Fishier Story
Loot & Lore of the Sea 
Legal, but not the touching catch and release tale we’ve been told?
Questions are being raised about the Senior President Bush’s Tarpon adventure off Florida. Byron Stout’s Tarpongate probing makes clear that, tagged legal catch or not, the fish in question may have suffered fatal injuries in the course of the fish/Bush photo-op.
“The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made it clear, in guidelines distributed last spring, that there is no legal rationale for boating an untagged tarpon because there are no size restrictions that compel its measurement. The commission’s position is that large fish have skeletal structures not designed to support them out of water, and pulling such fish into a boat or onto land violates the legal requirement of releasing them “unharmed.” Studies of the effects of catch-and-release fishing have shown that fish hauled out of water can suffer lethal injuries, including suffocation, damage to internal organs and structures, and removal of slime that protects them from bacterial infections.”
Enjoy your trophy, Mr. President!
