Killing Young Fish Results In Population Growth, Study Finds
If you kill more fish, the total population of the species declines. However, kill only small, young fish, the total number of small, young fish increases. This seemingly paradoxical conclusion has far reaching implications for the sustainable management of oceans, and is the result of a theoretical study conducted by a research team led by Prof. André de Roos of the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam. Read the rest of the article.
Here is a related article from last December:
Want Sustainable Fishing? Keep Only Small Fish, And Let The Big Ones Go
Scientists at the University of Toronto analysed Canadian fisheries data to determine the effect of the “keep the large ones” policy that is typical of fisheries. What they found is that the effect of this policy is an unsustainable fishery. The whole article.
How close do your state’s regulations match with the research from those two articles?
And here is the other new one:
Fish Health Claims May Cause More Environmental Harm Than Good, Researchers Say
The health benefits of fish consumption have been over-dramatized and have put increased pressure on wild fish, according to a new research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Finish reading it here.
Of course, they keep missing the main benefits of fish “health claims” (at least, I claim these benefits to my wife all the time): It’s not the eating of the fish that gives the benefits, it’s the finding and catching of the fish that brings the benefits.
What thinkest thou?
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I am working from that hypothesis now. Fresh air, exercise, early to bed and early to rise, fish as often as prudently possible and take Omega 3 capsules.
Sounds like a good routine. I’m in the middle of the fish part, not getting the sleep, but that will happen as soon as I get home (I find it easier to catch up on missing sleep than it is to catch up on missing fishing).
Intersting articles. New York state has started encouraging deer hunters to focus less on taking only big bucks and take more younger ones for similar reasons.
MDW
We’ll see if management plans make some changes and what kind of impact that might have.
The only concern I have about the idea of taking the smaller fish is the difficulty of cleaning them! I do like the idea of improving the populations by eating more fish!
Dan, good point about cleaning them! You could always tin (can) them. The high heat softens the bones. When I lived in New Zealand, there was a man a couple of blocks away who had a canning setup and he always tinned his trout. The bones, vertebrae and all, became soft enough to eat (supposed to be a great source of calcium). Or you could you could make “sardines” (here’s a recipe). Or you could just sell them to your local bait fishermen!