Recreational Fishing Controversy: Environmental Analysis

Throughout human history scientists have discovered and published theories and ideas which are often shared by other scientists and the general public, some of them more widely accepted than others, whilst others were simply rejected. At times, because of ethical and moral differences in the way different people view the same things, these theories are controversial. Today there are many controversial concepts or theories, some of which are the use of uranium (to improve mankind’s quality of life as opposed to the consequences of Chernobyl disaster) or the use of Genetically Modified foods (GMO) (supporters arguing about the sustainability of foods, whilst others argue that changing the natural DNA of plants and animals can have a negative …show more content…
The scientist, Dr Figueira claimed that recreational fishing has impacted the environment negatively. He reiterated that, “… removing animals from their habitat is not natural…causing a large number of animals to be removed.” (Hannam & Cormack, 2013) His views are being supported by some 200 scientists who all claim that recreational fishing is not good for the environment and that recreational fishing does more damages to the environment than the benefits it brings to the environment such as managing wildlife populations of fish species and maintaining and promoting biodiversity (Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, 2015) They have also claimed that recreational fishing impacts negatively on coastal issues by causing things such as a decline in the quality of water, acid sulphate soils, fresh water flows and that recreational fishing has a significant effect on climate change through beach erosion, saline intrusion and sea level rises. Recreational fishing is also said to cause biodiversity changes, habitat loss and marine pest invasions. (McPhee, Leadbitter, & Skilleter, …show more content…
They claimed that the recreational sector is catching 180 tonnes whereas the commercial sector is only catching 50 tonnes a year. They also add that most of the fish which are being caught by the recreational fishers are often undersize which is causing a wide reduction to the number of the fish species which supports theory loading. Through this, they have already made up their minds towards the impacts of recreational fishing and are just using evidence which is often biased, coming from organisations which are funded by the government to try and support their