Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 10:34:20 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Maryanne Dolan Subject: Re: Open season on Horseshoe Crabbers & Birders? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit My problem with your position, Jerry, is that it places the onus on certain segments of society - in particular those who have limited alternatives in making a living. The problem is not limited to horseshoe crabs, or house cats, or even feral cats - the problem is all of us and our lifestyle. And I don't think we can pinpoint segments - like fisherman or loggers - and say - "You! You're the one causing the problem and you're the one who has to pay the price." It's us, Jerry. We demand those big houses, we have three cars sitting in our driveways - all of them gas guzzlers. We demand cheap, energy-burning toys like those jet skis, huge household appliances, a/c, etc. Not only do we consider all these things our birthright, but we insist on subsidizing the cost of energy. That is the real problem and until we address that underlying problem, we are simply plugging leaks here and there. Oops.let me grab my soapbox and head for the hills before the brickbats, start. :) maryanne dolan Washington DC (and yes, I have a gas guzzler, too!) ABTrowbridge@msn.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerald & Laura Tarbell" To: Sent: Friday, May 23, 2003 10:29 AM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Open season on Horseshoe Crabbers & Birders? > I don't think that handing a crabber a copy of a position statement will > change his mind about anything. The birding community has long taken a stand > on the harvest of horseshoe crabs ever since we discovered that their > breeding season creates a staging area for migrating shorebirds and that the > numbers of crabs are declining. > This is the same old story about people exploiting a resource to > depletion and then wondering what happened to it. I call it the 19th century > mentality. That's when the exploitation of resources became accelerated to a > point that we suddenly were faced with conservation issues to save anything. > The whole notion that got us in this fix was that humans really believed > that resources of Planet Earth were infinite and that we didn't have the > wherewithal to seriously deplete them. About the time that we looked around > and noticed a lot of things going extinct we gradually bought into some > conservation ideas. However, the last to buy into them are those directly > affected - witness loggers in the northwest. > That guy who started this whole thread by telling some birder to get out > of crab territory would probably tell you (even if he really knows better) > that there has been no decline in the numbers of crabs and if there is, he > would blame the damn birds that come and eat all the eggs every year. No > position paper will ever change an attitude like that. DNR knows how > everybody (interest groups, like us) feel about the issue and are caught in > the middle trying to keep us all happy. I wish them luck. > My personal position is that there should be no horseshoe crab harvest > whatsoever in any eastern waters until populations have recovered to their > origianl abundance and that anyone caught with one in their possession > should face very stiff penalties. But as usual I'm lying out here in the > extremes. I doubt if anyone else on this web would dare to state or agree > with such a radical position. How can we consider jailing somebody for > possessing a crab? It would be like locking them up for shooting a spotted > owl. Nobody would have the guts to try it. Instead they get a ticket , a > scolding from a judge and a little fine. Has anyone ever really done time > for destroying wildlife? > > Jerry > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================