Peter B. Wright

Fishing tournaments have become a huge industry! There are now more sailfish tournaments alone than anyone could have imagined only a few decades ago. There are also numerous “Billfish” tournaments with a mixed bag of species and sizes. In some of these tournaments, particularly in Australia, all the fish must be tagged to get release points. In others, merely touching the leader qualifies. I strongly disagree with this style of tournament. First, if a fish is "released" w

Having written a strong criticism against the evils of anecdotal evidence, I must now do a quick U-turn and speak up again. This time with the exact opposite view, a favorable one. I am now going to warn both the young folks seeking a PhD. in marine science and their grey bearded professors* who already hold these treasured degrees, not to reject anecdotal evidence too quickly! Just because no scientist has studied something well enough to be able to write a "peer reviewed"

Something anecdotal has to do with anecdotes — little stories. Anecdotal evidence is based on hearsay rather than hard facts. People like to share stories about things that happened to them, or that they heard about, to make a point. That kind of talk is anecdotal: based on small, personal accounts. Anecdotal stories are helpful when you’re trying to give an example of something, but there's a downside to anecdotal information: since it’s not based on facts, you never know