I believe that the position of commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife should be an elected position. Paul Reynolds, in his Sun Journal column July 18, highly recommended that there definitely needs to be a change, because the appointed position is not responsive in serving the sportspeople of Maine and all its citizens.

For far too long, the governors have had a stranglehold on fisheries and wildlife. The position of the commissioner is an appointed one by the governor. Fish and wildlife don’t understand politics; all they understand are survival and propagation.

There are far too many people in the department who have never hunted, fished or trapped. The department is pretty much a total failure. One of the many examples is the predation on the whitetail deer by bears, coyotes and clear-cutting of deer yards. The department has failed in a gross way.

It is time for people to elect the commissioner. There is no need for a deputy, either, but there is a need to hire more game wardens and biologists who actually hunt, fish and trap.

I don’t think people applying for that department should be hired if they have never hunted, fished or trapped. It is very serious business.

Jean R. Arsenault, Mexico