By Recycled Fish
Posted Wednesday, June 29, 2005
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"I just don’t get it," the old-timer said, shaking his head. He was leaning back on a tree trunk, his long fiberglass rod, yellowed with age, propped in a forked stick on the bank. He sat up straight, and announced, "Why, we used to take ‘em out of here by the bucketful!" He got up with some effort and made his way to the water’s edge, and tightened his lips as he lifted a stringer to show his one small fish, which gave a listless wave of the tail before being slung back into the water. The old man shook his head again, returned to his seat at the base of the broad oak tree, and picked up his rod. "Just don’t know what happened," he grumbled.
That’s a story that’s been played out in countless settings, a story uttered in similar fashion more and more often from innumerable lips over the past thirty years or so. Many anglers today look at past generations, and say, "If the anglers who’d come before us hadn’t ‘taken them out of here by the bucketful,’ there might still be fish to catch!"
Not that we mean any ill will for our fishing forefathers - a strong case is to be made that they didn’t know any better. But we do know now. And despite current fisheries management practices, fish populations and average fish size continue to decline in many bodies of water in the United States. Other factors - such as pollution and development - also impact fish populations. Now more than ever, and moving forward, it is imperative that anglers release their catch in order to maintain healthy fish populations.
However, catch and release alone won't fix the problems facing fish in many of our watersheds. There's a need for habitat improvement - and a change in the way that many of our waters are used - to see the fisheries come back.
So if catch and release is a foregone conclusion, then what can we do to go a step beyond? Here are some out-of-the-box things we can do, lifestyle choices we can make, that will indirectly benefit our resource.
- Do catch and release well. It’s not enough just to throw ‘em back. You want to be sure that your released fish will live after they swim away. There’s a lot to proper catch and release, but in a nutshell, keep the fish in the water as much as possible, handle it as little as possible, and know that single barbless hooks fished with artificial flies or lures have the least impact and the best chance for fish survival. For more on catch and release how-to’s, visit http://www.recycledfish.org/fish_handling_techniques.htm.
- Clean up after "the other guy." It doesn’t seem to matter if I am visiting an urban park pond or hiking into a mountain stream, I always seem to be able to find litter from "the other guy." On a trip to Florida, I snagged on something on the bottom of a canal and began to pull. Slowly, my hook began moving back toward me. After some effort, I managed to pull a large, snarled monofilament net - clogged with dead and decaying fish. The most heinous left-behind items are line (sometimes with hooks attached!) nets, plastic 6-pack holders, and plastic bags. However, all the trash diminished the outdoor experience while polluting the waters and decreasing habitat. I’ve gotten in the practice of carrying a garbage bag in my box, backpack or vest. It’s a sad testament that I’m almost always able to carry it out full, but I make an immediate, visible, positive impact on every spot I visit, which makes me feel great about what "just one person" is able to do. Imagine how quickly we will combat "the bad seeds" when we all start pitching in! Another fact - clean areas get less trash pollution than already polluted ones, so your legacy will continue after you do a little clean-up.
- Control your boat speed. The "run and gun" style of fishing has really caught on in the last 10 years. The idea is to spend as little time between spots as possible, and the most time fishing. It also means moving from one spot to another often rather than pounding one spot after it’s been quickly searched for fish. Unfortunately, it also means more wakes from fast boats, often very close to fragile shorelines. Deterioration of shorelines may not seem like a big deal, but shore structure is critical for the small critters that feed the big critters we’re after. A complex shoreline is much more effective in supporting life than one that has been washed away by heavy wave action. Cruise out of those small coves and bays slowly, and open up the throttle when you’re out on the main lake. This doesn’t eliminate impacts of wave action on shorelines, but it’s a start.
Off the Water: Even when you’re not fishing, there’s stuff you can do to help the fish.
- Wash your vehicle in car washes, or use biodegradable soap. When you wash your car in the driveway, the soapy water makes its way down storm drains and often into local streams without processing. The soap has a variety of negative effects, including creating oxygen stifling algae blooms and potential breeding impacts upon fish. When you wash in a car wash, the soap goes to wastewater treatment before being returned to the system, providing clean runoff. Biodegradable soap also helps solve the problem, and lets you save bucks by washing the car at home.
- Be conservative in water use. Do you take showers or baths? How long are your showers? How much do you water your lawn? Have any leaky faucets? Are energy efficient toilets, faucets, or shower heads a part of your home’s make-up? Fish need water to live, and in many parts of the country, increasing population in arid climates is creating tremendous strains on water resources. This has resulted in some water districts drying up once fish-bearing streams. It will take a total water conservation plan to meet the needs of irrigators, power generation, industrial and consumer water use, but in the near-term, it will take everyone doing their part to conserve. Who better to lead that charge than outdoors-people like us, who have a great reverence and attachment to the environment?
- Live a "green" lifestyle. It’s all a big cycle, and the gap between how we live our lives Monday through Friday and our experience on the waters every weekend isn’t as great as many might think. Emissions from vehicles impact acidity in rain that falls into our lakes and rivers. Agricultural runoff - chemical and organic - has negative impacts on aquatic habitat, so consider buying organic foods. Everything from oil changes and air filters to carpooling and fuel efficient cars plays into the mix of how we care for the environment we love.
Some of these steps may sound radical, and this list is far from complete! What else are you doing, or can you be doing, to improve your local fisheries? We’d love to hear from you and put a bullhorn on the good things that you’re doing. E-mail FishRecycler@RecycledFish.org and we’ll help get the word out. Indeed, many of these suggested changes could be tough, but it will take many people uniting upon a common goal for environmental protection to keep healthy fish populations in our lakes and rivers going and growing for years to come.
Article Courtesy of:
Teeg Stouffer
Executive Director
Recycled Fish
www.recycledfish.org
(253) 848-0905 (phone)
(253) 906-0420 (fax) E-mail this page Printer-friendly page
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