Eel Poaching in Rhode Island

[spence]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Simple logic. If (lets just say) one in ten thousand elvers survives to become an adult silver eel, then a fisherman could catch nine thousand elvers and not do as much damage as a bait fisherman catching one adult eel.

Those 9000 elvers aren't just dying of natural causes, most are probably being eaten by natural predators. Remove the 9000 and the natural predators just eat the 1000 that are left.

-spence

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by spence

Those 9000 elvers aren't just dying of natural causes, most are probably being eaten by natural predators. Remove the 9000 and the natural predators just eat the 1000 that are left.

-spence

I disagree. most predators are opportunistic and if the eels are there they'll eat something else. Also we don't know what the causes of natural mortality are, so it is merely an assumption that it all due to predators. As I said before, the main cause of mortality on adult, silver eels is hydroelectric dams.

[spence]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

I disagree. most predators are opportunistic and if the eels are there they'll eat something else. Also we don't know what the causes of natural mortality are, so it is merely an assumption that it all due to predators. As I said before, the main cause of mortality on adult, silver eels is hydroelectric dams.

It's a systems problem though...unless steps can be taken to reduce human caused mortality you still only have the remainder in the food chain. If predators shift to other food sources does that pressure other threatened species?

-spence

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by spence

It's a systems problem though...unless steps can be taken to reduce human caused mortality you still only have the remainder in the food chain. If predators shift to other food sources does that pressure other threatened species?

-spence

If what you are saying is that its all interrelated and what we really need is ecosystem management, I couldn't agree more. The problem though is that relatively little is known about the ecosystem, so there is little to base any ecosystem management on. One easy fix is to shut down hydroelectric turbines during the prime migration of silver eels to the sea, but NOAA/NMFS doesn't have the authority to do that, so the killing continues.