Clifford Wells’s Recent Comments

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  Weeeell, check out India. The produce about a million tons of fish and shellfish a year and production is rising about 3.5% per year, and incredible growth rate. Aquaculture is about 23% of the production, mainly inland or coastal shrimp (India used to be the largest exporter of shrimp in the world). I got this stuff from the FAO, which seems like a reliable data source. So while Hindus might not eat much fish, and the population has low per-capita fish consumption, India is a true heavy-weight in the fish production industry. The locals are said to especially be fond of river carp, being a vegetarian fish. By the way, child malnutrition in India, mainly from food shortages, is said to be worse than many sub-Saharan countries. It is one of India's best kept dirty little secrets. Compounding the problem, many of the river carp the locals enjoy so much live in waters that are heavily contaminated by mercury and other industrial toxics, so child dementia is even worse than the norm. By comparison, just about any other nation that consumes greater levels of fish have lower rates of dementia and Alzheimer's. In that study, beef was strongly linked with dementia and fish eating was inversely proportional to fish consumption. I thought that was interesting. Stop eating beef, darn it!On So long and thanks for all the fish posted 13 hours, 38 minutes ago 44 Responses

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  Hey be nice, it's Friday before Thanksgiving! Alida, you are right about barotrauma, which applies mainly to reef fish such as grouper, tilefish, red snapper and other fish caught over 12 fathoms deep. We even have bladder ventilation tools for that, but you are correct most still won't make it down ... especially if you have any dolphin or shark around. For that, our solution was to keep all reef fish irregardless of size, and you can only catch "x" many per day. This would eliminate 100 percent of the throw-back mortality. The fact is, the current NMFS regulations REQUIRE you to throw back any under-sized fish, and with deepwater reef species this is a horrible mistake that actually increased fish mortality rates. I didn't make up the rules here, and I think that requirement stinks. If you can only catch 2 or 5 fish a day, that's what you get and you can't cull 100 fish to get 2 or 5 keepers, leaving a trail of dead fish in your wake. But that is what is called reef fishing or "ground fishing." All the pelagics we catch are on top of the water, excepting swordfish and bigeye tuna, which yes are usually caught deep - and eaten, too. Finally, my point about eating seafood protein was meant collectively, worldwide, not individually such as how you feel. There is an immense demand for all kinds of protein, from corn and vegetables and rice to beef and tuna. If you want me to rant about it, many 3rd world countries can't even feed their people, yet they sell their fishing rights to European and Oriental companies to sell their fish (such as bluefin tuna) in expensive markets such as Japan. That's the travesty here. Fortunately, the U.N. does have some programs to teach locals in how to catch fish, and even can provide boats and motors - several years ago a version of the South American "panga boat" was adopted for hook and line subsistence fishing. We're talking starvation here, not some rich kids with a sushi habit. A nice feature was that these panga boats also make excellent medical rescue boats, and are used in many islands of Micronesia now.On So long and thanks for all the fish posted 14 hours, 41 minutes ago 44 Responses

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  Alida, I guess we have different views on catch-and-release. I have been a deep sea fisherman off and on since 1972, and lately all I do it catch and release for sportsfishing billfish. I only eat a few such as dolphinfish, wahoo, ling, and blackfin tuna. I have caught many tarpon, sailfish, and marlin that obviously had been hooked before. By the way, we use de-hooking devices to ensure the fish is released unharmed. In fact, the only tournaments I will fish in are "no meat" contests, where only pictures are needed. Your remarks about hurting fish makes me believe you are not a deepwater fisher-person. I'm not trying to be offensive, just observant. The future of many recreational fisheries is going catch-and-release and the Obama administration seems clearly behind it. Of course, the commercial fishing industry is a slaughterhouse and always was. The "Hindu" argument seems a tad irrelevant because there is a huge demand for seafood protein, even if that it not your particular fancy or disposition.On So long and thanks for all the fish posted 15 hours, 33 minutes ago 44 Responses

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  Hey Eric, I grew up on Long Island Sound, small world! Remember when you could sometimes see thresher shark with that huge tail fin? I haven't seen one since about 1976. And personally, I love mariculture, growing shellfish such as clams, oysters, and mussels. It's not a pelagic operation but an inshore activity, though, and you need clean water with some freshwater inflows. My opinion of "caged fish" or grow-out pens in the ocean is very negative. Many are pushing for offshore aquaculture, which I think is a total fantasy and boondoggle. Many would rather see "wild-caught" fisheries be marketed, and if a species is over-fished, well lets put a temporary ban on their harvest until the population becomes sustainable. Fish aquaculture gives the illusion that the fish are plentiful, when in fact they could be severely endangered and the aquaculture operation only serves to concentrate sea lice, disease, wastes from feeding with additive medicines, and so forth. The tuna grow-out pens of Mexico are a classic example, where "shorts" are fattened into maki-grade bluefin by hosing them with sardines in a large cage, all for the Japan trade. I don't know of a single American fisherman, commercial or recreational, who likes this practice. As was pointed out several times in Grist articles, perhaps you'd do better eating the sardines instead of the pelagics like bluefin tuna. On that topic, tuna, if you want to eat tuna but are concerned about bluefin being near extinct, yellowfin and blackfin tuna are excellent substitutes that are not endangered (at least for now). Plus these "rougher" species of tuna are much smaller and younger than their bluefin cousins, which generally can mean less issues with mercury, histamine, and ciguatera toxicity. As long as a bluefin doesn't go down into the "circle of death" and die, I promote catch-and-release for all incidentally caught bluefin tuna. If its dead, well ethically you should eat it.On So long and thanks for all the fish posted 16 hours, 31 minutes ago 44 Responses

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  Well from one Cliff to another, I stand by my words on using hook & line for most finfish, which is much more common worldwide that you would probably guess. This is especially true in the tuna industry, such as the East Coast bluefin tuna trade (large Penn reels) and the Hawaiin Ahi (handline) trade. Nearly all red snapper are caught with "bandid" fishing reels with a hand crank and a line with 5 hooks on it. I could do on at length about how the Atlantic cod were all caught by handline until the advent of fish factory ships that decimated the Grand Banks. How about Pacific salmon? Ever see a salmon trolling boat like in San Francisco? Those are several lines pulled behind the boat and each fish is hauled in by hand, one at a time. For over 100 years, that's the way it was done. True, for species such as shrimp, squid, sardines, pogies (menhaden), and other small fry, nets have always been used and probably will be forever. Let's not forget pot and trap fishing such as for black fish, crab and lobster. I have to quarrel with that logic. But the evils of longline fishing are well known, and I am surprised you would back such a horrendously wasteful method of fishing. Their by-catch is extraordinary, often containing marlin, sailfish, shark, sea turtle, and birds - all for a relatively few swordfish or tuna. Much of the decline in oceanic shark and turtle species can be directly associated with longline fishing. At least most nets have turtle excluder devices, such as for the shrimp industry. Longlines have nearly 100% mortality for the by-catch, which is dumped overboard as waste. It should be noted that a majority of the environmentalists and the fishermen was to get rid of the longliners, which can put out 10 to 40 miles of line at a time. Sorry, I don't buy that "level of effort" argument that the longliners and the NMFS are pushing. If a fish species is plentiful, you catch it by hand, less that 5 hooks at a time.On So long and thanks for all the fish posted 17 hours, 46 minutes ago 44 Responses