Where did all the cod go? Fishing crisis in the North Sea
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
We really fucked things up.
1. Goliath Grouper (formerly known as Jewfish) have been protected in Florida for quite awhile — meaning none could have been brought in for the more recent photos at all (these are the huge fish in the first few photos). Anyone who fishes in South Florida knows how abundant these fish are now. If a single person wanted to (and the law allowed it) they could easily bring in a half-ton of fish in a day. In some places it would be possible to do this from shore, without a boat.
2. Catch and release for species shown in the older photos: Permit, Amberjack (known to be particularly worm-filled) Ladyfish, shark species is greatly on the rise as modern fishermen in Florida have no interest in eating those fish (Ladyfish particularly are considered trash fish and/or bait, although they are quite fun to catch). Charter captains will STRONGLY encourage their release.
3. Using average is a poor metric when people were bringing in multiple 300lb.+ Goliath Grouper and now the emphasis is on keeping smaller food fish: Yellowtail Snapper, Grunts, etc.
4. Fishing in the Keys is HIGHLY seasonal. There’s no indication in the article if the photos are from the same time of year. I would guess the older Permit-filled photo is from the winter and the newer photo with Yellowtail Snapper and a few other smaller fish is from spring or early summer.
5. The specifically mentioned shrinkage in shark size is again related to both laws and changing priorities in fishermen and charter captains. Very few people will consider keeping a shark these days unless the fish is dead when it gets to the boat or it’s a small Blacktip or Mako that might be good eating.
Unfortunately, overfishing combined with pollution and climate change has severely depleted stocks. It's just another example of ruthless industrialization and commercialization resulted in pushing the environment past the brink. An industry unregulated will eventually eat itself out of existence with terrible side effects.
The traditional British fish supper could be replaced by the likes of squid as the waters around the UK's shores grow warmer, say government scientists.
This new, cosmopolitan fish n chips thing would hundreds of years before it was more popular than the more traditional jellied eel n peas. I think that was the most popular takeaway supper until eel numbers started to hurt from industrial pollution.
Industrial-scale cod fishing started producing as freshwater and shore fish stocks declined. I imagine the batter's job was to mask the "weird" texture and flavour.
These days, picky eaters in the UK will only eat cod (or stuff dubiously labeled cod). No freshwater fish that isn't a trout is considered edible in the UK, even though Americans and Europeans eat pike, eel, perch, etc.
Anyway, preferences and availability always play on each other over time. Kalamari n' chips works for me. Make mine sweet potato please.
I thought the batter was originally there as a crust in which the fish would steam in its own moisture, and some people claim it was originally discarded after cooking, until people started to eat it as well.
I wonder if they had an influence on British battered foods as well?
(I'm talking about Lake Michigan Perch)
In Scotland, fish and chips is usually haddock. England is cod. You can often find plaice and chips as well.
I was a fisheries observer before I changed careers to programming.
Longline fishing is insanely unsustainable. Seeing and recording the bycatch is both heartbreaking and makes you incredibly angry.
The problem is that they need to be fed with other fish.... and the pollution is vile.
Pretty terse answer, really.
I'm not sure about the fishing industry but there's an odd phenomenon among loggers. Loggers hate tree-planters. It's as if it's a war on trees, and hippies are supporting the enemy. The notion that today's saplings are next-generation loggers' income never seems to take
I can't readily find a source for that, but did find this:
https://www.workingforests.org/forest-landowners-plant-three...
I can imagine the distaste for professional loggers was more for the foolish behaviour of transient young people compared to the "professional" loggers than the actual act of tree planting. But that's just a guess.
I think there's probably quite a bit of propaganda and echo-chamber reinforcement these small towns get to destroy the environment with such a cavalier attitude.
This might sound far fetched, but when the Galapagos Sea Cucumbers were massively overfished and collapsed more than a decade ago, the local fishermen did blame the scientists (at Darwin Station) and it ultimately led to armed threats (against the scientists initially, but eventually on Lonesome George since he was a bigger celebrity).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12174601
(edit grammar)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_cod
When will humans learn?
> Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to another area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area.
No areas left.
All the mammals (and other animals) multiply as much as they can, only not having enough to eat, or another species eating them can stop that. In most cases populations fluctuate around some equilibrium, but that's caused by dying off in other cases, not by some instinctive virtue.
Humans multiply because they can increase the amount of available resource with technology, not by moving to new area.
Ecosystems tend to evolve up to a point where the sun’s energy is optimally tapped.
Species that are too agressive tend to die out or evolve into a milder form.
Agreed for the second part of the quote.