THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Regarding John Stephen Pruitt's ``Misinformation on seafood industry'' (letter, May 13):
The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, once one of the most productive estuaries in the world, now has great difficulty supporting even modest fisheries. This is certainly not entirely the fault of the fishermen, crabbers and oystermen who have made a living off the Bay, but neither are they blameless. Whatever the causes of decline of species in the Bay, pressure on them must be eased in order for them to recover.
Two points on Mr. Pruitt's letter:
(1) The 3,000 watermen who, according to Mr. Pruitt, would be negatively affected by a fishing ban would have to do as tens of thousands of other Americans, from shipbuilders to telecommunications workers, are doing to feed their families - exercise ingenuity.
(2) Seeing crabs only in a crab pot doesn't tell one much about them. I have seen crabs catching fish; they do it quite skillfully. One such catch is on videotape in the collection of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News.
CURTISS PETERSON
Rescue, May 13, 1996 by CNB