Science and technology has changed the way most of us live; you know it and so do I. Simply ask an Elder and they will be quick to tell you about all the changes in the last fifty years. Changes in housing, automobiles, shopping and the advent of the internet sent us down a technological path most of us could have never imagined possible.

 This technological explosion has filtered its way down to helping fishermen and hunters with a wide variety of improvements across the board. Take fishing for instance, I remember the days before braided line, underwater cameras and scent impregnated plastics! I remember when a “fish finder” consisted of two small red lines and trolling motors lasted about three hours on a good day.

Amazingly, we still did catch fish back then…and lots of them.

Which leads a boatload of environmental scientists to ask the question; has the increase in technology ultimately hurt the sport fish population across the country?

At least one researcher, Dr. David Phillip, ecology and conservation scientist at the University of Illinois has been lobbying to ban fishing in spawn areas and tournament weigh-ins during the spring months. These “bans” are quite common in many northeastern states that forbid bass fishing during the spawn. Here in North Carolina, this is not a concern; or not yet anyway.

If fishery studies in our state show similar findings to Phillip’s 20-year study, there could come a day when a ban during spawn season is implemented in the hopes of helping the bass populations. And if so, how would you all feel about this? For me personally, I tend to look at it from the environmental side of the argument. If implementing a season will increase the bass population across the board, at the end of the day, we all win. But, as with any debate, there are pros and cons to both sides and I’d love to hear your opinion on this.

Let me know what you think!