Rock,
I could be wrong, (often, my wife tells me I am), and biology is not my strong point...but I think it is the other way around. From what I recall, when they are very tiny they eat some kind of small living plankton but as they get mature I think they eat particles of decomposing plants. That is certainly the impression I got from the the book and one of the references I had on hand and briefly looked at.. I will have to go back and seek it out.
Re: commercialism. To be perfectly honest, I am not against all commercial fishing. I just want it managed better. IMO fishery managers have not recognized their own mistakes and do not take a conservative approach. They all point the finger at other departments above them for mandating what to do . This is not good science. Where is the accountability? Now I think they need to make up for it with more of a draconian management style. (it was the only thing that worked for SB!)
Again IMO, The "maximum yield theory" does not work when you have an inaccurate count as to exactly how many and where the fish are as well as a complete understanding of where they plan to get their diet from. You can't increase the biomass of a species by 10X and not increase the food source by the same proportion and expect everything else to remain constant. I don't agree with their logic and the status of the fisheries bare me out. BTW, I think in MA the bunker fishery is unmanaged. I don't think there is any required reporting. (and the Black market of guys taking and selling (with no comm bait lic's) under the table is big.)
Anyway, I didn't start this to debate every issue...I just thought it was an interesting and informative book.
It seems every post these days gets controversial...hopefully the fishing season will start soon and we can get back to burning spots.
