We all hear about the need for conservation of our natural resources all the time. Most of us on the Gulf Coast think of fishing regulations and recycling as conservation measures but there are other ways to help but they are just not as obvious. A green and perfectly trimmed lawn is one of the things most of us associate with home ownership.
Most of us think of energy as electricity from a plug or gasoline from our favorite station. These forms of energy run our tools, toys and keep our homes at a temperature that we like. For fish and all other living things energy takes the form of food or direct conversion of sunlight. These forms of energy come from only one place, directly or indirectly, and that is the sun. The oil and coal we use to make electricity and gasoline comes from plants that used the sun to grow and fermented for eon’s underground - kind of like an energy bank. We have been withdrawing from that energy bank pretty heavily for the last 100 years and it will be empty in another 50 years.
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If you’ve lived on the Gulf Coast for more than a few years you have seen both commercial and recreational fishing under go some significant changes. For various species and types of fishing there have been increases in length limits, decreases in number allowed, changes in gear types, area restrictions, seasonal closures, turtle and fish excluder devices and closed areas.
When we think of how mankind has used fish throughout history the first uses that come to mind are either as food or bait. But, there have been, and are, many other uses for fish and some may surprise you. The more mundane uses for items like fish bones have been money and sewing needles. Oyster shells had been used for knives and whole lobsters as fertilizer.
Given the current and continuing controversy over the future of gillnet fishing in Alabama it is time to remind the players involved that information, not opinion and money, are what should drive the making of fishing regulations. Read the rest of this entry »