Humans skilled anglers 42,000 years ago

Fish hooks and fishbones dating back 42,000 years found in a cave in East Timor suggest that humans were capable of skilled, deep-sea fishing 30,000 years earlier than previously thought, researchers in Australia and Japan said on Friday.

The artefacts — nearly 39,000 fishbones and three fish hooks — were found in a limestone cave in Jerimalai in East Timor, 50 metres (165 feet) above sea level, said Sue O’Connor from the Australian National University’s department of archaeology and natural history.

“There was never any hint of (what) maritime technology people might have had in terms of fishing gear 40,000 years ago,” O’Connor, the study’s lead author, told Reuters by telephone from Canberra.

“(This study showed) you got ability to make hooks, you are using lines on those hooks. If you can make fibre lines, you can make nets, you are probably using those fibres on your boats.”

“It gives us a lot of information on how people subsisted on these very small islands on their way to Australia,” she said.

Modern humans were capable of long-distance sea travel 50,000 years ago as they colonised Australia, but evidence of advanced maritime fishing has been rare.

Researchers until now have only been able to find evidence of open-ocean fishing up to 12,000 years ago.

HOOKS MADE FROM SHELL

O’Connor and her colleagues, who published their findings in the journal Science, found the bones and hooks in a 1 sq metre “test pit” in the cave, 300 metres (985 feet) from the coast.

“All the bones we got inside were just the result of human meals, 40,000 years ago,” said O’Connor.

“They were living in that shelter and we are fortunate that all the materials are preserved so well in that limestone cave, which preserves bone and shell really well,” she said.

The fish hooks were apparently made from the shells of the Trochus, a large sea snail.

“They are very strong shell … we think they just put bait on and dropped the hook in the water from a boat (at the) edge of a reef,” O’Connor said.

The fish bones were traced to 23 species of fish, including tuna, unicornfish, parrotfish, trevallies, triggerfish, snappers, emperors and groupers.

“Parrotfish and unicorn were probably caught on baited hooks … but tuna are deepwater, fast-moving fish. Tuna and trevallies were probably caught by lure fishing,” O’Connor said.

http://www.discoveryon.info/2012/01/humans-skilled-anglers-42000-years-ago.html

How a simple change in fishing gear can save Atlantic's sharks

Pew lays out simple steps to cut bycatch numbers
November 2011: Simple changes in fishing gear could significantly reduce the large number of sharks unintentionally caught in the world's oceans, according to a new global scientific review.

The paper, Fisheries Bycatch Of Sharks: Options For Mitigation, has been released by the Pew Environment Group, and outlines practical options for reducing shark injury and death from commercial fishing, a leading cause of shark population decline.

Although sharks are not the primary target of most fisheries, they can make up the majority of the catch in some regions of the world. Pew's ocean science division worked with two scientific experts to research options to reduce shark bycatch, which occurs when the animals are caught in fishing gear set for other species.

Nylon lines allow sharks to bite themselves freeViable modifications found by the researchers include changing the type of bait; switching the material used to create leaders, which attach fishing lines to hooks; and modifying the shape of hooks. Fishermen sometimes use wire leaders to maximise shark catch, but replacing the wire with nylon can allow sharks to break free as they can bite through the line.

‘Banning wire leaders and not allowing vessels to retain certain species would help reduce the vast number of sharks caught and killed in Atlantic fisheries,' said Jill Hepp, manager of global shark conservation for the Pew Environment Group. ‘The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) meeting is a good place to build support for using some of these new methods to avoid catching sharks in the first place.'

'There is a lack of political will to control bycatch'The review reports that in the US Atlantic, sharks made up 25 per cent of the total catch of open ocean longline fishery between 1992 and 2003. In 2009, fishing vessels reported catching 58,100 metric tonnes of blue sharks, 264 metric tonnes of porbeagles, and 5,605 metric tonnes of shortfin makos. There has been progress made in recent years to protect the bigeye thresher, oceanic whitetip, and hammerhead sharks in the Atlantic. The committee recommends that silky sharks receive the same level of protection, since these animals were classified in ICCAT's most recent Ecological Risk Assessment as being among the most vulnerable species.

‘While enhanced protections are now helping to safeguard certain species, the majority of sharks remain under threat due to countries' overall lack of political will to control the amount of bycatch hauled in by their fishing vessels,' said Jill. ‘This review spells out clearly that there are plenty of ways to make fishing more sustainable when it comes to sharks, which, coupled with better fisheries management, would go a long way toward protecting these animals.'

