Quote:
Originally Posted by numbskull
Once upon a time, cod would have universally been considered the "most important fish in the sea". Shows how low in the barrel we are now.
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There is no question that the The "Marine fishery Managers" under the guidance of the expert "Marine Fishery Scientists" destroyed this fishery by the LACK of regulation on codfish. It pisses me off when I hear comm guys talk about the "good ol days" of cod fishing....it was so damn good because they were destroying the fishery. My fix to codfishing: Complete shut down for 10 years (rec and comm), then re-evaluate.
Re. bunker : All the rich history of the weird fish(ery) aside, what I took away from the book were 3 main reasons of the importance of this fish over many other fish:
1) This fish is one of the only fish that converts plant materials to rich protein. It does not eat smaller fish (like most other fish do). It is continually filtering decomposing vegetable matter from the water (a good thing for the water) and creating a rich oily flesh. In this regard it is a machine.
2) It has an incredible reproductive cycle. It pumps out eggs almost continually, spawning multi times up and down the coast each year. The numbers of eggs (annually) this fish produces for its size is huge compared to once a year spawners.
3)There was/is huge money in this fish. The comm. fishing has declined from 250+ outfits to 1 or 2. However it was not until the industrialization of the fishery with the invention of purse seining with spotter planes that they were able to actually put a dent in the population. (by taking every single fish in a school)
OK, I see all this as good news. Given the reproduction rate of this thing it is reasonable to assume that if left alone in 4 years or so we should start seeing increased bait supply again. Considering the good it does as a rich food source for other fish as well as helping to filter the water, it looks like a win-win...moreover, I think it it would not take much to bring it back to what it was if they took the $ off the fishes head for a few years, then more carefully regulated it.
I don't want to get religious but personally this is one of those fish (similar to the squid but with a kicker...) that I view that God put on this earth in vast numbers to support the large biomass of fish on this planet. Think about it, you can't eat it, it smells, it has an insane reproduction rate, you cant even catch it on rod and reel, it has "no" value or interest to the average guy but it is a rich food source for almost every larger fish (and seabird) in on the coast...and it does this unique thing, converting plants to meat...while ridding the water of nuisance material that no other fish eats. IMO if this fish was allowed to rebound back to its former numbers (and this seems plausible given its reproduction) then I think that SB and many other fish would be healthier and grow in size and numbers.
OK, tell me why I am naive...