This is an absolutely spot on comment. If there is a selection pressure for smaller fish, then the process of selection is working. "Natural selection" is somewhat of a misnomer, as sometimes something out of the ordinary (occurs with predictable regularity, or slowly over the course of millennia) happens and pressures the group in a certain direction. In this case, humans are applying a selective pressure to the fish population. Therefore fish that are predisposed, due to their genetics, to a smaller adult size are reaching sexual maturity and producing offspring. That's perfectly natural if you consider the population of fish that are in an environment where human selection is a pressure. Would an identical species living in a similar niche without catch and release pressure decrease in size? That's a far more interesting question than "is this evolution?" or "is this Darwinism or Lamrakian?". Not that I read the original article or the parent I'm quoting. I could care less, as a/. reader.
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This is an absolutely spot on comment. If there is a selection pressure for smaller fish, then the process of selection is working. "Natural selection" is somewhat of a misnomer, as sometimes something out of the ordinary (occurs with predictable regularity, or slowly over the course of millennia) happens and pressures the group in a certain direction. In this case, humans are applying a selective pressure to the fish population. Therefore fish that are predisposed, due to their genetics, to a smaller adult size are reaching sexual maturity and producing offspring. That's perfectly natural if you consider the population of fish that are in an environment where human selection is a pressure. Would an identical species living in a similar niche without catch and release pressure decrease in size? That's a far more interesting question than "is this evolution?" or "is this Darwinism or Lamrakian?". Not that I read the original article or the parent I'm quoting. I could care less, as a /. reader.