Fishermen are an Endangered Species!

The sad fact is that the number of sport fishermen is on the decline. Data from the American Sportfishing Association, shows a 10 percent decline in the number of licensed fishermen between 1998 and 2002. Im sure there are many reasons including lack of interest by younger people, increased regulations, decimation of our fisheries by dams, pollution, and the other usual suspects, higher costs, and so on. Sport fishing is a dying sport. But I also believe that are more causes. How much trash do you find at the side of the river? How many times have you been sworn at by another fisherman on the water? How often have you seen inconsiderate and illegal activities while fishing? Whatever happened to the golden rule and respect for nature? Why have increased regulations crowded more fishermen into fewer fishing spots? Is this the wholesome environment you want to have your son or daughter experience as a sport?

Fishing Education. We all know that steelhead and salmon fishing is difficult to learn.The truth is most of the fish we chase are difficult to catch. Increasingly people have become less willing to share their fishing knowledge. I know there is more to fishing than just catching but to a newcomer, it’s important. If someone goes out several times and has no luck he/she may be apt to call it quits. I know Ive spent decades and still have plenty of days when Im skunked. Anything we can do to increase the "joy of fishing" -- usually associated with catching, will help keep our sport healthy. If a fisherman has more "luck" he will be more likely to stick with it and promote it to his/her kids and friends. We should remove the term zipperlip from our vocabulary or we too will be contributing to the demise of fishing. Finally, I think that everyone, even the most skilled angler, still has a few things he/she could learn from others.

Angler Apathy. Most fishing is still a solitary sport and seldom discussed outside of a small circle of like minded people. Further most of us have never participated in any effort to support our sport other than maybe sending in a few bucks to some organization, or participating in a cleanup day somewhere. The sad fact is, most of us default to the “I hope the other guy will do it…” strategy and don’t act on important matters.

The real danger in my mind is that fishing has traditionally been a solitary sport, and is not well organized. However those who oppose, or show benign neglect towards fishing certainly are. I’m willing to bet that PETA could put more people on the doorsteps of the capital than we could. I believe we are at very significant risk of becoming just another minority interest and soon we will see even less support for our sport.

What Can We Do? I wish there was a magic pill but … One ray of hope that is being practiced on Internet community bulletin boards like Qualityfishing.net, Anglernet.net, Piscatorialpursuits.com, Steelheader.net, and others is COMMUNICATION and EDUCATION. For the first time, we can economically reach a much greater audience thru the Internet. Through discussions just like these, we will raise the awareness level of all the important issues we face. It is important for each of us to continue these efforts to get the word out and hopefully at some point, as a result of this increased education/knowledge, more of us will be motivated to act.

Poorly Organized. While there are thousands of organizations attempting to support us with varying missions and goals, the sad fact is that our voice is not represented. With the possible exception of TU and the “bass-fishin” guys, most groups remain grass roots efforts, under-funded, and only supported by small groups of people. Organized efforts are fragmented, local, and for the most part, lack a viable voice.

While it hasnt happened yet, my hope is that at some point, someone will be able to get enough of the 1000’s of small conservation groups to coalesce to form a large enough voice to be recognized by the very people who are taking actions that negatively affect us. At that point, they will be forced to listen to us. Once again, I think the Internet could play a large role in this effort.

Get Involved. Until these things come about, I think it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to learn as much as we can, understand what the politicians are doing, speak out and become far more active than we have ever been in the past. We must support each other in our fishermen’s fraternity, and do what we can to bring new people into our sport. I firmly believe we are fighting for the very survival of our sport. Do some homework, ask friends for their input and make a commitment to join at least one group in the next year.

If we don’t all become ACTIVE supporters of our sport, we stand the risk of participating in its demise. We are well past the time when we can assume that someone else will look out for us. Please join a group, send money, clean up streams, help others, take someone new fishing, find a way to contribute to its growth.