How the US stopped its fisheries from collapsing

[HuckleB]

http://www.vox.com/2014/5/8/5669120/how-the-us-stopped-its-fisheries-from-collapsing

"We hear a lot of grim stories about overfishing and the decline of fisheries around the world. Bluefin tuna is vanishing. Chilean sea bass is dwindling. Pretty soon, it sometimes seems like, all that'll be left is the jellyfish.

So it's worth highlighting a country that has actually done a lot to curtail overfishing and rebuild its fisheries in the past decade — the United States.

Back in the 1980s and '90s, many fisheries in the US were in serious trouble. Fish populations were dropping sharply. Some of New England's best-known groundfish stocks — including flounder, cod, and haddock — had collapsed, costing the region's coastal communities hundreds of millions of dollars.

But the picture has improved considerably in the last decade, thanks in part to stricter fishing regulations. Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its annual fisheries update for 2013 — and the news was encouraging. Yes, progress has been uneven. About one-fifth of assessed stocks are still overfished. But on the whole, US fisheries are steadily recovering.

..."



Umm. So. Yeah. Regulation is helpful!

[HuckleB]

1. Hello.

[badtoworse]

2. I have to agree; there have been some great successes in this area.

Haddock and striped bass are good examples. I wish the situation with winter flounder would improve in the northeast. I can remember catching lots a flounder in the 60's and 70's, but flounder fishing has been lousy for at least 20 years now. The recreational limit is 2 fish per person per day and it's been that for a long time, but it doesn't seem to be working.

[HuckleB]

3. Interesting, and a definite bummer.

I wonder what the factors are holding back the northeast flounder population. Thanks for sharing.

[badtoworse]

4. Personally, I believe it is the loss of coastal wetlands.

Winter flounder spawn in the bays in the spring time and the wetlands produce the tiny organisms that the newly hatched fry feed on. A lot of those wetlands have been filled in for condos and other coastal development. You're right - it's a real bummer.

[HuckleB]

5. That would make sense.

Are there efforts for restoration in the northeast?

[badtoworse]

13. I believe the issue is being studied, but I'm not aware of any measures aimed at restoration

I'll google the issue once in a while to see if anything is going on, but I can't say I'm an expert. I just know the fishing has been lousy.

[Eleanors38]

10. We face a similar problem in Texas with drought and climate change...

Sure, the Lower Colorado River Authority can cut back fresh water supplies to the rice farmers SW of Houston, and has for 3 years, thus conserving water upstream for Austin and river towns, but the lack of fresh water input to bays & estuaries threatens Texas's (wonderful!) shrimp stocks, and may have long-range impact on red fish pops & other animals, including birds. They all live in or on the Gulf, but salinity is a crucial lynchpin in shore life.

[HuckleB]

11. Ugh. I'm sorry to hear the bad news.

I also have a weird question. Is there a Colorado River in Texas, as well as the one that from Colorado through Utah and creates the border between Nevada/California and Arizona?

[Eleanors38]

12. Yes. Outside of Texas, our Colorado is often called

the Texas Colorado, but it is just Colorado, here. It's a tough little river with "headwaters" in very arrid areas of the state along the NM border. It is heavily damed, chiefly as result of the WPA, for power, urban water use and recreation. There is (was) reliance on large, timely releases for rice farmers. That is just no longer sustainable. Currently, the Lake Travis reservoir created by Mansfield Dam (Austin's chief water source) is 40' below normal levels, and had been thusly for at least 3 yrs. Hard to even fish it anymore.

[HuckleB]

14. Interesting! Very interesting.

Thanks for the history. Awesome!

[Eleanors38]

16. Anytime!

[badtoworse]

15. It's all about competition for limited resources.

Usually, it's the moneyed interests that get the biggest slice of pie.

[Eleanors38]

17. Austin is in the process of building a 1bill. dollar treatment

plant for a lake that is chronically 40' below normal. It can't invent water! And we have treatment capacity in our present facilities. It doesn't matter how "progressive" Austin's politicians say they are, they still gaze back at Sodom, and give developers pretty much what they want. Even San Antonio's water conservation policies are more stringent than Austin's. But we do have higher taxes (my prop. taxes are up $600+), and the rents are sky-high. So, there.

[SalviaBlue]

6. K&R

[HuckleB]

7. Thanks!

[okaawhatever]

8. Kicking for good news. nt

[HuckleB]

18. Yeah! It's nice to get good news once in a while!

[Eleanors38]

9. Good post. Our federal & state agencies charged with protecting

commercial fishing stocks, "recreational" fishing and game species and wildlife in general are subject to huge political pressures and chronic underfunding, but in the main have done a solid job. I've watched the ebb & flow of oceanic species over the years, and this is good news.