The increasing demand and high prices for shark fins means fishermen have little motivation to release these animals while they are still alive. Up to 73 million sharks are killed every year, primarily to support global demand for fins, which are prized in Asia as a delicacy in soup.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/shark-bycatch.html

A Fish's Personality May Determine How It Is Captured

ScienceDaily (Oct. 4, 2011) — A fish's personality may determine how it is captured. This association between personality difference and capture-technique could have significant evolutionary and ecological consequences for affected fish populations, as well as for the quality of fisheries.

Anglers fishing near rocky outcrops or in areas of water with submerged vegetation may be more likely to catch timid fish, while those fishing in open water may be more likely to reel in bolder fish, according to new research conducted at Queen's University Biological Station.

"Boldness -- the tendency of an individual to take risks -- is one personality trait of considerable interest to behavioural biologists," explains lead author Alexander Wilson, a visiting biologist from Carleton University. "Ours is the first study to have characterized a relationship between capture technique and individual boldness in a wild population of fish."

The researchers examined the personalities of bluegill sunfish caught by two different capture techniques -- angling (a hook attached to a fishing line) and beach seining (a long net that is dragged through water to encircle fish).

Fish caught in the wild by angling were more timid than fish captured in the wild using a seine net. However, when a group of fish captured by seine net was then released in a large outdoor pool and angled for, it was the bold individuals who were most often caught in the open.

According to Dr. Wilson, these findings make ecological sense. Despite spending equal times angling in open water areas and in areas with refuge, the researcher caught more fish in the areas with refuge -- a habitat that appeals more to timid fish. On the other hand, beach seining or angling in open water are both capture techniques that are more likely to target bolder, risk-taking fish.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111004151635.htm

'I'm the king of the swimmers': Rare sighting of orang-utan taking a dip in crocodile infested river

In the Jungle Book, orangutan King Louis wanted nothing more than to be like me and you-oo-oo. And these kings of the swimmers seem to have the same ambition – diving into pools and even fishing for their tea.
The pictures have amazed experts, who have long believed the apes to be scared of water.
But for these two, named Sif and Menteng, not even the threat of crocodiles is enough to keep them home and dry.
The behaviour was witnessed at an orangutan reserve in Indonesian Borneo, by Canadian professor Anne Russon, 64, who has studied the animals since 1989.
She said: 'They're sinkers and they know it, which is why they're very cautious anyway.

'Sif is a real water baby and she'd only try this if she was entirely confident she could reach her target without sinking.

'She uses it for serious purposes like crossing wide bodies of water too deep for wading, but could play in water for more than half an hour.
'Menteng has very advanced skills and in these pictures you see him picking a large fish out and inspecting it.
'Orangutans and other great apes are reputed, incorrectly it seems, to be afraid of water.
'Some probably are, but of course, so are some humans.

'They have drowned in zoos because they've fallen into water-filled moats surrounding their enclosure.

'There are also other things dangerous to them in water like crocodiles and large snakes - so there are many reasons water wouldn't be much of an attraction to them.'
The amazing pictures were taken at an orangutan rehabilitation facility called Nyaru Menteng in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, at the end of the dry season late last year.

Anne, from Toronto, Canada, is a psychologist so her research was psychology-bent - focusing on their behaviour, intelligence and learning.

She added: 'It's really useful for rehab, because rehab is mostly about how they learn the skills they need to survive in the forest.'

For pictures, read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394516/Im-king-swimmers-Rare-sighting-orang-utan-taking-dip-crocodile-infested-river.html#ixzz1VCPxJBTZ

Endangered gourmet sea snail could be doomed by increasing ocean acidity

Public release date: 25-May-2011

Increasing levels of ocean acidity could spell doom for British Columbia's already beleaguered northern abalone, according to the first study to provide direct experimental evidence that changing sea water chemistry is negatively affecting an endangered species.

The northern abalone--prized as a gourmet delicacy--has a range that extents along the North American west coast from Baja California to Alaska. Even though British Columbia's northern abalone commercial fisheries where closed in 1990 to protect dwindling populations, the species has continued to struggle, largely due to poaching.

