Dear Editor,
I was in Daniel’s Harbour one night last summer. Actually I was a passenger on the good ship, Spiteful Lady. A fisherman on the wharf picked the hooks off his longline that lay tangled in a trawl tub. He complained of having to release enough halibut to pay expenses. They were plentiful, he said. It comes to mind as I listen to news of west coast fishermen occupying DFO offices in Corner Brook.
The salmon conservation group is adamant against any saltwater salmon fishery. What do they really know about salmon stocks, biology or conservation wise? Are they anxious to learn whereof they speak? Apparently not. It seems to me that the degree of ignorance is profound. I think of the fiasco of the world coming to an end on May 21.
A couple of years ago I wrote to Mr. Gerry Byrne, our MP, suggesting that it would be useful to monitor our capelin spawning to get an indication of capelin reproduction. The letter was forwarded to a capelin expert. Capelin expert? The reply I got stated that it was of no value to science to have knowledge of capelin spawning on the thousands of beaches where they have spawned for thousands of years!
All I can say is that I am baffled.
Respectfully,
Ray Elliott
St. Anthony
