These days, as more and more anglers become conservation oriented, catch-and-release and tag-and-release are becoming part and parcel of fishing all over the world. We are hearing about a “Catch and Release” (CnR) fishing more and more frequently lately. This word combination is met almost on every page in the prints devoted to a fishing subject (funny…ehh). It was in a magazine, exceptionally advertising publication, illustrated richly with the pictures of anglers with the caught fish, and here you come across the precious formula of the CnR fishing.
The catch and release fishing is an essential sign of the good form, it's a synonym of the "civilized" fishing, an ideal which all of us should strive for as hard as we can. Everybody already catches fish this way in some countries while some other countries still are far away from the catch and release fishing.
But is the CnR fishing as good as it may seem at first? It may be difficult to demand from fishermen enormous majority to release the caught fish. They eat or sell it and it is almost their only source of income and for many people it is the only source of protein food. But when the population of human beings increased, the so called fishermen or anglers also became greedy by catching fish without thinking about what will happen in the near future – over fishing.
Let us look at fishing as it existed when the rivers and lakes were clean and full of fish. Fishing came then to a simple and clear formula, "catch - feed yourself and your family - live". That was one of those numberless threads which connected our ancestors to the nature, and due to which they felt themselves part of this nature.
People always aimed to make the world comfortable for life. We walk on asphalt, not on land; we do not distinguish stars behind the city lights in the night sky. We change our world more and more, making it unrecognizable. We don't understand it any more, don't feel it. We don't love it. Our countless ecological problems are founded on this detachment. Fishing is one of those not many threads remained whole, which still binds us to the nature, returns us that world lost a long time ago. A man recalls through fishing that he is the part of the nature.
What CnR fishing introduces to all of this? Fishing is a cruel thing, but deeply natural. Fishing turns into one more amusement among many other amusements and with CnR fishing, this amusement is not less cruel. CnR fishing changes all the scenery.
Ask any fisherman or anglers, and he'll tell you that there's nothing quite like the tug of a fish on the end of the line. Once you land your catch, there's a decision to make -- keep it or release it. Fish populations are at risk though, according to some studies and it's an important part of ensuring that fish thrive in the future. There are so many things to discuss when it comes to CnR fishing.
For all seasoned anglers, ask ourselves whether should we always catch and release? For me, it is not necessarily. It's acceptable to fish for our dinner as long as we abide by the limits. Limits are generally self imposed on the size of the fish and the total number of fish we will take from a body of water. If we fish within these limits necessarily, then we aren't doing anything to decimate the fish population. Low income families in some parts of the world still depend on rivers and lakes to provide a portion of their food.
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