imminent fishery collapse?

[Paul Pless]

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration added the Gulf of Maine haddock stock to its overfishing list last month. The New England Fishery Management Council, a regulatory board, has lowered catch limits of the fish in an attempt to halt the overfishing, said agency spokesperson Allison Ferreira.

The fishery management council mandated the 84% reduction in catch quotas for the current fishing year, which started May 1. The change applies to fishers who harvest haddock from the Gulf of Maine, a body of water off Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Fishers also harvest from Georges Bank, a fishing ground to the east where quotas were also reduced for this year, including adjoining areas overseen by Canadian officials who issued their own major cuts.

slightly surprised this hasn't made the news down here

[ron ll]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Great. Just when my doc tells me to eat more fish.

[Paul Pless]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Great. Just when my doc tells me to eat more fish.

betting he didn't tell you to eat more fried fish. . .

[Lugs]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Got any recipes?

[Durnik]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

a caricature of the evils of materialism & capitalism..




(not the op..)

[CWSmith]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Can you imagine what the fisheries must have been like when Europeans first started coming here? They used The Isles of Shoals as a campground where they dried the fish. The native population of North America was a little less than the population of Europe. Fishing must have been remarkable. Now we push it down to where we rarely see a fish the size of what they must have caught back then. We're pulling in fish that are barely mature and holding the population right on the edge of disaster.

[TomF]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

what is it, 90% of the population size all the large fish in the sea estimated to exist in 1972 is gone?

It's not like we don't know what's happening.

[stromborg]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?


Well worth reading. While he is focused on cod my guess is the general narrative can be applied to the other fisheries.

[David G]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Well worth reading. While he is focused on cod my guess is the general narrative can be applied to the other fisheries.

Everything I've read of his has been superb.

'Cod' was excellent. His more recent 'Salmon' is a marvelous book, with lots on the topic. And, yes, relevant to all fisheries management.

I've got an order in now for 'History on the Halfshell' (oysters), and 'World Without Fish'.

[Canoez]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Water in the Gulf of Maine has been warming for some time.

While they're heartier stock than most, one of the Stanley boys jumping off the WB pier to swim wasn't something I expected to see.

[Ian McColgin]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Last year's trash fish are today's endangered species.

Like in the '70s sand shark were despised. Couldn't sell them for fertilizer. Now 'doggies' (dog fish aka sand shark) are a staple of ''fish&chips''.

[David G]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Last year's trash fish are today's endangered species.

Like in the '70s sand shark were despised. Couldn't sell them for fertilizer. Now 'doggies' (dog fish aka sand shark) are a staple of ''fish&chips''.

Hake, anyone?

Used to be you couldn't get most 'white folks' to eat a lamprey. Now it's offered as a delicacy at some places. And the native americans shake their heads.

[skuthorp]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Drip, drop, drip……………………….another tipping point reached……...

[john welsford]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

Great. Just when my doc tells me to eat more fish.

Set up a pond and grow carp!

John Welsford

[John Meachen]

Re: imminent fishery collapse?

You need lots more offshore windfarms.They are very effective at preventing intensive fishing and the fish seem to do well as a result.About twenty years ago we had a local seal colony of abut 300 specimens.and then the Scroby windfarm was built and when in March I took a walk along the beach where the seals now live,there was a board telling me that a few weeks earlier they had counted over 4100 seals on that beach.Each seal is estimated to eat 5-7 lbs of fish per day and I draw the obvious conclusion that there must be a lot more fish in that part of the North Sea.Since then there have been many more turbines put into use.