Stilly bum,

I disagree with you. Your absolute: "Anyone concerned about our fisheries should not buy commercially caught fish." implies that any and all commercial fishing, anywhere, anytime, is inherently bad for any fish population. In that context, I'd have to conclude that any and all consumptive recreational fishing is inherently bad for any fish population as well.

No fish ever benefited from being caught. And it is just as dead whether caught commercially or by hook and line. What counts is whether the fishery is managed so as to avoid over-fishing, which is known to reduce productivity of a fish population. I don't have a problem with buying commercially caught fish, just as I don't have a problem with taking home a sport caught fish, when it is from a population that is managed so as to achieve spawning escapement goals that sustain the productivity of the run.

I do agree that regulatory managers should give sport fishing a preference over commercial fishing because sport fishing spreads the resource opportunity among a greater proportion of the resource owners. There are many healthy salmon populations, especailly in Alaska, that can support fish harvests greater than what the recreational fishery can impose. What, then, is the problem with a well-regulated commercial fishery that extends that resource benefit to commercial fishermen and their customers, who are also the resource owners (limited to U.S. citizens, actually)?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.