All Kinds of Fishos, the good, the bad & the slimy

Back in the old MFN (Malaysian Fishing Forum), there were frequent heated debates & arguments about ethical angling. There was several school of thought. What is ethical, what is sustainable, who is wrong, who is right & then there was PETA & the Malaysian DOF (Department of Fisheries). Let's go through them one at a time.

These are just my opinion & may not reflect accurately the general sentiments of the Malaysian angling community. Just read it for the fun of it as much as I had writing it.

Catch and Release

The forerunners of ethical fishing were the CnR (Catch and Release) champions, mostly the new age, modern looking lure casters. They would claim to release 100% of the fishes they catch & they do it very professionally. These guys would frequently work in close cooperation to inculcate CnR mentality into the forum. Their closest ally would be the FlyFishing anglers as the two styles is similar in concept but different in techniques. Together, they actually raised the level of ethical fishing in Malaysia by a small percentage. Many younger generation anglers actually evolved to casting techniques with lures, artificial baits & releasing fishes, generally who cares for the environment & fishes. They would generally avoid other forms of fishing, such as coarse & bottom fishing as they view this as a lower class of angling & actually pollute waters with their baits & berleying tactics. Some of them actually don't eat fishes at all. Lately there has been some false allegations by PETA against CnR anglers for torturing fishes. I think they don't know what they are talking about & they are certainly not anglers.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_and_release 

Bag Limit

Then, there was another group of fisho who practices bag limit. They will take fishes if the catch is worthy for the table. Otherwise, it would be released. Mostly practiced by saltwater anglers, they deem the high cost of sea angling, especially on boat not justified to practice CnR. As the name implies, they would limit the number of fishes kept to a minimal. Meaning, they would only take home 2 or 3 good size fishes & release the rest. These guys were mostly old timers who had been fishing for years & was equally if not almost as caring to the environment & fishes as the CnR fishos. Their only problem is, they love eating fishes! They come from all forms of fishing, coarse fishing anglers, casters & flyfishos. To them, it's ok to take a fish or two or three once a while...like every week?

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bag_limits

The Environmentalist

These are people cares more about the environment than fishing. To them, they strive to champion keeping our rivers, lakes & natural habitats safe & healthy. Examples like KAGUM (Kelah Action Group Malaysia). They view fishing as a hobby & not so much as sports so they are not in favor of angling advancement. Actually, they are more inclined to have lesser fishing in our rivers & lakes. Also, the environmentalist opposes introducing alien species into our waters. In fact, they regularly organizes culling sessions to remove alien species such as Peacock Bass, Tilapia & Pacu from wild ponds as they believe these aliens would cause an imbalance to the ecosystem & threaten local fishes. Some times mortal enemies to CnR fisho who would release back every fish whether is local or alien while the environmentalist insist on killing all alien fishes. In the fish world, these guys would be what we call, racial cleansing!
Referrences: http://www.kagum.org

The Terminators

Just like the Arnold Terminator movies, those Skynet machines are out to hunt & kill every living being on the planet. We also have anglers who would kill every fish they catch no matter if their big, small, pretty or ugly, edible or not. Mostly practiced by the lower social class & less educated anglers. They use rod & reel fishing, employing dead/live baits & mostly coarse fishing techniques. Some of them would use netting too & even electric stun rods, if that's what they have to do to catch fish. To them, every fish caught is their god given right to keep & to justify the act, they claim that releasing fishes is wasteful as every fish will die after being hooked. Some of them are actually part time meat hunters who goes into the wild on weekends to 'harvest' fishes for sale. They have no ethics & least caring for the environment. Mostly selfish & self centered. To them, fish is product & angling is just one way to catch them. Their favorite quote, "cari makan aje". This will also be the kind of fisho that is most cunning & resourceful, if you hint to them of a secret productive location today, in a week's time, all fishes in the pond will be gone, hence Terminated. Sadly, our DOF views fishes as meat only, shares similar sentiment with the 'Cari makan boys' & does not see an issue with anglers taking home fishes by the bag loads.

Scums

Lowest form of fisho are those who uses bombs & water pumping tactics to catch fish. The bomb fishermen would make their DIY bottle bombs to be exploded in mid water causing massive shockwave to stun/kill fishes so they float to the surface for collection. Such forms of fishing is very destructive not only to fishes but the entire ecosystem as well as anyone angler/swimmer in the immediate vicinity. Broken shards of glasses is sharp & toxic. Another form of low class bums are the water pump fishos. Not so much as fishos, they are more like non-fisho who happens be in possession of high powered water pumps. To catch, more like collect fishes from a small pond, they would use high powered water pumps to flush out a pond till it dries up with all the fishes huddled onto a patch of mud so these fisho can easily collect them. What they don't realize is, they are also destroying the environment, especially the pond permanently. These are the most selfish & most hated kind by anglers. If you notice such form of fishing is happening, it would be responsible for you to lodge a police report or to the district office for action as such activity is banned here.

Referrences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_fishing

So there you have it. The different school of thought regards to fishing in Malaysia. So which kind of fisho are you?

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