First off, why do we care how much a spiny dogfish, or any fish for that matter, is eating? Aside from the fact that predator-prey interactions are interesting, the populations of the fish that we eat don’t exist in a vacuum with us as the only predators. Read more here 19:32
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here
I ain’t buyin’ it.
Right on,BH- I ain’t buyin it either. This is interesting and informative info,but what’s happening when those giant packs o’ dogs show up in new england waters? No menhaden to be had so they’re eatin plenty of herring,lobsters,juvenile groundfish,and just about everything else that swims.I’ve cut a few of them green eyes bellies just to take a look and most of the time it was herrin and juvenile groundfish
the way this article is written, it looks like BH wrote it. i had to double check!
So essentially this young man came up with the conclusion that ol’ squalus is following the weight watchers regiment for eating… small portions and waiting for that small portion of fish-food to be totally digest (his words) before opening their snouts up for the next meal…right?
Truly amazing how this masters thesis is gaining attention, and mind you for
the wrong reason, one that seems to be tinged with bias from the very beginning of his “study.”
To wit:
“Predator-prey interactions involving dogfish get a little more attention than most because dogfish have long been a scapegoat species blamed for declines in just about every economically-important fish they share water with.”
“Long been a scapegoat”…..
Hhmmm, seems 99.999999 percent of any fishermen who has worked upon the waters of the east coast over the years “would be diametrically opposed to his conclusion”….and I emphasize the opposition part here, being exactly the opposite of what he came up with from studying the stomach contents of some dogfish.
In fact if you scan through NMFS technical memorandum papers for the last two decades that studied the horned bow-wow, all state that these fish are some of the most opportunistic and voracious fin fish species around, figuratively never missing an easy meal that they can run down no matter if in sight of any shoreline right out through the canyon region.
This is one of those stories that you have to question the final result…..and that this individual should of studied something else for his Masters thesis.
Sorry the Thesis gets an incomplete in my opinion. Menhaden are a swimming Fish Oil Slick. In the old days when they were thick in the Bay you could smell them before you found them.
Try Bass or Tuna fishing through these eating machines. They hold more chum then you imagine and cost you Hundreds in Fluro and Hooks.
So they don’t eat there own? Give me an overcast day a couple Herring, Gaff, and a Knife. I could sink a Boat.