changing attitudes

[mems]

Aloha, I went fishing at one of my regular spots yesterday. When I went to go to my truck and head home, a local man was helping his son gear up. He asked me how I had done. I told him I had gotten a couple of small bonefish and a small jack. He asked me if I was going to eat them. I told him I had released them and he commented on how good the bonefish were to eat. I told him we should release all the bonefish here in Hawaii. I asked him if he had ever caught a large bonefish on light tackle? He said he had speared them, I told him it was not the same. If he had fought them on light tackle then he would respect the true value of the bonefish. I told him they were prized fish in Florida and each one caught brought in thousands of dollars in revenue to the state. He told me I was ridiculous, that he had netted hundreds of pounds of bonefish on Oahu and had sold them for profit. I told him that a guide would make the same money in one days guided trip and release the bonefish for the next client. He told me that would never happen here. I told him it already was happening, but for it to grow it would take a change in attitude. I told him good luck. I hope he didn't have fish cake last night for dinner. They take the bonefish and crush all the meat with a coke bottle, then make a slit in the tail and squeeze out the meat and make fish cake. It is OK to eat, but makes me sick to think about a dead bonefish. I just love catching those guys! Mems.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

In 'third world' countries near the equator they start eating Bonefish and Tarpon after they have depleted all the nicer fish like snappers and snook from around their town or village.

They use Bonefish for bait for trolling for Billfish too.

I heard they grind up Bonefish into a mush and smear it over other fish for special tropical dishes.

After a big hurricane (~10 years ago) in Honduras they were so hungry down there they were killing and eating everything. Birds and manatees as well.

When we were in Venezuela about 25 years back the very primitive natives at Rio Chico barely wore clothes. They would eat the Tarpon there too because they had fished out the Snook pretty well.

In Florida they don't normally eat Bonefish or Tarpon because they are not starving there.

A guide friend in Belize said that the locals will net out a school of bones in southern Belize where their numbers are not big anyway. He says they will net an entire school that live on a particular flat and it will take years for any to return to that place. Just gone in minutes?

Sadly, even if there are fish and game rules in third world countries, there is not budget/money for enforcement. In fact there is little budget left here in the USA?

In Ascension Bay below Cancun the local guides actually police the area very well them selves for poachers because they can make a good living there for many years if they have fish in the lagoon.

[Terry Thomas]

We were told that Hol Box used to have a pretty good population before they netted them out.

[FISHEYE]

When I was in Belize in March I asked about fishing bones in a couple of places I fished in 2001. I was told they were gone because they had been netted out. We did see a couple of smashed up fish traps and the guides said that when they see them, they destroy them. We also saw some guys netting whatever they could get and the guides said they would turn them in, but that nothing would be done.

[jhaquett]

The ocean's are in big trouble...whether its bonefish in shallow flats, billfish and tuna in pelagic waters, or cod in the arctic :(

The US and other solid, developed nations (UK, Japan, Australia) have an extensive knowledge of how serious the problem is and yet not much is done about it :x

How can we expect developing nations with not as much of a sense for conservation to do what we are not even doing? :-(

[mems]

Aloha, thanks for all the comments. I can understand people eating fish to survive. I can't understand netting an entire school and then wondering where all the fish went. We now have a gill net ban on Oahu, but even the day it went into effect I waded across one illegally set out net that was left out over night. The real problem here is enforcement. I try to educate all those I see actively breaking the rules. I even go as far to expalin the concept of poaching. It just bums me out that some of my good spots get whacked. I guess things go in cycles and then you just find a new good spot. We are blessed that we can fish for fun and not out of necessity. I just wish we would do more to protect and preserve our resources and respect the value of restricted harvest. It is a tough battle, and not just here in Hawaii. Thanks again for the comments and support, Mems.