Editor,
Most days I hit the beach early in the morning, sometimes before dawn, then go home and get ready for the office. Often I see the same man working the shoreline in waders, casting for fish. Good equipment. Looks like he knows what he’s doing.
I’ve never seen him catch a fish, but even if he does, I fail to see how he is negatively affecting our ocean fish population, much less our environment. And think about this: in Fort Meyers Beach, Fla., Thomas Edison’s house sits on the back bay, and extending into it from his back yard is a 100-foot pier at the end of which is a single wooden bench. The genius often sat there fishing, and you know what? He never baited his hook!
There is more to fishing than throwing dynamite in the lake. Anybody read “Trout Fishing In America”? It is a pointy headed idea to restrict the use of our ocean for sport fishermen and women (yes, Virginia, women do fish too), proffering that a year of father and daughter Sunday surf fishing depletes the fish population more than the daily diet of the sea lions on Seal Rock. Bird Rock?
Sometimes a politician’s views are better evaluated by how they think, not just how they stand on taxes.
Bill Anderson, Laguna Beach
