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Fish For Sale - An Environmental Viewpoint |
By:
Mick Thompson |
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There are times that I think that political correctness is destroying our country. I live in the state of Minnesota where political correctness has all but stripped people from the right of free speech. People are so afraid of getting sued that they no longer feel free to speak their mind. If your opinion is against or critical someone from another race you are called prejudice. Due to this there are some very unfair practices that are happening with our hunting and fishing regulations.
One of the larger bands of Native Americans has petitioned and won the right to net fish in many of the lakes in the state. This netting can take place outside of the regular season. The netting is supposed to allow them the freedom to follow in the foot steps of their elders and to uphold tradition. The netted fish are for the band member’s private consumption and are not to be sold. The netting is done with large fishing boats using modern equipment and nets. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of varying species of fish are taken usually during the heart of the spawning season. The number of fish taken can in no way be consumed by the individuals that are catching them. Through out the lakes areas you will hear about fish for sale by band members during the height of the netting season. Many of the band members will travel to the metro area with fish for sale.
Local fishermen have protested this practice and have given information to the department of natural resources regarding different individuals that have been known to have fish for sale. The officials at the department of natural resources report that they cannot do anything about this practice unless they witness it themselves. If they monitor the netting too closely they are accused of harassment. There have been incidents where large quantities of fish are dumped along road side ditches. These are fish that have died in the netting process, but are too large to be good eating. Everyone loses when these things happen. The sportsmen lose the thrill of catching the trophy size fish, the relationship between the Native Americans and other community members deteriorates and the fish population suffers because the largest fish are taken out of the breeding stock. This type of practice goes beyond someone wanting to make a little extra cash by having a few fish for sale. I do not believe that the elders would have approved of this wasting of natural resources.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article51386.html |
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