Gill Nets: Rape of Environment

In response to Lynda Smith’s letter (June 3) criticizing the proposed gill-net ban as working a hardship on fishermen, it is precisely this type of mentality that will prevent us from taking any decisive steps toward preserving our environment and food supply until it is too late.

One reason gill nets are increasingly resorted to is the simple fact that it is becoming more difficult to catch commercially viable numbers of fish by any other method because the populations of these fish are seriously depleted. Commercial fishermen have a right to earn a living, but not at all costs to the public and the future of their own industry.

The most glaring problem with this type of fishing is the unacceptable slaughter it inflicts on untargeted species. These nets are stretched across spawning paths of fish that cannot be legally commercially harvested and that frequently make up the vast bulk of those fish killed in the nets. These fish are caught on their way to the local spawning grounds, along with every other form of sea life that crosses the huge area these nets occupy. Entire reproductive cycles of marine life are removed from the ecosystem and thrown back dead because they constitute “incidental” kill that must be culled out of the nets.

We have got to face the fact that we cannot continue to irresponsibly abuse this planet and expect everything to come out OK. Gill-netting is simply an unfair and extremely shortsighted rape of the marine environment. It is far too high a price to pay to keep a few hard-working people in business.

EDWARD SCHMITT

Dana Point