DATE: Sunday, July 20, 1997                 TAG: 9707200093

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JENNIFER MCMENAMIN, THE BOSTON GLOBE 

DATELINE: CONCORD, MASS.                    LENGTH:   57 lines

PETA FINDS LITTLE SUPPORT FOR ITS CAMPAIGN TO BAN FISHING AT WALDEN POND

As a boy, Robert Bergquist would get up before dawn, grab his fishing pole, stick his dog in the basket of his bicycle, and pedal to Walden Pond.

More than a half century later, Bergquist is still fishing the pond made famous by author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Over the years the 63-year-old Bergquist has taught his grandson and neighborhood children the tricks and pleasures of angling for trout on the quiet pond.

Animal rights activists now want to reel in Bergquist and his fellow fishermen, who are among the half-million annual visitors to Walden Pond. But they are getting little support here or on Beacon Hill.

The Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has 500,000 members worldwide and 16,000 in Massachusetts, is leading a campaign to ban fishing in parks nationwide. The site of Thoreau's rustic cabin is their first target.

``We want to ban fishing on the grounds that fish feel pain and that it's cruel and unnecessary,'' said Dawn Carr, coordinator of PETA's anti-fishing campaign. ``Our efforts are also a tribute to Henry David Thoreau, who said himself more than 150 years ago that `I cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect.' ''

To commemorate the 180th anniversary of the birth of the conservationist last Saturday, PETA sent Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld a letter asking him to ban fishing on the pond.

``The violent process of fishing and its consequences are not in keeping with the peace and tranquillity of Walden,'' the activists wrote the governor, who enjoys freshwater fishing in the Adirondack Mountains. ``With (Thoreau's) 180th birthday approaching, ending fishing at Walden Pond would be a wonderful tribute to the great humanitarian and his respect for animals.''

State officials, however, say they have no intention of banning angling on the 60-acre pond, citing a deed signed 75 years ago.

When the Emerson, Forbes and Heywood families deeded some 80 acres surrounding the pond to the commonwealth in 1922, they spelled out that the transfer was for ``the sole and exclusive purpose'' of ``preserving the Walden of Emerson and Thoreau, its shores and nearby woodlands for the public who wish to enjoy the Pond, the woods and nature, including bathing, boating, fishing and picnicking.''

So environmental officials say their hands are tied - they can't prohibit fishing, whether or not they agree with PETA's grievances.

``We have been in court on some provisions of the deed,'' said John Rodman, the governor's assistant secretary of environmental affairs. And although the fishing issue specifically has never been tested, ``the court has upheld the deed so much that we can't even resand the beaches, which is prohibited by the deed.''

Even if the governor did have the power to keep fishing lines out of the historic waters, he ``would most likely not do it,'' Rodman said.

``It doesn't really accomplish anything to use the coercive power of government to persuade people about an ethical, moral issue,'' he said. ``And there clearly is a large part of the population that doesn't agree with (PETA) about the inhumanity of fishing.''

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