World’s Fisheries

* I take exception to John Andrews’ April 18 letter, which questioned “why hunters as a group are so much smarter and more intelligent than fishermen as a group.”

I can understand people reacting in alarm to the prophecies of doom generated by the new “save the oceans” campaign unveiled worldwide by the eco-crisis industry. Yes, we have problems in some fisheries, but much of the information in print is very misleading.

Fish populations fluctuate greatly due to natural changes in the ocean. It is easy to declare one species “depleted” even as it is replaced by another, naturally. The return of the sardines off our coast coincides with a natural 40-year cycle. Sadly, we watch as the salmon fade in their turn. Protected seals and sea lions exacerbate the situation, but that is another story. Although the natural bloom and fade of the ocean’s inhabitants can be traumatic for the people involved, we have the capacity to adjust as long as bureaucracy is not so stringent that it stifles this process.

Fishermen around the globe participate in a variety of scientific management regimes. Southern California tuna fishermen helped start and continue to participate in the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission’s (IATTC) program for their traditional fishing grounds in the eastern Pacific. When was the IATTC established? 1949.

TERESA PLATT, Co-Director

Fisherman’s Coalition, Coronado