To better understand the impact climate change — and specifically, increasing ocean acidity — has on this endangered species, UBC researchers exposed northern abalone larvae to water containing increased levels of CO2. Increases from 400 to 1,800 parts per million killed 40 per cent of larvae, decreased the size of larvae that did survive, and increased the rate of shell abnormalities.

"This is quite bad news, not only in terms of the endangered populations of abalone in the wild, but also the impact it might have on the prospects for aquaculture and coastal economics," says Christopher Harley, Associate Professor with the Department of Zoology and one of the authors of the study.

"And because the species is already thought to be limited by reproductive output and recruitment, these effects are likely to scale up to the population level, creating greater limits on population growth."

Average CO2 levels in the open ocean hover at 380 parts per million, a number which is excepted to increase slowly over the next century.

What concerns the researchers are the much higher spikes in dissolved CO2 that are already being observed along the BC coast, particularly in late spring and early summer when northern abalone populations are spawning.

The findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.

"While we're looking at a single species that is culturally important as a source of food and artistic inspiration for many coastal Pacific Northwest First Nations, this information may have implications for other abalone species in other parts of the world," says Ryan Crim, lead author on the paper who conducted the research while a graduate student with the UBC Department of Zoology.

Other species of abalone are farmed around the world, principally in China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. The black, white and pink abalone are also endangered on the west coast--red abalone are still an economically viable food species.

The study was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and conducted in collaboration with the Bamfield-Huu-ay-aht Community Abalone Project, a small abalone hatchery in Bamfield which has subsequently gone out of business. The dual mission of the hatchery was to produce cultured abalone for high end restaurants, and to restore endangered abalone by culturing and releasing larvae and juveniles to the wild.

Harley and Crim will continue to work with the aquaculture industry to study the effects of acidification on oysters and other shellfish.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/uobc-egs052511.php

Paddlefish snaggers put in back-wrenching hours to land a monster

Posted on Sat, Apr. 09, 2011 10:15 PM

By BRENT FRAZEE
The Kansas City Star

WARSAW, Mo. | It had been two hours since Steve Liles started jerking a heavy weight and three big treble hooks through the murky water of Lake of the Ozarks, and he was starting to feel the pain.

“This will make an old man out of you,” joked Liles, 43. “This paddlefish snagging is work.

“I’m spoiled. I’m used to fishing for crappies. This is a little different than that.”

A fishing rod as stiff as a pool cue, 100-pound test line, 16-ounce sinkers, 10-ought hooks — yeah, that’s a little different than the ultralight equipment Liles uses for crappies.

When you’re going after the biggest fish in the lake, you don’t go to battle with a switch and a prayer.

Try fishing with that stuff all day. You too will feel the pain.

But it’s worth it, Liles will tell you. When you go snagging at this time of the year at Lake of the Ozarks, there’s always a chance of hooking into a giant.

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Liles said. “But they’re out there.

“I had my wife out here three years ago and she hooked into a big one. She got it halfway in and said, ‘I can’t do it anymore. My arms are burning.’

“I told her, ‘If you want to be a spoonbill snagger, you have to reel in your own fish.’ She did and it weighed 72 pounds.

“She still talks about that fish.”

Now Liles and his friend, Albert Bailey, who both live in Peculiar, were looking for a fish like that. And about two hours into the trip, they found one.

As Liles maneuvered his boat through an armada of other snaggers Wednesday morning, he felt his line come to an abrupt stop. He was snagged — and on something other than a stump, rock or brush pile.

The braided line raced out of the reel as the giant made a run, and Liles held on. He and the fish played tug-of-war for a few seconds, but eventually Liles got the upper hand.

He looked down to see a giant gray creature slowly float to the surface, and he got excited.

“That’s a good one,” he said to Bailey. “We’ve got to get it in the boat.”

Bailey scrambled for a gaff, then hooked the monster and struggled to lift it over the rail and flop it to the floor of the boat.

Once the paddlefish was in, Liles finally exhaled and celebrated the moment.

“We don’t have a scale, but I’m guessing that fish will go 60, 65 pounds,” he said. “That’s what we came out here for.”

Moments later, Bailey also snagged a paddlefish, though it was much smaller than the first.

“You measure mine in inches, not in pounds,” Bailey said with a laugh.

Still, the two fishermen went home with plenty of meat for future fish fries, and memories of another successful snagging trip.

