Hi Leo,
Thanks for the reply.
I can understand your frustration when listening to extreme green arguments.
the problem, as I see it, is that any extreme point of view is dangerous whether it be religious, green, anti-fishing or pro-fishing.
The best solution lies somewhere in the middle and it is difficult to achieve this because persons promoting extreme views are highly motivated and dedicated to their cause.
Those of us occuppying the middle ground just want to get on with it and go fishing.
I can see no benefit in getting involved in the blame game - i.e. trying to say that comm fishing is the largest cause of damage and rec fishing has minimal damage.
The reality is that for some species - the rec take is by far greater than the comm take.
In NSW this is the case for species like dusky flathead, mulloway and bream.
In contrast, the comm fishery takes the vast majority of species like sea mullet, orange roughy and many more.
Having said all of that I believe habitat degradation is probably the largest cause of declines in our fish stocks - some of this degradation occurs directly as a result of fishing practices
(comm and rec), but most is related to urbanisation and the fact that so many people live along the coast.
Please consider these comments and let me know your point of view.
regards
Black bandit