some interesting thoughts here, but, the one thing I overheard John R say at plug night, rings true... "Fix the bait."
Lots of stuff running off the shoreline into the estuaries now, here on the cape, anyways, what with all the new large trophy house with their acres of pristine well fertilized and watered lawns and gardens, new roads= new runoff. Guys I know in the clammin and aquaculture end really have seen the problem firsthand from all the new nitrogen runoff. These guys are literally knee deep in the water all day. My neighbor who has a huge grant, he says the decline of bait fish in Pleasant bay the last 3 years is extremely alarming. That, plus the dramatic increase of weed, that nitrogen must feed it
. He says he sees more cleared shorefront, and more new plywood every week, so, it won't get any better, here, I'm afraid.