Rick wrote:

Tracy wrote:

Your being intolerant in an elitest sort of way.
These people are causing you no harm. They are fishing. I see far
more people fishing than I see kayaking. I usually find them to be
very friendly and happy people. I have had interesting conversations
pertaining to the location of alligators, snakes, fish, birds and
other wildlife. We are in the outdoors together, lets not be kayak
snobs.


Tracy,

Yes and no. Fishing line is a serious hazard to wildlife. It is found
in the stomachs of, and around the necks of, sea mammals, fish, sea
turtles, and a host of other animals in the wild. Last time I was
paddling in Monterey, I saw an adolescent sea lion that was doomed to
death because monofiliment line was wrapped around its neck. The
animal was, otherwise, healthy, but the line had already cut through
the flesh as the animal grew. While I think that parts of the post
were questionable, fishing line needs to be retrieved, when possible,
and disposed of properly. Most often, it is not.

There are morons in every crowd. Some of them happen to be fisherman.
Everyone does something stupid at some time in their life including me
and probably you. I bought some fishing line the other day and found
that the package was labled specifically telling buyers not to unspool
line in the wild because of the things you are talking about. In fact,
the store that I bought the line from offers a service where they will
unspool and respool your line thus ensuring proper disposal. I remember
thinking it would be great if the line were recycled by the spool or
chopped into 12" segment by the unspooling machine. (I don't really
fish, I was buying the line and a sinker to launch into a tree so I
could use it to pull a rope to remove a dead and dangerous branch. I do
however reserve the right to change my mind and annoy Professional
Target by deciding to cast a line in the water. I will try to put on a
fake smile and bow while he passes to make him feel more comfortable.)

I have seen a few spools of line in the bayous. Since fishing line
lasts a very long time, I know that the vast majority must be disposed
of properly or I simply couldn't paddle since the bayous have been
heavily fished for a very long time. I agree that dumped line is a
problem for human swimmers as well as wildlife. I believe that
education will stop most people from dumping it. I know that education
will not stop a few from dumping line. The point is that we shouldn't
treat every fisherman as a criminal because some moron might happen to
be a fisherman.

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What happens when environmentalists become concerned that you may
disturb nesting birds? I actually heard an "environmentalist" state
that kayaks disturb birds because she saw a bird fly as a kayak
approached. She seemed to imply that disturbance equalled harm. I
told her how I spotted a bird at 100x through my C-5 get disturbed by
a gentle breeze and if she was in favor of banning wind. I never got
an answer.


Kayaking does disturb wildlife and may well cause harm. Humans, by
their very presence, pose a hazard to wildlife. The bird may well have
been protecting a nest and while fleeing from the paddler was unable
to protect the offspring from the snake climbing the grass. Most of
the damage we do in nature is accidental (or poorly considered). Your
example trivializes an important issue, which is that we do scare
animals when we paddle and it is best that we take care when we are in
animal habitat.

Oh bull****. Maybe the snake would have died if he hadn't eaten a cute
little baby bird. Don't breath, drink, eat, ****, ****, pass wind, pass
go, or collect $200. Just sit there, grow old and die. Don't get
cremated because that will pollute the air. Don't get buried because
that will disturb the earthworms. Just melt away like Fosty the
Snowman. Be carefull not to drown the fire ants.



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Your rights stop where my freedom begins. And Vice Versa.
I know its hard sometimes. I hate Jet Ski's and Cigarette boats.
They have their places, we have ours. Leave them alone. Besides,
one day I may try one out for a couple of hours.

Professional Target wrote:

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