Not collapsING. Collapsed.
At least that's what two scientists from Scripps are saying: Popular fisheries collapse amidst 'illusion of plenty' | SignOnSanDiego.com
Short excerpt:
"Two popular recreational fisheries in Southern California have collapsed despite an "illusion of plenty," according to scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and elsewhere across the region.
They said in a newly published journal article that regional populations of barred sand bass and kelp bass have plummeted by 90 percent since 1980 due to fishing and ocean conditions. Both spawn in the summer when fishing pressure by the commercial passenger fleet is high.
Fish declines have been masked by "hyperstability," in which anglers successfully target fish spawning areas even though overall populations are shriveling, scientists said. They urged fisheries managers to adjust their methods for calculating abundance so they can reduce the chances for overfishing..."
Chilling, non?
On a related note: I attended an F&G assessment meeting on SoCal Halibut stocks recently. The F&G line? {Para}"Halibut stocks MAY be in serious trouble... but there's not enough data to say for sure".
Most of the data used in this F&G halibut assessment was obtained from commercial and sport fishing take. That's not good enough. Those same concerns are targeting available populations... of course. Just because they're coming back to the dock with fish doesn't mean the populations overall are healthy.
I've said it before: For all the good that F&G does, they don't always have their finger on the pulse of our local populations. Now we have two fisheries that are in crisis (according to the Scripps researchers and others). F&G was quick to close the abalone fishery in Sonoma county, recently, when the abs started washing up dead on beaches by the hundreds (if not thousands). I hope the interested parties can take appropriate action before our two bass populations (and others perhaps) close in on an extinction event.
Bill Powers
Here is a link to the above mentioned Journal article: The illusion of plenty: hyperstability masks collapses in two recreational fisheries that target fish spawning aggregations - Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
At least that's what two scientists from Scripps are saying: Popular fisheries collapse amidst 'illusion of plenty' | SignOnSanDiego.com
Short excerpt:
"Two popular recreational fisheries in Southern California have collapsed despite an "illusion of plenty," according to scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and elsewhere across the region.
They said in a newly published journal article that regional populations of barred sand bass and kelp bass have plummeted by 90 percent since 1980 due to fishing and ocean conditions. Both spawn in the summer when fishing pressure by the commercial passenger fleet is high.
Fish declines have been masked by "hyperstability," in which anglers successfully target fish spawning areas even though overall populations are shriveling, scientists said. They urged fisheries managers to adjust their methods for calculating abundance so they can reduce the chances for overfishing..."
Chilling, non?
On a related note: I attended an F&G assessment meeting on SoCal Halibut stocks recently. The F&G line? {Para}"Halibut stocks MAY be in serious trouble... but there's not enough data to say for sure".
Most of the data used in this F&G halibut assessment was obtained from commercial and sport fishing take. That's not good enough. Those same concerns are targeting available populations... of course. Just because they're coming back to the dock with fish doesn't mean the populations overall are healthy.
I've said it before: For all the good that F&G does, they don't always have their finger on the pulse of our local populations. Now we have two fisheries that are in crisis (according to the Scripps researchers and others). F&G was quick to close the abalone fishery in Sonoma county, recently, when the abs started washing up dead on beaches by the hundreds (if not thousands). I hope the interested parties can take appropriate action before our two bass populations (and others perhaps) close in on an extinction event.
Bill Powers
Here is a link to the above mentioned Journal article: The illusion of plenty: hyperstability masks collapses in two recreational fisheries that target fish spawning aggregations - Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
