Gathering professions are classes in this game, as such they rank up and progress just like any others.

I think the SP needs to be adjusted for Gathering to put it on the same level as crafting and combat. I mean hell you only get 2 leves for each camp for gathering from what I've seen as opposed to 3 for combat. Add into that two types of fatigue and already sub-par SP and you can see the system is merely flawed.