The Thursday before Christmas, 11 employees from my company went fishing out of Mercury Bay, on the Coromandel peninsula. We had to meet at the office at 4:30 am, drive about 3.5 hours, then slosh around in the boat all day, and ride another 3.5 hours back to Auckland. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Too bad the wind blew all day, hard, and it rained, too. But, you know what they say- a bad day fishing is still better than working. I caught only 2 fish, but the captain split the catch between the 5 of us. The snapper are a beautiful fish- pink with blue spots (and delicate and delicious). I look forward to returning to visit the Coromandel again, but I think I can skip fishing again for awhile. I enjoy eating fish (tuna, salmon, bass, snapper, halibut, lincod...), but as a scuba diver, I know the marine environment is under serious pressure. By fishing, I am part of the problem. The issue is a complicated one, and obviously I don't hold recreational fishing responsible for declining fishstocks. By going out to get the fish myself, at least I can remind myself of the sacrifice of the animal, instead of buying a piece of meat in the store. Does this make me less inclined to eat meat? No. But I do feel like I earned that delicious meat, and enjoy it all the more.
