I had a recent experience at Seal Beach pier that made me think about how fish are treated by fisherman, with different cultural backgrounds.
Scenario - I arrived early in the morning at pier. Two fisherman, a man and his teenage son, were already fishing and had caught 11 Thornback Rays. The fish were thrown on the pier deck in a large semi circle around the fisherman. This sight admittedly annoyed me. There was an active Thornback bite and as I looked at this carnage, the fisherman were each reeling in more Thornbacks and dumping them on the pier deck.
They didn't know what the fish were but, they planned on eating them. Long story short, after we "discussed" the identity of the fish( I used the PFIC website) and my encouragement to return the fish to the ocean. They threw all the Thornbacks back and left. (That was not my intention and I did feel bad that they chose to leave.)
As they were leaving I noticed they had caught a Leopard shark pup. It was about 9 inches long and kept in a plastic gallon bag filled with sea water. I identified the shark for them via the PFIC website and pulled out my measuring tape to the 36 inch mark. Through "discussion" I convinced them to release the shark. They did and left the pier.
These fisherman had one fishing pole each, some bait, and pliers. No bucket or container to store anything they caught, no apparent extra fishing tackle, etc. In summary, my humble opinion, they were not very experienced and or knowledgeable about CA pier fishing. But, they had rudimentary skills to catch something.
The entire experience has stayed with me until I decided to write about it. So many questions in my mind.
Should I have intervened? Should I have told them to return the fish? Should I have commented to them how they were treating the fish? Should I have imposed my personal belief not to eat this particular fish? What will I do the next time I see something like this? Does the 20 fin fish limit apply to Thornback Rays?
At the pier I wondered if there were existing laws about treatment of fish by fisherman. I don't believe there is.
In reality, they were entitled to keep the Thornback Rays they caught. I am very comfortable with my intervention of the undersized Leopard shark.
So does all this boil down to cultural differences and accepting the fact that California piers are literally melting pots for fisherman of different cultures. And we, as "native" fisherman, must learn to: 1) Accept different perspectives on treatment of legally caught fish. 2) Do our best to educate all fisherman about rules and regulations regarding CA laws and hope for compliance. 3) Accept that fish we deem inappropriate to eat and normally return to the sea. May infact be quite edible and tasty when prepared a certain way.
In hind sight, I could have handled the situation differently. I hope the men return to fish again and bring with them some type of container to store any fish that can be legally kept.
This old pier rat definitely still learning something at each pier fishing opportunity.
Good luck everyone and continued positive pier experiences.
Scenario - I arrived early in the morning at pier. Two fisherman, a man and his teenage son, were already fishing and had caught 11 Thornback Rays. The fish were thrown on the pier deck in a large semi circle around the fisherman. This sight admittedly annoyed me. There was an active Thornback bite and as I looked at this carnage, the fisherman were each reeling in more Thornbacks and dumping them on the pier deck.
They didn't know what the fish were but, they planned on eating them. Long story short, after we "discussed" the identity of the fish( I used the PFIC website) and my encouragement to return the fish to the ocean. They threw all the Thornbacks back and left. (That was not my intention and I did feel bad that they chose to leave.)
As they were leaving I noticed they had caught a Leopard shark pup. It was about 9 inches long and kept in a plastic gallon bag filled with sea water. I identified the shark for them via the PFIC website and pulled out my measuring tape to the 36 inch mark. Through "discussion" I convinced them to release the shark. They did and left the pier.
These fisherman had one fishing pole each, some bait, and pliers. No bucket or container to store anything they caught, no apparent extra fishing tackle, etc. In summary, my humble opinion, they were not very experienced and or knowledgeable about CA pier fishing. But, they had rudimentary skills to catch something.
The entire experience has stayed with me until I decided to write about it. So many questions in my mind.
Should I have intervened? Should I have told them to return the fish? Should I have commented to them how they were treating the fish? Should I have imposed my personal belief not to eat this particular fish? What will I do the next time I see something like this? Does the 20 fin fish limit apply to Thornback Rays?
At the pier I wondered if there were existing laws about treatment of fish by fisherman. I don't believe there is.
In reality, they were entitled to keep the Thornback Rays they caught. I am very comfortable with my intervention of the undersized Leopard shark.
So does all this boil down to cultural differences and accepting the fact that California piers are literally melting pots for fisherman of different cultures. And we, as "native" fisherman, must learn to: 1) Accept different perspectives on treatment of legally caught fish. 2) Do our best to educate all fisherman about rules and regulations regarding CA laws and hope for compliance. 3) Accept that fish we deem inappropriate to eat and normally return to the sea. May infact be quite edible and tasty when prepared a certain way.
In hind sight, I could have handled the situation differently. I hope the men return to fish again and bring with them some type of container to store any fish that can be legally kept.
This old pier rat definitely still learning something at each pier fishing opportunity.
Good luck everyone and continued positive pier experiences.
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