We have enough green groups
attacking as at every turn, the last thing we need is anglers helping them,
recently a fishing Facebook page that has over 5000 like posted up this photo.
posted under this picture was this
“Now this is what i call OVERKILL..A husband and wife and young son,proudly showing off there 32 Snapper...”
This Photo was take some years ago there was 39 fish not 32, there was 4 people fishing not 3 and they were within their legal bag limit at the time when the photo was taken.
Now, we all have opinions, I personally don’t often take a full legal bag of fish home, but that’s my choice, and a choice that we are all entitled to make without the fear of having our photo in which we are clearly identified plastered on the internet, so fellow anglers can post rude vial messages, after they have been given false information about the picture, somewhere along the lines we have become so worried about how other groups that are attacking us perceive us, that we think we need to be ashamed of what we do, that’s bullshit, recreational fishing as long as everyone stays within their bag limit is sustainable, and there is nothing we should be ashamed about, it’s one of the most environmentally friendly ways to put food on the table, it has the lowest carbon and water footprint, and no other form of food in Australia has less impact on the environment. When fish spawn they spawn in very large numbers for a reason, the majority of them will not make it to spawning age, not because they will be caught by anglers, but they will either be eaten by other species or die due to environmental factors, in fact anglers take for a very small proportion of this large spawn.
There are many more important factors that dictate the health and numbers of not only the fish we target but all marine species, everything from weather to terrestrial development , it’s time we stop listening to the propaganda put out by these groups that want nothing else but to shut us down.
In this particular case I politely gave the group that runs this page a number of opportunities to correct the information under the picture, which they failed to do, and for my troubles my posts were removed and I got banned, as were a number of other people who also wanted to make the same point, while at the same time offensive language and abuse directed at this man and his son remained.
This is no way a group that makes an income from selling tackle to anglers should behave and this type of behaviour should not be tolerated.
We have legal bag limits for a reason, they are sustainable, not that its important but there might be a number of reasons these anglers chose to take home this many fish, frankly its none of our business why, they have done nothing wrong except not conform to certain anglers opinions, the same can be said of someone that takes home a legal sized, but large breeder or people that keep fishing and releasing fish, what about people that fish every week or every day and take a few fish home should they be restricted?. In Australia we have some of the best fishing practises, rules and regulations in the world, both recreationally and commercially, the size and bag limits are set for a reason they are sustainable, there are plenty of fish for everyone, go out and catch them and be proud at what you are doing.
If these people that unjustifiably attacked this family on this Facebook page, think that taking so many fish is unsustainable then we have consultation processes where they can voice your opinion when these bag limits are being reviewed, but I can guarantee you not one of them has ever attended one of these.
What has happened when anglers need to be ashamed for taking a legal bag limit of fish, when fellow anglers who have no idea about the facts jump down their throats so quickly, not to mention the abuse, what are the motives behind posting this picture with the false information and insinuating that they have broken the law, what are the motivations with allowing people to keep making the accusation that they have somehow broken the law, I can’t answer that, only the people that posted it can, but I can tell what this type of victimising anglers can do, and that is needlessly restrict us in doing what we do even further, as if we are not getting enough of that already from other groups with marine parks and everything else that’s going on.
We should not be so keen to place unnecessary further restriction on ourselves; others will do that soon enough!
Here is the link to the picture
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=476419145722149&set=a.170039963026737.37373.163566470340753&type=1&permPage=1
“Now this is what i call OVERKILL..A husband and wife and young son,proudly showing off there 32 Snapper...”
This Photo was take some years ago there was 39 fish not 32, there was 4 people fishing not 3 and they were within their legal bag limit at the time when the photo was taken.
Now, we all have opinions, I personally don’t often take a full legal bag of fish home, but that’s my choice, and a choice that we are all entitled to make without the fear of having our photo in which we are clearly identified plastered on the internet, so fellow anglers can post rude vial messages, after they have been given false information about the picture, somewhere along the lines we have become so worried about how other groups that are attacking us perceive us, that we think we need to be ashamed of what we do, that’s bullshit, recreational fishing as long as everyone stays within their bag limit is sustainable, and there is nothing we should be ashamed about, it’s one of the most environmentally friendly ways to put food on the table, it has the lowest carbon and water footprint, and no other form of food in Australia has less impact on the environment. When fish spawn they spawn in very large numbers for a reason, the majority of them will not make it to spawning age, not because they will be caught by anglers, but they will either be eaten by other species or die due to environmental factors, in fact anglers take for a very small proportion of this large spawn.
There are many more important factors that dictate the health and numbers of not only the fish we target but all marine species, everything from weather to terrestrial development , it’s time we stop listening to the propaganda put out by these groups that want nothing else but to shut us down.
In this particular case I politely gave the group that runs this page a number of opportunities to correct the information under the picture, which they failed to do, and for my troubles my posts were removed and I got banned, as were a number of other people who also wanted to make the same point, while at the same time offensive language and abuse directed at this man and his son remained.
This is no way a group that makes an income from selling tackle to anglers should behave and this type of behaviour should not be tolerated.
We have legal bag limits for a reason, they are sustainable, not that its important but there might be a number of reasons these anglers chose to take home this many fish, frankly its none of our business why, they have done nothing wrong except not conform to certain anglers opinions, the same can be said of someone that takes home a legal sized, but large breeder or people that keep fishing and releasing fish, what about people that fish every week or every day and take a few fish home should they be restricted?. In Australia we have some of the best fishing practises, rules and regulations in the world, both recreationally and commercially, the size and bag limits are set for a reason they are sustainable, there are plenty of fish for everyone, go out and catch them and be proud at what you are doing.
If these people that unjustifiably attacked this family on this Facebook page, think that taking so many fish is unsustainable then we have consultation processes where they can voice your opinion when these bag limits are being reviewed, but I can guarantee you not one of them has ever attended one of these.
What has happened when anglers need to be ashamed for taking a legal bag limit of fish, when fellow anglers who have no idea about the facts jump down their throats so quickly, not to mention the abuse, what are the motives behind posting this picture with the false information and insinuating that they have broken the law, what are the motivations with allowing people to keep making the accusation that they have somehow broken the law, I can’t answer that, only the people that posted it can, but I can tell what this type of victimising anglers can do, and that is needlessly restrict us in doing what we do even further, as if we are not getting enough of that already from other groups with marine parks and everything else that’s going on.
We should not be so keen to place unnecessary further restriction on ourselves; others will do that soon enough!
Here is the link to the picture
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=476419145722149&set=a.170039963026737.37373.163566470340753&type=1&permPage=1
When will anglers learn to start looking after them selves and spend the effort chasing down those who attack rec fishing rather than rec fishermen.
ReplyDeleteI have been following this post for the last few days and was appalled at firstly the post, but then even more by how it has been handled, why would a fishing site so aggressively attack these anglers.
ReplyDeleteI like your last line “We should not be so keen to place unnecessary further restriction on ourselves; others will do that soon enough!” that sums it up nicely!