Inconsiderate anglers

[budak]

I think the idea that the Southern Islands will one day become an elite casino for the rich might be a good idea after all. Given the way some people treat them, it's probably better that these islands be given over to better forms of development.





This was the aftermath of an angling outing a group of photograhers came across over the weekend at Sisters Island. The water below the jetty is filled with seaweed and corals and thus harbour plenty of fish for recreational fishermen. Unfortunately, it seems this group of about fifteen 20-30 year-olds just don't think it's worth their trouble to take their rubbish back to the mainland, or at least to just ditch their trash at the rubbish bin area just 50 metres away. Their plastic bags and other trash (organic and otherwise) were strewn all over the jetty and the shore below was full of their empty water bottles, used hooks and more plastic bags. We collected three big cartons of rubbish and bags of their bottles from below for disposal back at the Marina South Pier. I only regret that I didn't take their passing pictures of the group earlier so that a nice illustrated letter to the newspaper could be sent...

[michael lai]

That would be relatively easy, given the fishing fraternity here is small. But then again, they don't teach and preach conservation values over there at SFAS. You can start a thread at fishingkaki.com and bombard the group but beware the backlash.

The problem again stems from a lack of education and no organisation looking after the individual groups. This is a never ending story anyway.....

[ranmasatome]

Wait until you see what the rich people do..haha...maybe you'd take back that comment.

[gills]

omg.this is very bad.i am an angler myself and i'm really ashamed of what i am seeing.but just to inform they are actually the majority sadly.lots of anglers do that after fishing at a place as they feel that it is really troublsome for them to take their rubbish away with them.however the producers of fishing tackles are taking their responsibility to educate anglers on moral values this few years so the irresponsible ones are slowly but surely turning into the minorities.i apologise on their behalf as an angler myself.sorry.

[jwuog]

Littering is one problem, another problem I feel is that anglers sometimes leave their catch on the ground and let it die without the intention of bringing it home. Few weeks ago, I was walking along the stretch of road spanning the reservoir towards Sungei Buloh, and I found a pretty big, dried some sort of pleco (I think) on the ground. Sad!

I have no problem with anglers as I like fishing too. But seriously if you catch something and wants to bring it home, whether to eat or play with it, by all means. I just hope that if the angler's intention is neither, then catch and release. I think their future fishing experience will be enhanced as the released fishes may produce more fishes.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[budak]

Thanks for sharing your views. One can only hope that more anglers will become aware that their often thoughtless actions have severe impact on wildlife and the very natural habitats they are enjoying. Read this post http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/?p=1120 to see how a rare owl almost fell victim to an angler's discarded fishing line.

[gills]

wow. buffy is so beautiful.

and replying to jwuog. there are very irresponsible anglers that do that as they are very agitated when they catch fishes that they do not want and they will just leave it there to dry and die off. i personally hate that kind of anglers. i think that if you caught the fish that you are not targetting, you just jolly well release them and give them a chance to live. i have witnessed lots of incidents like this and i'll always leave the place immediately as it spoils my mood seriously. the most recent case was when i was at bedok reservoir and this guy next to me caught a big and vibrant fire eel and i thought that it was a beauty. however he did not even bother to unhook it; he just slammed it on the boardwalk and left it there. a smaller one followed not long after and suffered the same fate. i am really disappointed in those anglers as they do not practise the 'humane' way of catch and release. i have not gone fishing since then. haiz.