Apparently a study published August 26 in the U.S. journal Science ( a very respected publication) details how angling, in the U.S. anyway, is having a much more detrimental effect on fish populations than previously thought and in the case of some at-risk species the damage from sport fishing outweighs that done by commercial trawling.
In the U.S., says the study, anglers account for nearly a quarter of total catches of overfished species.
Recreational catches for "species of concern" made up 64 per cent of landings in the Gulf of Mexico and 38 per cent in the waters of the South Atlantic off the coasts of N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
I quote:
"Researcher Dr. Will Figuera, from Duke University in North Carolina, said "with over 10 million recreational sea anglers in the U.S. and angling activity growing as much as 20 per cent in the past 10 years, their aggregate impact is far from benign."
The report goes on to bemoan the spectacle of relatively inexperienced anglers being guided by skippers with state-of -the-art boats and GPS equipment, etc.
"Someone with no fishing ability can go out on a charter boat and bring in a remarkable catch - not because they know the environment, but because they rely on the professtional, expert knowledge of the captain and crew"
It certainly makes interesting reading, and says that catch and release may not even be the ideal answer because up to 20 per cent of fish released die.
The report is available on the Science website, but I think you have to subscribe or pay for it.
Last edited by rockyb23 on Sun Aug 29, 2004 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.