Martin Han, G10, RDF International School It has been a while since I had realized that the number of fish was getting smaller and smaller throughout the days; what used to be plentiful became scarce among anglers. They never understood why this phenomenon occurred and blamed it on those who cast nets. I myself, who enjoy catching the wonders that had traditionally been present, had long been annoyed at the quantity of nets in the ocean and had commented harshly on those who did such acts, especially after the news of a whale killed by nets off shore. Anger increased when I reeled in an entire net believing it was a big fish; it really ruined one’s day. It wasn’t often that a person would hook up a net, until a genius decided to release a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of fish into the ocean. A day later the seas were teeming with nets of all sizes making rod casting impossible. Nobody knew what to do, but someone figured out that they should rent a boat and maneuver into the system of nets and fish where the hook wouldn’t get caught. He did so, and managed to reel in a couple of big catches and was in the process of removing the hook, when his other rod suddenly pulled in hard, tilting the boat. He quickly removed the hook and started to reel in his rod, as the bend of the rod curved as the man pulled and straining on the line increased. With a snap, the rod flung up suddenly, the boat wobbled side to side, and the man, losing balance, fell off the little boat along with his previously caught fish, which swam away. I helped pull the man out of the water, and comforted him of his bad luck. The man left, cursing along the way. I continued fishing for a while but ended up with none. While packing up, a fisherman came out of his boat, net in one hand, and three fish in the other, one of which had a big hook in it’s mouth. “Terrific day!” He exclaimed to me, “An absolutely fantastic catch! Days just get better and better, doesn’t it?” He said walking away, humming a little tune as the sun slowly set on the horizon. | 