How Commercial Fishing Changed Recreational Fishermen's Minds?

How Commercial Fishing Changed Recreational Fishermen's Minds?

Long-Line commercial fishing has many different effects on the recreational sport fisherman's mind and outlook. Commercial fishing is unethical in our day and age because they are overfishing the targeted species, killing species not targeted, and getting in the way of the sport fisherman who is doing this as a sport. Many sport fisherman fish for the adrenaline rush of getting that bite and seeing that rod bend, and most of these fisherman will catch, take a picture, and release fish the healthy. Many of the species that are hurt are key to the eco-system are turtles, marine mammals, seabirds, and sharks. Since, commercial fisherman have a quotas to fill they wipe out the population of species they target. A quota is how many they need to bring on board to cover the vessels expenses and still make profit for the trip and since the commercial fisherman are filling their quotas they are not letting the species repopulate." They had this problem in Alaska in the 90s they wiped out the Pacific Cod so bad that they still fully have not repopulated. "The big fish, the bill fish, the groupers, the big things will be gone. It is happening now. If things go unchecked, we'll have a sea full of little horrible things that nobody wants to eat. We might end up with a marine junkyard dominated by plankton." covered."(Alaska.gov)

"Many marine scientists agree that the conduct of the global fishing fleet is now the number one human activity threatening the health of our oceans. Throughout the ages, the world has enjoyed a vast and unlimited ocean, yielding abundant seafood. But increasing demand, new technologies, and burgeoning coastal populations are straining the limits of the ocean's ability to sustain healthy fish populations.( Empty Oceans, Empty Nets)

On an early summer morning the summer has three hours until it wakes up, the windows on the boat are all fogged up. Bubba sent me a text message the night before and said make sure you crank up the generator and warm up the engines. I turned the key and port side motor turned over and could smell the diesel fumes come out of the exhaust. The next starboard motor did exactly the same thing. The crew for the day came walking down the dock every got onto the Miss Edna Jane. Captain Brian gave me the okay "Joey take off the stern lines and then go up to the bow." He put the boat into the gear and we were off for a four hour journey to the canyon 90 miles offshore.

We got to the fishing grounds around 8:30 in the morning, we drop the outriggers down and we set all the lines to where they need to be. Outriggers are the poles that lay down at almost down to an 80 degree angle to make your lines go wider from the boat. Most offshore sport fisherman fish two flat lines off the stern of the boat and two long lines with teasers in between.