A Must Read! FishNet USA / Dogfish and seals and dolphin, oh my!
The bottom line is that while commercial fishermen from North Carolina to Maine are at work catching on the order of half a million mt of fish and shellfish a year, it appears as if it takes an annual 20,000,000 tons or more to keep all those marine mammals and low-value spiny dogfish and various other predatory fish going. How much of that 20 million tons is commercially/recreationally valuable species or the forage species that sustain them? No one seems awfully interested in finding that out, but they sure should be. Read the rest here 10:55
First off Dogfish should be heavily targeted. Even Bigelow and the other Dr. called them the scurge of Georges Bank in back the 70’s and 80’s. They’re nothing more then eating MACHINES that have been left unchecked and their population has taken over vast Areas only to offset the Eco-system. As opportunity feeders they have displaced many important FOOD and/or Game Fish, thus undermining local ECONOMIES.
Industrial fishing for FORAGE FISH near Shore also contributes to this. NOAA and the COMMERCE DEPARTMENT can take responsibility for each of these. Read up on the 1993 Senate Finance Committees inquest to get a better handle on the latter.
If Forage is being taken to feed Industrial raised Fowl there are many Fields being left to lay fallow with the Farmers being paid to do so. Plus Ethanol is a joke in regards to a Fuel additive. The mixture does nothing to help fuel economy in fact it does just the opposite. We sure as SHIT are not reducing emissions, it takes more fuel to travel the same distance.
We should be looking into utilizing the Moss, Seaweed, and such thrown up on the Beaches after STORMS. There is a good potential for Composting for Soil and Methane generation. Don’t dump it in a Land Fill or wait for it to be sucked back out, it just chokes the BOTTOM.
COMMON SENSE could cure a lot of these ILLS…