Hold Off, Fish Fans

Kudos to Jerry Hirsch for his excellent but ultimately depressing Sept. 28 article on the tropical fish industry, “Tropical Catch of the Day.” There are a lot of ways to make money. But efforts to improve the ways in which the tropical fish are caught notwithstanding, people like Walt Smith are making a lot of money by selling something that does not belong to them. Moreover, their actions represent just one more area in which human beings are contributing not only to the demise of myriad species and natural habitats on the planet but, ultimately, to our own demise.

The solution, at least in this case, is for those who enjoy aquariums in their homes to sacrifice that enjoyment for the sake of the species in question and to put people like Smith out of a job.

Hank Schlinger

Toluca Lake