Tag Archives: Capt. Van Hubbard

Let’s be proactive with red tide

Would it be smart of us to be prepared for whenever red tide strikes again? What could it hurt to get rid of the dead fish? The public beaches and waterfront homeowners certainly don’t benefit from smelly dead fish around. It costs to dump into our landfills and waste them. Can we find uses for them? They are fabulous fertilizer, rich in nitrogen. This nitrogen could feed citrus or other crops instead of red tide. It’s challenging to find anyone willing to harvest this mess. But shrimp boats were used successfully of Pinellas County. Commercial fishermen picked up fish in several counties. Can we get started ahead of this by lining up independent contractors now, before red tide returns? It’s not cheap, but fewer dead fish in the water could significantly reduce red tide’s impacts to our economy and noses. >click to read< 10:39

Our water quality problems are a tangled mess, but they can be fixed

What can we or local governments do about red tide? Another major outbreak could be disaster. But it could be necessary to forces us to address the sources of nutrient pollution. Reality is government ignores everything it can. To fix things, the sources have to be outed, and then it will take money to clean things up. But elected officials need contributions to get elected and re-elected. It’s expensive to campaign. What do those big contributions buy? >click to read< 09:04

Listen to those who know: Fishery managers should be paying attention to voices of experience

Could we stop talking about working with the fishery experts and start actually working with them? The experts, in my opinion, are the folks who have survived by fishing for generations, not the ones with degrees but minimal field experience.,,, I’m not a management expert. But I have worked with most aspects of fisheries for 40 years, so I have a lot more than a clue. I have a better understanding and a lot more experience than many that claim expertise. I’ve attended more meetings, seminars, symposiums, public hearings and classes than I could afford to. I’ve dedicated my life to fishing. Much of this was to give back, trying to help. But it’s time for me to accept reality: by Capt. Van Hubbard >click to read<  08:22