Damage of the underwater fish habitat is hard to understand. Most fish and their natural food supply chain requires plants that when missing or destroyed are slow to recover. In some cases, recovery is slower than relative fish which grow in certain life stages. Fish also use plants to hide and nest in but can’t if the plants have been destroyed. Throwing money at the problem is less efficient as the area of the problem expands.

Because we can see it, trash is an easier part of the problem to understand. Consider that a can of campground trash spread over an area of ground takes most of an hour and about $9.00 in labor to clean up. If you spread the same amount of trash over 1,000 acres it will cost a lot of time and $10,000 to $40,000 to clean up. Some will never be found. If part of that 1,000 acres is water, the cost will double or triple.

Time has proven that even well-meaning knowledgeable fishermen accidentally or unknowingly cause damage. For most of the fishing population, the result is far worse. The only way we can manage the problem is to motivate them not to spread out as much. Chasing fish to catch them is not very efficient or even satisfying for the fishermen or the environment. The Fish Magnet motivates the fish to travel to the fisherman. That way everybody wins and management costs are lower. If these costs are not kept in check, governments simply can’t afford to protect most of the environment.

There are other areas of damage that can’t be calculated. For example, no one knows the damage caused by pollution and loud noises from outboard motors screaming through fish habitat. The plant and habitat structural damage cause by propellers is likewise incalculable.