Last Sunday we lost a colleague. Randall Fry, a lobbyist for the California branch of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, was killed by what was estimated by an eyewitness to be a 16 to 18 foot great white shark while diving for abalone north of Fort Bragg, California. While we in the commercial fishing industry have had more than a few disagreements with the Recreational Fishing Alliance, Mr. Fry's primary interest, like ours, was maintaining his constituent's access to productive fisheries in a healthy ocean environment. We are saddened by his death and extend to his family and friends our deepest sympathy.

As much as we are saddened by his death, however, we are outraged by the reaction of the California Department of Fish and Game to it. In a press release dated August 18 titled "Shark Attack Serves as Reminder of How to Minimize the Risk," the Department's "shark expert," Dr. Robert Lea, said "It may be a case of mistaken identity or it may be investigatory or territorial behavior, the shark's primary prey are marine mammals, and if you happen to look like one, from a shark's perspective, and you are near the surface, you're at risk." Later in the release in "White shark facts" the Department explains that "white sharks play a crucial role in the marine ecosystem by helping to suppress pinniped (seals and sea lions) populations." And in their "tips on how to avoid a shark encounter" swimmers are warned to avoid areas in or near those "frequented by sea lions, harbor seals, and elephant seals, near their rookeries, or near the mouths of rivers where the animals concentrate looking for fish."

This from a government that has forced bathers from beaches, boaters from marinas, and fishermen from fisheries so that their activities wouldn't interfere with those of the ever-expanding and completely protected (from human interference) seal and sea lion populations.

What about the human population? Year by year more of us are migrating to the coastline. Every year there are more people spending more time swimming and diving in and boating on the ocean. And every year there are more protected seals and sea lions occupying more and more of that same ocean, and more and more white sharks feeding on the increasing number of seals and sea lions. If these conditions are allowed to continue, human tragedies such as the one that befell Mr. Fry are bound to increase. And how does the California Department of Fish and Game handle this? By suggesting that when in the ocean we stay away from seals. And, of course, we're supposed to stay away from the surface, hug the bottom, and not do anything that will make a white shark mistake us for a seal. These are difficult to do if you are a member of an air-breathing species that bears a superficial resemblance to a seal or a sea lion (Of course, we probably don't have to emphasize here that sharks aren't anywhere near being the brightest creatures in the ocean and, as seemingly countless television shows have demonstrated, are likely to mistake just about anything they bump into for food.)

What are our coastal waters for? Are they protected playgrounds for sharks and seals, where humans can only trespass at their own risk and on the terms of the sharks and seals, or are they areas being managed to allow people the most and the safest access possible to natural resources that belong to all of us? We know what the will of the California Department of Fish and Game is. What we don't know is what the will of the people is. Is an ever-increasing number of swimmers, boaters and fishermen going to be exposed to an ever-increasing risk of shark attack in an ever-decreasing area of the ocean because our government's priority is to maximize the population of seals, sea lions and sharks everywhere? Are we going to continue to be forced by governmental edict to give up access to resources that centuries of law guarantee belong to all of us because a small handful of well funded animal rights activists have decided that some creatures have more rights than we do, or are we going to move back to a public policy that lets us use our coastal waters free from the fear that we might be looking or acting like some primordial beast's dinner?

Visit the New Jersey Fishing website at www.fishingnj.org