It’s that time of the year that the herring will start to congregate, laying their eggs to ensure survival.
I find that it is an amazing little fish. It is the keystone to a healthy ocean life and yet our species take more than our share.
We aren’t killing them to serve herring for dinner. We’re not what I would call big herring eaters in our society, but other species are and they need them.
It appears to me that we only need so much fish cat food each year and there is enough manure out there to fertilize our gardens without killing a keystone fish.
Our government departments that set the quotas each year have been known to be wrong, which in turn can wreak havoc with the populations.
Remember the cod?
But even if the number of herring is at an alltime high, then I have to ask: do we really have to kill more?
My point here is to stop and think about everything we are doing. Not just with the herring, but with all our natural resources.
What if we dropped the quota of herring by a small percentage per year to give that species a better chance to flourish?
What if we dropped the number of salmon taken per day? What if you dropped the numbers of cod, grizzlies, moose, clams, oysters, trees and anything else out there to a lower percentage each year? What if you left the seaweed alone?
Would it be so difficult? Everything is a finite resource. We are learning this with our water.
Our government thinks of all our resources as a cash grab.
They need to turn it around and think of the health of each “resource” before they can determine a harvest/season/slaughter.
We need to do this now. If we don’t, well,we can still go fishing or hunting but it will be in empty seas and wiped out animals. Not much fun in that.
Fish finders, automated logging equipment, scoped rifles, stripped beaches, new developments all make major destruction so easy. Too easy.
My father was a wise man who said: “If you need it take it but if you don’t, leave it for the next guy who does.”
Every one of us can lower our “wants” to learn to live with our “needs.” It’s called “a future.” I hope our government thinks about this stuff. I do.
Elaine Thompson
Parksville