Not enough fish in the sea

Re “Panel draws line in the sea,” Nov. 11

The article on the Marine Life Protection Area panel recommendations could have been more useful if it offered more facts and didn’t merely present this as a case of fishermen vs. eco-preservationists.

Many readers will be surprised to hear that the sportfishing community has been doing a lot to save the fishing populations and work with the system.

Fishermen do want this to work. We use the ocean and the waters this law controls. We voted for the law a few years back. But we now feel that we are being railroaded and not getting a fair hearing in the end.

Maybe The Times could include our perspective in a follow-up article.

Keith Lambert

Los Angeles

The writer is a member of the Marina Del Rey Anglers.

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The Times reports that representatives of the fishing industry, in opposing restrictions on fishing, predict job losses and business closures if restrictions are imposed. One fishing advocate was quoted as saying, “We are a dying breed.”

Don’t these people realize that unsustainable levels of fishing, not restrictions, are the reason their industry has been left in its current disastrous condition?

The kind of restrictions recommended by the state panel are the only hope for the survival of commercial and sport fishing in Southern California. Without restrictions, the industry will be dead in a few years.

Gerry Rankin

Glendale