Oh, it is all starting to happen now. The commercial fleet has made the transition from lobster to fin fish and even the charter industry is starting to get a bit of work, so the results are starting to stack up.

This means that the offshore waters are being worked and fish are being caught. Maybe not as consistently as everyone would like, but the action is good enough to justify the effort.

Recently, a private boat had a great day catching 19 wahoo along with a few school-sized tuna. The commercial fleet is scoring as well although the very nature of the action means that it is hard to predict outcomes.

Charter boats such as Alan Card’s Challenger have been scoring with mixed bags that consist primarily of wahoo, but with tuna and dolphin providing a bit of variety. A few amateurs have also caught their share of what must be the spring wahoo run.

The fishing has been consistent enough that the market is finding sufficient supplies of wahoo, and even tuna to make things competitive. When just about any boat can share in the pickings things can start to get difficult.

It is unfortunate, but there has always been a degree of animosity between the full-time commercial fishermen and just about everyone else. Most often it is an undeclared war, but there are plenty of undercurrents and, under the right circumstances, the hostility can come to the surface.

Probably the government had a hand in providing the basis for this. When, back in the day, the licensing of fishermen and fishing boats was proposed, it was set up as a licence to sell fish.

What is strange about this?

Well, for a start just about everywhere else has made a fishing licence a licence to, well, fish. It is the going fishing or the permission to go fishing that is licensed. Sometimes, it is a bit more fine-tuned such as a state that issues fishing licences and then has a trout stamp in addition. The combination allows the holder to not only go fishing but to actively fish for trout.

The Bermuda situation grew into anyone being allowed to fish but only licensed fisherman could sell their catches, and only if those catches were made from boats licensed for the purpose. Charter fishing went a step further, requiring an additional licence to ply for hire.

The main purpose of issuing licences is to protect the resource and, being as governments are involved, to raise some funds as well. In the United States and elsewhere, the government does not care what happens to the fish that get caught. If you, as a licensed fisherman, want to sell your catch, go ahead.

In those places, what makes a commercial operator a commercial operator is more related to size of operation, type of gear and, in some cases, the techniques permitted.

Here, you are a commercial fisherman if you have a licence. With a few caveats such as in the case of lobsters, unlicensed fishermen or anglers are allowed to exploit whatever fish resource there is as long as the catch is not sold.

While, on the face of it, this appears okay, it is also one of the sources of big problems. What happens when a casual angler catches more than he can use? As the cost of the hobby has risen over the years, there is a temptation to trade in some of the catch to help defray the expenses.

Given that it is a small island the angler probably knows a restaurateur willing to buy some fresh fish from him, regardless of whether or not he has a license. You can hear the hue and cry already.

Add to this the fact that some commercial licence holders also have alternate lives. Some fish almost as much as the recognised full-time commercial fishermen while others are better termed “occasionals”.

Recognise also that some of these are very good at what they do and can compete fairly evenly with the full-time professionals. Bottom line, they catch a lot of fish and are able to legally market it.

This is seen as a further encroachment into the purview of the operator who sees himself as a “real” fishermen.

And even the media can add fuel to the fire. Just about every time a boat goes missing and becomes an item of interest, almost invariably it is described as a “missing fisherman”.

Fair dues, it was someone who might have gone fishing.

The people properly described as fishermen are knowledgeable about the sea and their craft, and there is a fairly complex although informal safety net woven by the insiders to protect themselves.

So, it is not surprising that many take umbrage when they are placed in the same category as someone who maybe should not have got into a boat in the first place.

And here you are, thinking that fishing was just about Tight lines!