Crisis in Fishing and Conservation

Ray Petering, Chief of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, gave a talk last Friday at the Ohio Fish & Wildlife Management Conference that was a wakeup call to all those who support conservation and enjoy fishing and hunting. I won’t get into any statistics or all the reasons, you can easily look them up yourself. The message is clear: fishing and hunting, and along with them the traditional Conservation movement, is dying.

Unless all of us make a serious effort to recruit youth into the great sport and recreation of fishing, this pastime we all enjoy will for the most part disappear in the not-to-distant future. This is not a Chicken Little story. This is the reality.

All of us who enjoy fishing and the outdoors must make time to recruit new people into the sport. You can’t rely on nor expect someone else to do it. You must. We all must.

Start thinking now who you can get out fishing this season, someone new, especially kids and youth. The neighbors and their kids. A relative. Your kid’s friends. Put something in the Church Bulletin or ask around at the organization you belong to, or at work. If you are retired, give some thought to finding a buddy and going to a local disadvantaged youth program and see if they will work with you to find some interested kids. Or go to the local schools, PTA's, etc.

It doesn’t matter who you find or how you find them. First timers or someone who hasn’t been in awhile – get them out fishing. If we all don’t make the effort, this Original American Outdoor Tradition will be lost. And we’d have nobody to blame but ourselves.