Quote:
Originally Posted by stripermaineiac
We used to have so many silversides and anchovies in the water in Maine that as A kid I could stand on a rock on the Camp Ellis Jetty and dip all I needed each time I went fishing with a kids sand bucket as the Mackeral and Pollock would push them into the rocks each time they went by. Not no more as all 4 speicies are pretty much gone so it's already happenening.
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I've seen the same disappearance of silversides here in MA and RI, but a lot of that has to do with the silversides' strict requirements for a successful spawn. Even the adults have strict requirements in order to survive. anchovies are slightly more tolerant in the conditions they can survive in, same as sandeels. I agree we need to protect the forage base if we want the predators to thrive. The only real way to protect the forage is to stop harvesting them during their breeding season and allowing them to spawn before harvesting, but this would mean the commercial operations would not be as profitable because a species does not congregate except for procreation and are generally spread out over larger areas. Also many of these species come inshore to breed and can be trapped against the shore by the predators, including man.
Just look at the elver fishery and the demise of the eel population in general.
Just my $.02 Ron