That is such a good point and one many people don't seem to realize. I went
through the Fisheries Management program at Ohio State Univ. My 2 favorite
classes were ichthyology and ecology. There were certainly conflicts in
vision between true biology/ecology and fisheries management. The view of
the fisheries program was, well, management-- how humans could "improve"
things for fishing, recreation, etc. They kinda gave us facts, but not the
ethics and not the whole picture. The illuminating classes were ones that
taught things like ecosystem structure and species diversities and community
ecology, but most kids didn't care about them, much less grasp their
importance. In all fairness, the fisheries program was preparing kids for
employment by state fish and wildlife agencies. So what it means is that
these are a sizeable amount of people working for these agencies that have a
specific view (or agency directive) on what is needed.
> Confronting this kind of government response is a major challenge
> to a group like NANFA, because it superficially seems successful
> to most people who look at it.
And the article said the peacock bass fishery is an $8 million success!
That's how these fish and game agencies measure success unfortunately.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change
the world."
--Margaret Mead (1901-1978), American anthropologist
-- Jay Delong Olympia, WA
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------- /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes / Association" / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead. / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org