The last story that caught my eye before I decided I had seen enough news was a local story out of Newport Beach. The title read, "Huge fish dragged out of Newport surf", intrigued I clicked. The article is about a video taken by a guy who was at the beach and who swam out to help bring in the fish. He sent the video in to the Orange County Register, and explained what he did in a short commentary. Rob Cavanaugh of Anaheim stated (as quoted from the OC Register article)
“I was on shore skimming when a boat came close to shore with what looked like a seal caught in ropes, so I swam out to help. The guy who caught the fish was swimming out with me. I didn’t know it was a fish, or who the guy was swimming out with me …
“I don’t know how long the fish was. Nobody measured it. They were in a hurry to remove the hook and get it back into the water. (I’ll say it was 5 to 6 feet long, weighing more than a person). The guy who caught it said they brought it ashore because he didn’t want to snip the line from the end of the pier and leave 20 feet of steal leader to wrap around the fish.
“When they returned it back into the water I swam out with the guy who caught it to help revive the fish. We spent 20 to 30 min(utes) keeping it upright and trying to push it through the water to feed O2 thru the gills.”
In later comments he states the fish did not survive, and was covered in parasites, which is most likely why it was caught right off the pier, it had come in to die.
There were California Department of Fish and Game officials on scene, and local police who ruled that the fishermen did nothing wrong and did not fine them or cite them. I agree with this decision.
I watched the video, and aside from the whole posing to take pictures in the sand, I think they did what they could to help release the fish which is a protected species (listed as critically endangered). Maybe a picture taken in the surf would have been sufficient. Anyway, following the story was a cascade of comments, some insightful, some funny, others were educated and polite, but many were insulting, some even down right ignorant.
I was simply amazed, how such a insignificant thing could spark such an cascade of these types of comments. Especially when the video is seen with this point of view for reference as stated by a user who called himself "olsrfbum".
He said, "One fish caught legally, wildlife is being pouched(poached) every day all over the world. The response to this article, with the exception of few, is typical of people who really know very little about the preservation of wildlife. One dying black sea bass hooked off the pier will have no affect on the future outcome of wildlife on Our Planet."
So very well put. The following banter between him and another user in my opinion were the most well said and polite comments of the entire board, actually, I can't remember the last time I read comments and replies that were so polite in the midst of such a negative atmosphere.
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The article and video can be seen here...
