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Conservation — No Comments
13
Mar 13

Why Climate Change Matters – Science Wed

Just read about a group of outdoors sporting organizations asked President Obama to take action on climate change. Those groups included the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, Ducks Unlimited, TU and others.

Thought I’d share some thoughts about why climate change matters for you, the angler interested in pursuing bonefish.

While I can envision a future where water temps in the SF Bay support resident populations of bonefish, that future is likely very, very far away. However, climate change poses an immediate threat to a place we mostly all love… the Bahamas.

All you need is a one meter rise in sea levels and, well… bad things happen (source).

 1 m SLR places 36% of the major tourism
properties at risk, along with 38% of
airports, 14% of road networks and 90%
of sea ports.

Yeah… that’s not good. These places won’t be under water next year, but seas are rising faster than originally expected and it could me we have, oh, 100-150 years for a full meter sea rise.

This stuff has been here for thousands of years and it is supposed to be here for longer than just another 150.

So… it matters. It matters to me, and if you love bonefish and the Bahamas, it should matter to you.

sigh...

sigh…

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All the other stuff — 1 Comment
30
Jan 13

Cuda… world traveler.

Science Wed. is back with a little thought about Barracuda. I tend to think of cudas as kind of home bodies. Turns out, they might not be.

Overall, the pattern of high global dispersal and connectivity in S. barracuda more closely resembles those reported for large oceanic predators than reef-associated teleosts.

Hmmm… I am wondering just how far a cuda might travel in search of cuda love.

In a related bit of wondering… I wonder what the genetic mixing is of the African tarpon. I looked for some studies on that, but couldn’t find any. The Tarpon fishery here is pretty well down to a science and we have found damn near every pass they have to make their way through. I’d bet that same level of detail is known about African tarpon, but more because they are conusmed and not because they are as highly pursued for sport.

I love cuda and love learning a little bit more about them.

Got my Cuda down in Andros.

Got my Cuda down in Andros.

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Conservation — No Comments
16
Jan 13

Smell you later

I almost forgot about Science Wednesday.  By that, I mean to say I totally forgot about Science Wednesday, but I figure slightly delayed is still pretty good.

So… let’s talk about what happens to those C&R bonefish. It turns out they stink. They stink no so you or I would notice, but if you were say, a Negaprion brevirostris, you would likely take notice. That’s a lemon shark and while you might like lemon with your fish, it turns out that the lemon has a bit of a taste for fish as well. In this case, it is stinky bonefish they are partial to.

You catch a fish, the fish gets stressed and it releases some chemicals. I had thought that chemical was cortisol, but it turns out that particular chemical is too weak to detect. The ammonia and urea, on the other hand are put out there in quantities that scream “Here I am, come eat me!”

This is why bonefish handling is so important. You need to minimize the fight time and air exposure so that fish is capable of doing what it needs to do when it gets release, which is going really fast to get away from young lemon sharks who are attracted to the chemical neon sign that fish is putting out reading “Bonefish, all you can eat (supplies limited).”

One of the authors of this study is Andy Danylchuk.

Thanks for the pull. Sorry it didn't work out.

Thanks for the pull. Sorry it didn’t work out.

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