They are two of many who look forward to April, when the Missouri paddlefish snagging season is in full swing. Thousands of fishermen descend on Lake of the Ozarks, Truman and Table Rock lakes and their tributaries in search of the fish of a lifetime.

They keep chiropractors in business. They spend long, back-wrenching hours trying to snag into one of the monsters.

But the lure — the dream of catching a fish almost as big as some humans — keeps them coming back.

The Missouri state record is 139 pounds, 4 ounces, a fish snagged at Table Rock in 2002. But each year, a few fish in the 100-pound class are caught.

Bailey came close to that mark years ago when he snagged a 90-pound paddlefish on the Osage River at Taberville, Mo.

“I’ve been snagging in this area before Truman Lake was even built,” he said. “My dad and I would come down here and snag off the bank when this was just a river.

“We’d catch some big fish. But there still are big fish out there.”

Liles and Bailey hit traditional holes where the paddlefish gather as they make their spawning run. But they seldom have those places to themselves.

They and others often troll through those holes at slow speeds, jerking their hooks and heavy weights through the water in hopes of hooking a paddlefish.

The best chances of catching a big one usually come later in the season, when water temperatures exceed 50 degrees. The unseasonably cool weather this year has gotten the snagging season off to a slow start, according to fisheries biologists with the Missouri Department of Conservation.

But on Wednesday, many fishermen had paddlefish tied to the side of their boat, a snagger’s status symbol.

“It’s hard to believe that fish like this live in our reservoirs,” Liles said. “I think that’s why this spoonbill snagging is so popular.

“You have a chance of catching a giant.”

Missouri paddlefish snagging

•WHEN: The season opened March 15 and will run through April 30.
•WHERE: The majority of paddlefish are caught at Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock and Truman lakes and their tributaries.
•LIMITS: There is a daily limit of two. At the spots mentioned above, fish must measure at least 34 inches from the eye to the fork of the tail. In other Missouri waters, the minimum length limit is 24 inches.
•WHY SNAGGING?: Because paddlefish feed primarily on plankton, they aren’t often caught on bait or lures. That’s why the Department of Conservation opens a snagging season in the spring, when the fish move upstream for their spawning run.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/09/2788571/paddlefish-snaggers-put-in-back.html

2011 Big Cat Quest: Winning team catches 42-pound catfish from Chattahoochee River

Sunday, Apr. 10, 2011

FROM STAFF REPORTS

The 2011 Big Cat Quest fishing contest sponsored by Bass Pro Shops brought 23 teams to the Chattahoochee River Saturday morning. Each team, comprising two or three people, started at 6 a.m. and were given until 3 p.m. for their final catfish weigh-in. Here, Larry Muse and Dino Meador of Corinth, Miss., pose with a the biggest catfish of the day, weighing 42 pounds. The team was the overall weight winner with five catfish weighing a total of 145.8 pounds. The team won $2,000 for the total weight prize and $500 for the biggest individual catch.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/04/10/1533324/2011-big-cat-quest-winning-team.html

Holy mackerel! Plenty of fish in Acapulco seas

Fri Mar 11, 11:24 pm ET

ACAPULCO, Mexico – Something fishy is up in Acapulco.

Masses of sardines, anchovies, stripped bass and mackerel surged close to shore Friday on one beach in the Mexican resort city, packed so tightly near the surface they looked like an oil slick from above.

Delighted fishermen rushed out in wooden motor boats, abandoning their rods and nets and simply scooping the fish up with buckets.

"It was so much fun. There were about 20 or 30 fishermen and there were people who came with their kids to take advantage of it," fisherman Carlos Morales said.

The fishermen attributed the strange phenomenon to the unusual currents unleashed by tsunami that followed the earthquake in Japan.

Experts couldn't be sure.

"It would fall into that category where you would love to make the connection, but who knows?" said Rich Briggs, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "Tsunamis can change local currents, but it's hard to make a firm connection."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110312/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_fish_surge

Cudmore Fisheries fears catfish will seize unwary dogs

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

A leading anglers' centre in north Staffordshire has banned dogs from some of its lakes - for fear they will be seized by large fish.

Cudmore Fisheries issued the ban after netting a 7ft long catfish at its Adelaide predator pool.

The managing director at Cudmore, Cyril Brewster, said: "We were aware that the local mink population had shrunk to nothing - this could be the reason."

Cudmore hosts the high-profile national Fish O'Mania contest.

