The decline of cod is the result of bad decisions by federal fisheries managers (under pressure from powerful fishing interests?) that encouraged overfishing for decades and failed to protect the habitat cod need to thrive. Read the rest here 07:40
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
ROGER,
ENVIRONMENTALIST SAY FISHERMAN ARE KILLING ALL THE COD IN GOM AREA. I DISAGREE ,BECAUSE ,POLLUTION OF OUR COASTAL WATER IS MAIN REASON WHY OUR COD STOCKS ARE LOW.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE OUR COASTAL WATERS? GLOBAL WARMING-ACID RAIN-FARM AND GRASS FERTILIZERS,OILS-SEWAGE AND OTHER TYPES POLLUTION. EVERYTHING ENDS UP IN OUR COASTAL WATERS , WHICH KILLS MOST OF THE SMALL SEA CRITTER, SEA GRASS, PLANKTON AND SEA ORGANISMS WHICH FISH EAT.
AS A FISHERMAN I HAVE SEEN THESE CHANGES OVER THE YEARS; 1. YELLOW TAIL FLOUNDER, WHICH I FISHED FOR IN 20 TO 30 FATHOMS, ARE NOW FISHED IN 80 TO 90 FATHOMS. THE DEEPER GO, THE LESS POLLUTION. FISH ARE MOVING TO DEEPER WATERS TO GET AWAY FROM OUR POLLUTED WATERS AND FIND FOOD. LOTS OF GREAT WHITE SHARKS ARE ARE SHOWING UP IN OUR NORTHERN WATERS, REASON IS LOTS OF SEALS(SHARK FOOD)- FISH FOLLOW THEIR FOOD . 2. IN RECENT YEARS I AND OTHER FISHERMEN HAVE NOTICED LOTS OF DEAD EGGS ON SHRIMP AND FISH . I BELIEVE THE EGGS ARE STERILE, PROBABLY CAUSED SOME KIND OF POLLUTION..
I BELIEVE, THAT HADDOCK STOCKS AND REDFISH STOCKS ARE STRONG BUT CODFISH STOCKS ARE DEPLETED . FISHERMEN ARE CATCHING HADDOCK AND REDFISH BUT NOT COD. THE REASON IS COD STAYS MOSTLY 10 FATHOMS TO 50 FATHOMS ,, WHERE HADDOCK AND REDFISH LIVE MOSTLY 50 FATHOMS TO 150 FATHOMS.
AS I STATED : POLLUTION OF OUR COASTAL WATERS IS WHY THEIR IS LOW COD STOCKS
THERE IS VERY FEW FISHERMEN AND BOATS LEFT. THANKS TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS , THAT WANTED TO STOP FISHING , A JOB WELL DONE.
NOW, I HOPE THESE ENVIRONMENTALISTS DO THE RIGHT THING AND START WORKING TO STOP THE POLLUTION OF OUR COASTAL WATERS ,SO OUR COD STOCKS COME BACK..
SAM NOVELLO