Fishermen

* As an individual many years retired from hunting and fishing, I keep wondering from the daily news why hunters as a group are so much smarter and more intelligent than fisherman as a group. Hunters learned a 100 years ago when they reduced the plentiful beaver and buffalo almost to extinction and did kill off the last of our many billions of passenger pigeons that men just cannot go out and slaughter every wild thing in sight or reach with no thought of the future.

Over much of the world varieties of fish, once diet staples, have disappeared from the waters by as much as 90%. Fisherman still do not get the idea that fish as a resource is finite. Fishermen, the professional ones, have to go farther and work harder. Fish prices go up while boat owners cry the blues. Greed still dominates and seemingly will until all sources of fish, even the least desirable, are exhausted. The handwriting is on the wall for all to see, if they can only read.

JOHN D. ANDREWS

Palos Verdes Peninsula