May 28, 2010
Friday

There is something very telling in Mr. Gossman's letters regarding the summer dungie fishery. Apparently he thinks that a crab cares WHICH user group harvests him. This simply is not the case. A crab is a fairly simple critter. He doesn't have the ability to look around at the boat deck he is on and say "sure am glad I got caught by this sport fisherman, or retired visitor, or whomever instead of", gasp!, "someone trying to make a living".

Ketchikan is a much busier place in the summer. We've got a lot of people trying to make a living in a fairly short time period. A lot of these people don't have the time or resources to go out and get their own crab. Some recognize the inherent inefficiencies of gassing up their boat and spending a couple hours crabbing when all they want is a crab to put in their scrambled eggs for Sunday brunch. How about the elderly who may physically have problems getting their crab? Apparently Mr. Gossman thinks these people should just do without. I think that these people deserve an opportunity to enjoy some crab. These people's access to the resource is through the commercial fleet. Now...if there are legitimate conservation issues, then by all means lets restrict crabbing -- for everyone. Restricting one user group while letting another carry on fishing while crowing about conservation is dishonest.

And for the record: I'm a dungie permit holder, but I pack salmon in the summer so it would benefit me personally to have a winter only crab fishery. It's just that I can't bring myself to advocate what is good for me personally and pretend like I am doing it "for the crabs". Good luck to everyone out there fishing!

Sincerely,

Chris Snyder
Ketchikan, AK

Received May 28, 2010 - Published May 28, 2010

Related Viewpoint:

Do Not Participate By Lloyd Gossman

Viewpoints - Opinion Letters:

Webmail Your Opinion Letter to the Editor

SitNews ©2010
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska