STOMPer Fatt caught this man fishing illegally at Labrador Nature Reserve Beach yesterday morning (May 9).
He said:
"I was at Labrador Nature Reserve on Saturday morning.
"This man was happily fishing from the Nature Reserve Beach.
"We should do more enforcement at our Nature Reserves or else we will have not much left to reserve for our future generations.
"Our nature reserves need more protection and effective enforcement."
Do check out the video posted on STOMP.
As far as I know, fishing is permitted only from the jetty, so this angler is breaking the law.
Some people might argue that it's just one person with a makeshift fishing pole, and that the impact on marine life is minimal. One old man won't decimate the fish there.
Still, if we do not make an active effort to curb these illegal practices on our protected shores, what sort of message are we sending to the greedier and more unscrupulous people out there? Will we see even more people descending upon the shores of Labrador with driftnets and bubu traps?
Man laying fish traps off Berlayar Creek;
(Photo by Ria)
Time and time again, I've seen the ugly impacts of unregulated exploitation of marine life, from abandoned nets and fishing lines that entangle and kill creatures, to people decimating an entire shore with their baskets and trowels.
Dead horseshoe crab trapped in abandoned net;
(Photo by Ria)
While I believe that it is possible for some level of sustainable fishing and harvesting to occur in local waters, I really doubt that those in the fishing community will ever get their act together and be more pro-active and united in conserving fish populations.
To be honest, even though Labrador is gazetted as a nature reserve, it is far from healthy, as it has been affected to some degree by surrounding development, pollution, dumping and poaching. I'm sure the last thing it needs is more fishermen blatantly flouting the law and using their selective vision to ignore the No Fishing signs.
