OBN Writing Prompt: Sustainable Fishing with GreenFish

Diary entry for May 13, 2145.

It has been a difficult spring so far. Winter was dry again. Very little snow. That means the river emptying into the city's reservoir is low as is the reservoir. It really is now just a trash-filled pit. The WEC (Water Exploration Committee) had been making trips outside the city limits to look for underground water sources that might be rerouted to town. I hope they find something. Then maybe our rations can increase again.

Diary Entry for June 22, 2145

Sorry for the big gap between entries. With the city water supply so low, Dad took us on the Riv-Train to see Great-grandpa for his 123rd birthday. He is now the 5th oldest man in the Republic of the United States. On the way there, I asked my Dad why it is called the "Riv-train." And guess what? He said the tracks were laid down in an old river bed. I guess they call it that because that is where the river sleeps or lays down. But the bed was empty after the the Great Water Shortage because all the towns and cities dug drains to take water for their thirsty people. Dad said, when they did that, the water got so low, you could walk in the Mighty Misses (spelling? I don't remember what he called it) river and grab fish the size of tables with your hands. I don't know if I believe that. There is only one type of fish that lives in our city water, but it is just to clean the bottom. I can't imagine wanting to catch one. Yuck!

Well, if you think my Dad's story was unbelievable, listen to the one my Great-grandpa told me. We stayed up really late playing sim-cards (simulator cards) and I asked him to tell me his favorite memory from being 10 years old (my age, duh! actually 10 and 1/2.). He said that was the summer he stayed with his grandpa and grandma on a lake (big natural reservoir) in Minnesota, part of what is now the dry plains district of Minndakota. Each day that summer, he would wake up early and go on a boat (lot's of people had them then), and they would throw big nets to catch fish. They would come back with BUCKETS OF FISH! BUCKETS! AND they were all different kinds. Yellow ones, green ones, golden ones with glowing eyes, ones with blue on them, long skinny ones with sharp teeth. They would take them down to the road and sell them each day to cars driving by. People ATE the fish. He said everybody did that back then. "Catch and eat as many as you can. Sell the rest."

He said, that was the last year they let him swim in the lake. I can't believe they used to do that. Can you imagine swimming in our city reservoir? Ew. Grandpa said he even remembers DRINKING the water.

Anyway, Diary, I wonder what it would be like if we still had water you could swim in and drink that didn't need the treatment process. Or even if that big Misses river still filled up its bed. Just think if we could go out and catch a fish with a shiny body and long sharp teeth. It sounds pretty neat I guess. I think I would try to leave some fish in there and not take them all out. Just knowing they are still swimming around in the water would be cool. Maybe I'd catch them and let them go. Or only keep enough to feed me and my parents.

This blog entry is my submission for the GreenFish and Outdoor Blogger Network Writing Prompt Giveaway. A world without sustainable fishing.