Harry Krause wrote:
JimH wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
JimH wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
JimH wrote:

But thanks to the excessive catches by commercial fisherman on
Lake Erie
walleye and yellow perch may also soon face the same fate, this
time not to
pollution, although we are seeing new water quality problems on
the Lake
that we did not see in past decades.

Excessive catches by commercial fishermen are hurting sportfishing
almost everywhere along the US east, west, and gulf coasts, but I
had no idea it was a problem in the inland lakes, too.

A big part of the problem for us: the foreign fishing fleets with
their gargantuan ships that literally suck all the fish out of
certain sections of the ocean. Overfishing is a real problem, and I
have no idea what the answers might be.
Commercial fishing in the US waters of Lake Erie results in the
catch of 9.5 million pounds of yellow perch annually. Commercial
fishing for walleye in US waters is banned. There were a series of
indictments against commercial fishing companies for their under
reporting catches of yellow perch from 2001 to 2003 by over 100
million pounds.

Canada takes out 3.4 million pounds of yellow perch and 7 million
pounds of walleye annually from Lake Erie.

Commercial fishing in Lake Erie was the result of the blue pike
becoming extinct.

I'm not sure I understand why non-farm grown fish, which, in reality,
belong to all of us and none of us, should be harvested commercially.
Maine lobsters, for example, are mostly grown in holding pens these
days, although there are many lobstermen who still use individual
traps. But these rugged individuals are NOT hauling up tons and tons
of lobsters with every haul, and their catches are closely regulated.

There was 400 million pounds of fish taken by commercial fishermen out
of the port of Reedville, Virginia, second highest of all major US
coastal ports:

http://www.st.nmfs.gov/pls/webpls/MF..._YEARP.RESULTS

New Bedford, Massachusetts ranks number one for total dollar value of
the catch:

http://www.st.nmfs.gov/pls/webpls/MF..._YEARD.RESULTS

An interesting site:

http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/commercial/

\

But that's the whole point. Non-farmed fish is not a resource that
"belongs" to the commercial fishermen.

Who does it belong to, why does it belong to them and what is the basis
of their claim to ownership?

Your answer can open up a can of worms that will lay yourself open to a
charge of being a hypocrite, again.