GREAT thread!
Those of us who are older will probably say that modern technology, including information technology, has had a HUGE impact on our fish and fisheries. Some positive (C&R comes to mind), a lot negative.
Once upon a time (I know this is hard for some of you to believe), pretty much nobody had any kind of electronics at all, and a fairly rudimentary "tackle box" full of mostly rusty old relics that had been hoarded from wherever they could be found. Fishing POLES as stiff as pool cues, reels loaded with unknown KING COIL line, etc etc. (A fellow once told me that he didn't know what people were all excited about POUND TEST. He had LINE, not POUND TEST....
).
And most successful anglers paid some pretty serious dues in terms of time on the water, finding fish and testing presentations. Fishing magazines provided some information, both about locations and "how to" articles, and most of us learned a lot from older anglers.
We also did not catch that many fish, really!
Now, with the explosion of information and incredible gear technology, a person can be into some pretty spectacular fishing without having spent decades learning the ropes. If people choose to use the technology wisely, the fisheries are not harmed. If not...........................
On the open oceans of the world, some nations are determined to hoover up every last scrap of edible seafood before somebody else does it. It appears that large areas of the major oceans are being over-fished in such a manner that stocks of some species have collapsed, and more will collapse. Human greed is a mighty powerful thing, and it exists on an individual level as surely as it exists on a national fleet level. So there are vulnerable or fragile species and locations that should NEVER be divulged on a public forum, since in some cases "it only takes one" bad apple to spoil the lot.
But we can't put the genie back into the bottle, in this area nor any others of our existence, so I think the answer is to embrace the technology and try to set an example in what we do and say. And only trust guys like ME with those secret holes, I won't tell anybody!
Doug
