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Originally Posted by John D.
Not trying to play marine biologist but it’s easy to say it’s the comms or global warming. With tuna it’s as simple as if the food water is in the area. When was the last time you saw a LEGIT eddy break off or see the steam push vertical instead of horizontal off of NC? It’s been 5 years. That’s how long.
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I'm not suggesting weather, water temps, bait don't all impact fish movements but my opinion is the world's oceans are getting smaller due to technology advancements and world demand for fish is increasing exponentially. Steam might be pushing horizontal but see more yellow fin tuna in the fish markets today than years gone by so someone's harvesting them. Individual owner operators are being replaced by conglomerates with the financial resources to more efficiently harvest those resources. One species after another is being pushed to the brink until it's no longer economically viable to target. Ling / whiting in the mud hole is a perfect example years ago. Throw cod and mackerel into the mix as well. Small mesh netters destroyed the ling / whiting fishery until it wasn't economically viable any longer and they moved on. Same thing is happening world wide with every fishery with a commercial presence. You can't over fish a resource which is dependent on its own reproduction and expect it to sustain its existence......it's that simple. Problem as always is money talks and many of the ocean's resources are failing under the pressure.
Do the research and look at harvest numbers in this case with tuna and the problem jumps off the page. Countries now netting juvenile tuna, keeping them alive, feeding them in fish farms until ready to be brought to market and making millions in the process. What impact is this practice having on reproduction and who monitors and evaluates it?
I'm not an advocate of over regulation, I am an advocate of sensible fisheries management. You can't expect salt water resources where no stocking takes place and fish are harvested virtually year round to sustain themselves without adequate reproduction levels being managed relative to overall harvest. It's a losing proposition.
Interesting read on Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD's). The oceans resources are being destroyed by commercial over-harvest fueled by corporate greed and technology advancements. View the data in Figure 5. to get an idea of what's happening in our oceans which most of us aren't even aware of.
https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/art.../1/215/2418180
