPLAs at this point could only help my interests (again, for the PV peninsula). This self-interested diver will gladly trade some now unrewarding turf for the promise of sustainable hunting in adjacent waters.