Something You Don’t See Every Day: A True Fishing Story

The internet, where the face-to-face confrontation is pretty much non-existent, conclusions are easily jumped to, and opinions are poured into the comment section of innocent posts.

Sixth generation Montanan and hunting/agricultural advocate, Maria Lovely, got a taste of just how cruel the internet could be a few weeks back.

On a trip to Minnesota, Maria went bowfishing for carp. She posted a photo to Instagram of her capture (or catch) and a short caption about how happy she was for her experience. She received over 2,000 likes on this specific photo, but the wave of hate comments quickly took the attention away from all the love she received.

Before I share some of the hateful comments Maria’s photo got, let’s talk about carp.

Growing up, we had carp in our lakes back home in Northeast Texas. They were big, nasty fish we didn’t eat. A quick Google search of carp in Minnesota led me to the University of Minnesota’s website which reads as follows:

“Common carp are one of the world’s most widely introduced and invasive species of fish. Currently, they dominate the fish biomass of many shallow lakes, rivers, and wetlands in North America and around the world, including many lakes in central and southern Minnesota. Carp degrade water quality and destroy waterfowl habitat by rooting in the lake bottom while searching for food.”

The website further reads, “common carp degrade water quality and destroy habitat for waterfowl, fish and amphibians. They are voracious feeders that forage primarily on plant seeds and insect larvae that live in lake sediments. While searching for food, carp burrow into lake sediments and in the process they uproot aquatic vegetation, increasing water turbidity and releasing large quantities of sediment-bound nutrients, which stimulate algal blooms. It is estimated that over 70% of lakes in southern Minnesota have lost their plant cover and suffer from excessive algal blooms due to carp’s foraging activity. Tens of thousands of hectares of waterfowl habitat have been devastated by common carp.”

Upon further investigation (a la Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources aka MDNR) there is actually plans drawn up by MDNR to control the carp population in Minnestoa. Heck, there’s even a company called CARP SOLUTIONS who can be hired to help manage the growth of these underwater pests.

It took me about 3 minutes to learn this knowledge about carp — this statement is important, remember it.

So, Maria posts this photo and starts receiving hate via Instagram comments. Evidently, some animal activists (some from the UK) saw her post and were ticked. Here are some of the comments left under her photo…

“You should jump in a pool and let me shoot you twice in the back”

“@marialovely_ people like you are a virus on this planet.. Why do you need to kill it for your own entertainment? Catch and Release it safely - that is true fishing. I hope someone does this to you one day and see how it feels”

“She wants 1 of them bows right up her arse the slag”

Isn’t it funny? They’re mad at Maria for killing a carp, an act that is actually applauded by MDNR, and in turn wishing death upon her.

These commentors were basically saying, “hey, you shouldn’t kill this fish because killing another living thing is wrong, so we want to kill you: another living thing.”

Does it make sense? No.

Does it happen? Yep.

The amount of hate comments I see, just like this, in my vegan and anti-ag Facebook groups is astonishing. Comments just like the ones Maria received — brutal, gut wrenching, hateful. I can’t help but ask myself: what provokes this nonsense and how can we combat it? I think Maria found the answer.

Upon reading the comments left on her post, she didn’t comment back in a hateful manner nor engaged in virtual arguments. Instead, she took to posting again, this time, from an educational standpoint.

Maria explained why she went bow fishing that night, some rules and regulations about carp fishing in Minnesota, and the burden of carp to Minnesota’s waters. She kept her composure, reacted kindly, and handled the situation with grace.

Maria told me she wasn’t sure how many people who left hateful comments on her original post saw her response, but she was just happy to provide valid and truthful resources for those who need it.

Maria, if you’re reading this, you educated me. I mean, I thought your original post was pretty cool to begin with but seriously, you taught me about a fish I had very little knowledge about to begin with.

All in all, it took about three minutes for Maria to set the record straight about Minnesota’s carp problem.

Three minutes to educate me, three minutes for me to Google some things myself, and about three seconds for me to decide I wanted to share Maria’s experience with my readers.

Three minutes of your time and a little bit of knowledge can shape someone’s perception or change an opinion. And they’re worth it, those three minutes. They’re worth it to spend a fraction of your day educating in a graceful, warm, welcoming way.

And what else would you do with that small amount of time? Fill up your truck with diesel? Flip through the TV channels? Pour yourself a glass of tea? Have a brief melt down via social media to prove an incorrect, hateful, unnecessary point via Instagram comment?

Three minutes is valuable time that could be spent combatting an issue you have prior knowledge about. It’s busting a myth on a food label at your local grocery store. It’s having a chat with your neighbor about the importance of regenerative agriculture. It’s correcting some misinformation left in an Instagram comment.

It’s exactly what Maria Lovely took to set the record straight about carp, and it’s exactly what you could do to set the record straight about agriculture.

So get to agvocating, time is ticking.