I feel the need to respond to Lee Woodard’s letter published on Tuesday, Feb. 3. I, too, am a fisherman; I have lived and fished here for 40 years, my father fished here for 50 years and his father fished here also. I agree that fishing is the heart of this community.

While I don’t really get the point of Mr. Woodard’s letter, it touched on a sore subject for me. I believe that the divisiveness and prejudice that Mr. Woodard refers to is due to the inequality among the access to our fishery resources and as long as there is inequality there will be divisiveness.

I have no problem sharing my opinion here that the biggest argument in this community of fishermen is among the trawl versus non-trawl fishermen. I am concerned about the huge inequality between a trawler who goes out and catches in three days the same amount that would take a long-liner or pot fisherman a month.

I am concerned about the amount of bycatch that is taken by the trawl fleet – the halibut, black cod, Tanner crab and king salmon. Each of these fisheries is regulated to all other gear types in order to preserve the health of the stock, however the bycatch caught up in a trawl net is simply dead fish, whether allowable or not. Unfortunately, this reduces the stock and reduces the allowable catch for other gear types and other users such as sport and subsistence fishers.

While it is has been common for commercial fishermen to argue amongst each other, the competition for the resources is now extending to the sport fishing and subsistence interests as the king salmon and halibut catch limits are being reduced and regulated.

I would like to suggest that all draggers catch their fish by other means – long-line, pot, or jig and then maybe we will all get along and be able to work together for better prices, better quality product and the good of this community of fishermen.