In response Jace Abernathy’s April 12 letter, “Release the restrictive fishing laws,” in which he laments “the catch-and-release laws that are invading the world of fishing, torturing fishermen who are no longer allowed to keep fish,” I must disagree. I don’t feel that a relaxing day on the water is somehow lessened if I’m not allowed to kill something.
History is replete with examples of healthy fish populations being nearly wiped out by sports fishermen. In too many habitats, fish are getting to be too rare to justify killing them.
Catch-and-release fishing need not be the general rule. Catch-and-release fishing is unnecessary, for example, in lakes stocked with large numbers of hatchery fish. But in waters that contain species sensitive to overfishing, if every fisherman killed just one fish every time he went, the population would be wiped out in no time. Abernathy says he doesn’t “see the point of catch-and-release laws because it won’t stop some people from keeping the fish anyhow.” The same can be said of laws against murder. Are these laws pointless as well?
The renowned fly-fishing innovator Lee Wulff wrote, “Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once.” Truer words are rarely spoken.
