This is a quote from a "warning" that came out in 2013
Jellyfish futures ring global ocean industry alarm bells
Jellification of the Black Sea destroyed the anchovy and sturgeon fisheries. They have plugged nuclear plant water intakes in Japan and India
By Trevor Lautens | Oct. 21, 2013, 11 p.m.
Absurd alarmism? Or scarifying prophecy? No, not nuclear Armageddon, overpopulation or even bee extinction. This all-purpose death-dealer is being benignly exhibited (to November 22) to admiring crowds at the Vancouver Aquarium. Jellyfish.
Those pretty translucent blobs that the word “jellyfish” conveys? Who’d have thought? Few of us know the half of it. Expert Lisa-ann Gershwin, director of the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Services, knows so much that she gloomily believes we have passed “some mysterious tipping point that came and went without fanfare, with no red circle on the calendar.”
Her book, Sting! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean (University of Chicago Press), was chillingly reviewed by Tim Flannery last month in The New York Review of Books, headed “They’re Taking Over!”
Some jellyfish – the Irukandjis, no bigger than a thumb – sting so painfully that victims beg for death. They threaten some whale species, penguins, coral reefs. Jellification of the Black Sea destroyed the anchovy and sturgeon fisheries. They have plugged nuclear plant water intakes in Japan and India, and once disabled the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan.
Some weigh half a ton. Some are 50 metres long. Some have overturned boats. They contribute to global warming. They deplete ocean oxygen. Cut up, the parts live on. In sparse times, they “de-grow,” then regenerate to full size. Rabbits would envy their reproduction speed. Those (criminal) driftnets sometimes catch their prime enemy, the sea turtle.
Closer to home, jellyfish can massively sting salmon to death. They increase the ocean acidification that has ravaged our Northwest shellfish, eating away their shells. Pink jellies are abundant in late summer in Deep Cove’s Indian Arm. To say the least, jellyfish are bad for business. (Coincidentally, last week the Vancouver Sun’s Larry Pynn detailed the total collapse of B.C.’s sardine fishery but mentioned no role for jellyfish.)
Cue some relief. Vancouver Aquarium senior biologist Takuji Oyama responds to this summation: “To be honest, to me it’s quite a bit of exaggeration. … What she says is not wrong, but making it scary.”
Japan has been dealing with the problem since the 1960s. (Aquarium director Dr. John Nightingale was travelling and unavailable for comment.)
I have read quite a few fishing reports about the huge numbers of jelly fish this year. Is there a relationship to the lack of salmon?
Seals;
There are an estimated 15 to 25 thousand seals in Georgia Strait, I read another study where 10 seals ate up over 30,000 salmon and fry over a 2 week period. I think I posted the report awhile ago.
They had this problem at the Bonneville dam on the Columbia river about 20 years ago and they started culling the seals. It started a huge rukus with conservationists about not needing to do the cull but the government did anyway. Since then the salmon returns have grown every year to where they now exceed what they think was 100 years ago and the seal population is fine.
Of course there were other things done, the FN joined in with the law, (they have to in the states, one law for everyone) and now they are all reaping the rewards of culling a few seals and conservative FN fishing.
FYI, seal populations in BC is the highest since recording, not counting the transient sea lions, seals and whales all of which have had very healthy comebacks recently.
For my two bits, there has to be a concerted effort by the feds to manage all efforts to restore salmon runs, from culling seals, one law for everyone ( if the FN people have a problem just give them more commercial licences) no more nets in the Fraser (again if the FN people complain, they didn't have them 200 years ago and they didn't have refrigeration either) and total closure of all salmon fishing for short periods.
I am alarmed with the lack of conscience some have dealing with this problem, it was one thing when there were lots and lots of salmon out there, but now IMHO, much, much stricter enforcement is needed.
One thing about salmon, if some of the other things are done, a total cessation of fishing for 5 years or so would likely bring ALL stocks up enormously. Only one or two species would have one unfished cycle to recover. Even total closures of a few weeks commercial (pay them for not fishing) or a total closure at the right time could enhance certain runs.
Closing down some area's of the tidal basin of the Fraser is the only way to stop the FN's from using nets cross the river, then it is a good idea and if the concern is for just the sockeye, then make it mandatory to use bait (minimum 4 inches) in the tidal areas.
Didn't MP Randy White fish every year over the FN preference issue as being in violation of the Canadian Constitution? And every year the government refused to take him to court?
