Welcome to Week CC of 鈥楩ishing Parkland Shorelines鈥�. Like most of us I am a novice fisherman, loving to fish, but far from an expert. In the following weeks I鈥檒l attempt to give those anglers who love to fish but just don鈥檛 have access to a boat, a look at some of the options in the Yorkton area where you can fish from shore, and hopefully catch some fish.
This week I will immediately preface this column with a note that many fisherfolk are going to shake their head and think cabin fever has taken full control of my senses.
But, I will still present the following as 鈥榝ood for thought鈥� because it is something that has been percolating in my mind for a while now.
I grew up through a time when almost everyone who went fishing, or hunting, was doing it to put food in the deep freeze.
At least that was the case in the area I lived.
I could have pointed to a number of area families where moose and venison were on the table over the winter months far more than beef and pork.
In my home when we fished the catch came home to consume.
In my mind maintaining the hunting and fishing tradition as a food source is a good thing.
I also happen to think we should be able to keep laying hens in our local communities so we can produce our own eggs, and in so-doing better understand our connection to our food.
Having a backyard garden fulfills the same role.
If we are more directly involved in growing, catching, harvesting, and preparing our food we are ultimately better off.
But what about hunting and fishing for 鈥榮port鈥�?
I looked up a definition of sport; 鈥渁n athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing鈥� so hunting and fishing is included.
But I tend to think of sport as something where a participant wins or loses, and while a fish loses when it鈥檚 caught, that is not quite what I have in mind.
What we are certainly seeking is an ever lower tolerance of the 鈥榮port鈥� hunt.
When a lion in Zimbabwe was shot in July 2015 social media blew up with posts of disgust. The lion was named 鈥楥ecil鈥�, which I鈥檒l admit I don鈥檛 quite understand naming wild animals like they are pets, but that is another discussion.
The shooting of the lion was seen as barbaric by many, and I can鈥檛 say I am far from fully agreeing with that viewpoint.
While there are certainly times where wild animals need to be harvested for any number of reasons, a sport kill should not be among them.
Had Cecil been killing villagers鈥� cows that is another story. It might not be fair, but human activity is generally going to trump that of wild animals.
There is the issue of the economic impact of sport hunts in Africa of course. People pay big dollars to hunt lions, and wildlife is a resource, which again becomes a matter of debate, but it still leaves the core question of whether we need to spot a lion for the pleasure of a selfie with its dead carcass.
A bit closer to home an event was held earlier this year where the goal was to shoot as many coyotes and foxes as possible over a couple of days.
Certainly harvesting animals for fur is about as Canadian a thing to do as possible since searching out beavers for their pelts lead to the early exploration of most of the territory that is now our country.
This newspaper ran photos of the event, and well it should have. It was a legal event not so different from a snowmobile poker derby, or a curling bonspiel in general terms, and certainly in the realm of the biggest horns and biggest pike at a Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation event.
But that did not stop a couple of people from writing letters upset with the newspaper鈥檚 decision to run the coyote photos.
I fully agree with running the photos. I was sitting at the desk checking pages and was fine with the decision.
The question though that I find myself asking is why are we hunting coyotes?
We should be beyond the need of fur. Fashion it may be, but I鈥檓 no longer comfortable killing so someone can wear the hide to look good.
Do we need to trap lynx and coyotes and martin and mink in the modern age? In my mind it is probably a question we need to be asking.
And that brings me to fishing.
Read through a fishing guide and you are likely to find a suggestion 10 per cent of catch and release fish may die.
We think of catch and release as a management tool for fish stocks. Rather than overfishing, we suggest tossing the fish back into the water, and keep on fishing. Yes there are guidelines that we should limit the catch to save fish, but how many do that is a rather large unknown.
But if we are still killing fish for the sport of it, does that make sense? Or should we be beyond that need to have sport at the expense of a walleye that is the unlucky one in 10 we release that floats to the surface dead a few hours later?
I鈥檒l admit I haven鈥檛 exactly fashioned a satisfactory answer to the question myself. I have grown up with fishing a big part of my life. I enjoy it as a leisure activity. I enjoy fried fish and french fries too.
So no fisherfolk I鈥檓 not about to hang up my rods anytime soon.
I am however thinking more about the ethics of sport fishing, tournaments where fish are caught, held, weighed and released, and even whether fishing waters that are only catch and release should be on the itinerary.
It is an interesting inner debate I am having, and maybe now, a few others will be asking the same questions as we evolve as a society larger than just hunters and fisherfolk.
