Background on Terry

Terry Traxler has been a commercial fisherman for about 23 years.  He believes that the problem with commercial fishing today is that anyone can go out and get a fishing license therefore the fish population is dieing down.  To rebuild the population in fishing the environmentalist and such should find the sources for all the fish dieing off and solve the problem. Today prices are way down compared to what they used to be.  So terry is having more problems than usual, with competition, beating prices, equipment purchasing, ECT.   Terry fishes for many different types of seafood such as shrimp, scallops, trout, oysters, and so much more.  He needs many different types of equipment for these different types of seafood.   The reason terry loves fishing so much is because he can make his own schedule and he can go out on the boat while he is working.  Terry is a true fisherman.  

Description of Issue

In the past ten years the price of fish has changed a lot.  Ten years ago there wasn’t as much fishing as today.  A lot of the animals are dying because they get caught in the nets, like dolphins, sea turtles, sting rays, sharks, and other type of fish.  That’s why most of the animals are going extinct.  The equipment they use does not have the bag that lets the larger animals swim out.  I know that there is a moratorium on the commercial fishing license.  There have been a lot of problems seeing how anyone can commercial fish.

Challenges

The challenges in commercial fishing today are greatly increasing.  The reason for this is a lot of people are joining the business and the people who have been doing it for years are retiring.   More and more people want to work for themselves and have it the easy way, but overall commercial fishing is very hard work.  The reason prices have gone up so much in the past ten years is because of the change in the economy.  New people are coming in to our society and giving more money for less and the locals are taking advantage of this.  The older fishermen who have been commercial fishing for many years are very smart about how they run their business.  However, the younger crowd that just got in the business are not running their business the right way.  They are charging to much, killing fish, not following the laws, etc.  Challenges for commercial fishermen are often caused by younger fishermen who want to make a quick buck.  

Solutions

The solution to stopping commercial fishing does not happen that often.  Stopping the younger crowd from fishing would help a lot.  One of the best things to do is make a legal age to get a license.  Most people do it just for fun, so the people who are doing it for a living are suffering.  They need to limit commercial fishing so the population won't die off.  The fish or shrimp should be a certain size before you can sell them.  I think that there is too much commercial fishing.