Dom, you said you enjoyed discussing this.... Now you sound as though you are getting angry...
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Your arguments are nothing more than sentimental and romantic in my educated opinion.
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You hit the nail on the head and I said as much in my first posts....
I think public sentiment will rule out on this one too.... Right / wrong, commercial interests and the public view.... They all play a role here. Money usually wins out and I think half the state is in some one's pocket. There you know where I stand..... I don't trust DEM to do what is best for all, I expect them to do what's best for the political contributors who are paying to put our elected officials in office.
BTW... I know turbidity and the upper bay is not just stained dirty in color. It stinks! Not a stink like the swamp in my back yard that is ripe with decaying vegetative matter. It smells like a cesspool. Too bad we don't have areal views of the bay in the 1700's.... I think there we would see clean.
The scientific proof that has been presented so far is filled with statements ending in "unlikely". It is a matter of interpretation.... What is unlikely still possesses a possibility. It is in that prose that I think we should err on the side of caution. There is a possibility.....
Pogies in the bait shops??? I could care less. I have not used one for bait in a dozen or more years. I fish eels (which certainly has its own issues) and lures. On the Cape, I rake sand lance.
Just to be sure you know where I stand... I'll state a few beliefs.
- The bay would be a better place with ARC not taking the menhaden Recreational
- fishing and the tourism it generates would be better with large schools of menhaden not harassed by this big operation. Schools
- of striped bass would be more likely to stay in the bay longer with a much bigger food supply of very protein rich menhaden. More
- stripers for a longer period would generate more recreational fishing revenue. Cleaner
- water? Potentially but not enough for us to notice... but any cleaner is a step in the right direction. Show
me scientific proof I am wrong on ALL accounts and maybe I would consider something less drastic. Maybe....
Mind you.... not scientific theory or hypothesis.... definitive proof....
My heart is certainly the defining consideration here and I will not argue that fact. I don't like the mass harvest of menhaden and therefor I am supporting the ban proposal... It's pretty simple....
We've raped the sea long enough. Time for aquaculture to step up... Just as we've done with commercial hunting of wild game, I would love to see the cease of commercial harvests of wild fish. At least to the extent of nets and fish traps.... Hook and line only.
ARC is a small operation and is of a minimal concern economically. Lobsterman and bait.... they survived to loss of the horseshoe crab and will weather this as well...
I'll go register to read the remainder of that article now.... I wonder what I'll uncover....
One note to leave you with concerning studies and the like....
Figures don't lie, but liars figure!
I don't trust one of the gov't studies...