Year after year I observe how the bottoms where I have been fishing since I was a child are becoming more and more impoverished and faster and faster. Where I used to fish with my father and we made barbecues with the family, now I only see ...
Year after year I observe how the bottoms where I fish since I was a child
are becoming more and more impoverished and faster and faster. Where I used to fish with my father and we made barbecues with the family, now I only see deserts of whitish rock devoid of all life other than the famous sea urchins and black fulas.
The overexploitation of the scarce fishing resources of our archipelago, by professional fishermen, who eager to improve their economy, do not hesitate to use any prohibited hollow art, do not realize that they are ending the few fish that exist on the marine platform.
Anyone who wants to improve their economy will look for the possibility of adding extra hours to their work schedule, or try a second job. However, they, the "professional" fishermen multiply their profits by fishing more, achieving the effect to
medium and short term of depleting the funds for all life". It is the famous phrase of "bread for today and hunger for tomorrow".
Tomorrow is already here, and it is here in the form of uninhabited bottoms, of huge deserted white patches. When you comment with someone or simply see the news,
it is very clear who is to blame for the lack of marine life, but it is these same culprits who, in an effort to distract public opinion and divert to themselves the countless subsidies that the government itself grants them to continue fishing, with, more and better boats and capture detection and tracking systems, do not hesitate to blame the group of recreational fishermen for the lack of fish in our waters.
The decrease in fishing resources in relation to other years is 60% less, taking as a benchmark the fishing that existed only 15 years ago. How can a group of sportsmen be accused of making the Canarian sea and its bottoms almost a desert of life?
The underwater fisherman who practices his sport in any of the islands of the archipelago, at most and in a few well-prepared individuals, can only fish up to about 30 meters deep, as long as there is a marine platform that is formed by rocks. Thus, in a sandy bottom this sport is completely impractical, or at least very boring, we must also put the conditions of the sea and the climate, which on many occasions throws to the ground the illusions of going out to practice this sport.
It must also be taken into account that underwater fishing can not be practiced at an advanced age, as the good physical preparation of the athlete is essential, a circumstance that is irretrievably lost with the passage of years. Also
we will add to these impediments, the areas in which underwater fishing is allowed, areas these, mostly, of a very low level of marine life, or with sandy areas in almost its entire extension the prohibition to capture more than five kilos of fish per fisherman and day, the fact that the athlete only acts in the sea on the days that his work, family and other obligations allow it.
Adding all these obstacles and difficulties that must be overcome to practice a few hours of this sport, it is clear that it is completely impossible even wanting to, to be the
culprits of the lack of fish on the coasts of the Canary Archipelago.
But, despite all this, it is the group of professional fishermen, led from their respective Guilds, or Cooperatives, who day after day strive to blame us for the lack of fish and say that "sportsmen take away the bread from their family".
And I say to them from these lines, that we are the citizens and sportsmen, who with our taxes pay their subsidies, their facilities and even pay at a gold price their catches in the markets. That we are not the underwater fishermen who end the fish that are beyond 30 meters deep, and we do not end the sardines, or the longorones, or the brecas, or with an endless number of species that do not form or were part of the catches of any fisherman.
Not even adding to the list the fishermen who "illegally" practice this sport, could be compared or reach the level of catches and the maritime area that are able to damage the so-called professional fishermen.
Also against the sportsman is the circumstance of turning years, since this circumstance does not occur in professional fishing, where fishermen go to sea even retired, with the argument that "it is what they have done throughout their
life", keeping arts and equipment active and contributing to the lack of fishing throughout the coast. Is it that I only see retirees continue to work with their 3rd list boats?
I could continue to list a long list of actions and elements that make it clear that it is not the group of recreational fishermen of any kind, who end the marine life of the Canary Islands, and much less the responsible underwater fishermen, who practice one of the most selective fishing known. In this sport, first you look, you select and then with good luck and preparation you capture the piece. This will never be small, because it lacks any merit for the underwater fisherman to capture a fish that by its size or difficulty to capture does not give you the greatest satisfaction for which many of us practice this wonderful sport.