I don't know if any are old enough, but the US did a sting where a FN from BC was caught selling 2 million ponds of sockeye, they had a video. When approached with this the Canadian government gave the chief a million dollars I believe to stop doing it. I wonder if it still happens? Used to listen to Raif Mayer
Jellyfish futures ring global ocean industry alarm bells
Jellification of the Black Sea destroyed the anchovy and sturgeon fisheries. They have plugged nuclear plant water intakes in Japan and India
By Trevor Lautens | Oct. 21, 2013, 11 p.m.
Absurd alarmism? Or scarifying prophecy? No, not nuclear Armageddon, overpopulation or even bee extinction. This all-purpose death-dealer is being benignly exhibited (to November 22) to admiring crowds at the Vancouver Aquarium. Jellyfish.
Those pretty translucent blobs that the word “jellyfish” conveys? Who’d have thought? Few of us know the half of it. Expert Lisa-ann Gershwin, director of the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Services, knows so much that she gloomily believes we have passed “some mysterious tipping point that came and went without fanfare, with no red circle on the calendar.”
Her book, Sting! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean (University of Chicago Press), was chillingly reviewed by Tim Flannery last month in The New York Review of Books, headed “They’re Taking Over!”
Some jellyfish – the Irukandjis, no bigger than a thumb – sting so painfully that victims beg for death. They threaten some whale species, penguins, coral reefs. Jellification of the Black Sea destroyed the anchovy and sturgeon fisheries. They have plugged nuclear plant water intakes in Japan and India, and once disabled the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan.
Some weigh half a ton. Some are 50 metres long. Some have overturned boats. They contribute to global warming. They deplete ocean oxygen. Cut up, the parts live on. In sparse times, they “de-grow,” then regenerate to full size. Rabbits would envy their reproduction speed. Those (criminal) driftnets sometimes catch their prime enemy, the sea turtle.
Closer to home, jellyfish can massively sting salmon to death. They increase the ocean acidification that has ravaged our Northwest shellfish, eating away their shells. Pink jellies are abundant in late summer in Deep Cove’s Indian Arm. To say the least, jellyfish are bad for business. (Coincidentally, last week the Vancouver Sun’s Larry Pynn detailed the total collapse of B.C.’s sardine fishery but mentioned no role for jellyfish.)
Cue some relief. Vancouver Aquarium senior biologist Takuji Oyama responds to this summation: “To be honest, to me it’s quite a bit of exaggeration. … What she says is not wrong, but making it scary.”
Japan has been dealing with the problem since the 1960s. (Aquarium director Dr. John Nightingale was travelling and unavailable for comment.)
I have read quite a few fishing reports about the huge numbers of jelly fish this year. Is there a relationship to the lack of salmon?
Seals;
There are an estimated 15 to 25 thousand seals in Georgia Strait, I read another study where 10 seals ate up over 30,000 salmon and fry over a 2 week period. I think I posted the report awhile ago.
They had this problem at the Bonneville dam on the Columbia river about 20 years ago and they started culling the seals. It started a huge rukus with conservationists about not needing to do the cull but the government did anyway. Since then the salmon returns have grown every year to where they now exceed what they think was 100 years ago and the seal population is fine.
Of course there were other things done, the FN joined in with the law, (they have to in the states, one law for everyone) and now they are all reaping the rewards of culling a few seals and conservative FN fishing.
FYI, seal populations in BC is the highest since recording, not counting the transient sea lions, seals and whales all of which have had very healthy comebacks recently.
For my two bits, there has to be a concerted effort by the feds to manage all efforts to restore salmon runs, from culling seals, one law for everyone ( if the FN people have a problem just give them more commercial licences) no more nets in the Fraser (again if the FN people complain, they didn't have them 200 years ago and they didn't have refrigeration either) and total closure of all salmon fishing for short periods.
I am alarmed with the lack of conscience some have dealing with this problem, it was one thing when there were lots and lots of salmon out there, but now IMHO, much, much stricter enforcement is needed.
One thing about salmon, if some of the other things are done, a total cessation of fishing for 5 years or so would likely bring ALL stocks up enormously. Only one or two species would have one unfished cycle to recover. Even total closures of a few weeks commercial (pay them for not fishing) or a total closure at the right time could enhance certain runs.
Closing down some area's of the tidal basin of the Fraser is the only way to stop the FN's from using nets cross the river, then it is a good idea and if the concern is for just the sockeye, then make it mandatory to use bait (minimum 4 inches) in the tidal areas.
Didn't MP Randy White fish every year over the FN preference issue as being in violation of the Canadian Constitution? And every year the government refused to take him to court?
I don't know if any are old enough, but the US did a sting where a FN from BC was caught selling 2 million ponds of sockeye, they had a video. When approached with this the Canadian government gave the chief a million dollars I believe to stop doing it. I wonder if it still happens? Used to listen to Raif Mayer
