Cermele: Drugs, Fish, & General Depression
Do you ever notice that for every fishery success story you hear, you can easily find ten more about pollution,...
pills
Do you ever notice that for every fishery success story you hear, you can easily find ten more about pollution, overfishing, strip-mining, and mercury that lead you to believe it won’t be long before there just isn’t anything to catch? Tim Romano at Fly Talk just blogged yesterday on the harsh effects salmon farming have on wild fish. In the news today, an EPA study found that fish in major rivers across the country have sizeable levels of prescription drugs and beauty products in their flesh and livers. Here’s the full story.
When I was still working at Salt Water Sportsman, we used to joke that by 2020, our headlines would read “10 Ways to Catch Stingrays,” or “Sea Robin Secrets,” because there wouldn’t be any gamefish left to catch. I’m not going to rant about the problems, because we all know they’re vast and diverse, but it’s depressing to say the least. And sadly, I don’t believe doing things like only buying wild salmon, or refusing to order bluefin sushi will make a difference. That’s because issues that are near and dear to our hearts don’t really mean much to the non-fishing masses.
I’m curious to know how much attention you pay to reports like these. Do you just keep fishing and take it day by day? Or are there some of you out there like me that are genuinely starting to believe that it’s possible for fishing to just collapse in the future? Sorry to be a downer today.
JC