The giant catfish was caught in a stock-taking of the lake, which also contains pike and perch and more than 100 younger catfish.

The fish weighed 61lb (27.6kg), and was 7ft (2.1m) long, though what staff reported as a bigger one got away because their net could not hold it.

No dogs

The fishery said it now feels it has to ban dogs. Cyril Brewster told BBC Radio Stoke: "These cats are not little pussycats. No pets will be allowed in the fishing area. Even my wife's dog will not be allowed to swim in the lake."

He confirmed that catfish will also take birds and chicks. It is believed that wild mink diving into the lake to take small fish have also been seized by the predatory catfish.

Rules already demand that inexperienced anglers have to attend a course before they can use the site's 'predator lakes' - and juniors are banned altogether.

However, the fishery owners have said that it is not all bad news. Because anglers will travel for miles to get the chance to catch this type of fish, the confirmation of their presence is good business.

A scheme to base a national school of angling, designed to give newcomers an introduction to fishing, is being introduced at Cudmore.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/stoke/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9398000/9398683.stm
(Submitted by Michael Walters)

Shark-Catching Nations Fail To Protect Threatened Species

NICOLE WINFIELD
01/27/11 03:10 PM

ROME — Two environmental groups on Thursday accused the 20 countries that catch the most sharks of failing to fulfill promises made to the U.N. to better conserve the animals that are increasingly threatened with extinction.

In 1999, more than 100 governments adopted a plan of action at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to try to stem overfishing of sharks, pledging, among other things, to develop national action plans to ensure that shark catches are sustainable.

The non-governmental groups Traffic and the Pew Environment Group said Thursday that only 13 of the top 20 shark catching countries had developed national plans, and that it was unclear if such plans had done any good where they were adopted.

They issued their report ahead of a meeting next week of government members of the FAO's fisheries committee, which will discuss the state of the world's fisheries in detail.

Some 73 million sharks are killed annually, primarily to meet the high demand in Asia for fins which are used in shark fin soup.

Because sharks are slow growing, late to mature and produce few young, they are unable to replenish their populations as quickly when they are caught. As a result, some 30 percent of all shark species are now threatened or nearly threatened with extinction.

Traffic and Pew analyzed fisheries data and made a list of the top 20 shark catchers which account for nearly 80 percent of the total shark catch reported globally. In order, the top 10 are Indonesia, India, Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, United States, Japan, and Malaysia. Yet according to the two groups, Indonesia has only made a draft national plan and India is developing one. Other countries have adopted them but, because reporting is voluntary, it's not clear if they've been implemented or have done any good.

The groups urged governments at the FAO meeting next week to have the U.N. agency complete a thorough review to determine what countries have and haven't done to comply with their pledges to manage their fisheries.

"The fate of the world's sharks is in the hands of the top 20 shark catchers, most of whom have failed to demonstrate what, if anything, they are doing to save these imperiled species," said Glenn Sant, Traffic's global marine program leader.

Jill Hepp, manager of shark conservation for Pew, said sharks play a critical role in the ocean environment.

"Where shark populations are healthy, marine life thrives; but where they have been overfished, ecosystems fall out of balance," she said.

The report suggests that national action plans with lofty goals that are never implemented might not be the answer to saving sharks. Rather, countries that take smaller, incremental steps toward conservation might achieve better results.

It noted that Palau had announced in 2009 it would create the world's first shark sanctuary by banning all commercial shark fishing in its territorial waters and that Honduras had announced a moratorium on shark fishing last year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/sharkcatching-nations-fai_n_815064.html

Kenya's fisheries management promotes species that grow larger and live longer

A comparative study of Kenya’s coastal reef fisheries
by the Wildlife Conservation Society and James Cook
University found that sites with fishing regulations
and effective enforcement had a greater diversity
of predatory fish species than unregulated sites. Photo: J. Cinner

Public release date: 10-Feb-2011

Study finds seine net elimination an important step to the recovery of robust fish communities

Marine conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society working in Kenya have found that better fisheries management that includes restricting fishing gear is producing more predatory and longer-lived species and is improving fishing even in adjacent areas where no management is taking place.

During a 10-year study, conservationists recording fish catches found that the implementation of fishing regulations—and particularly the banning of small-mesh seine nets that indiscriminately capture all fish—allowed practically all fish species to recover, especially those species that took longer to reproduce. Fish communities in regulated sites also had a greater diversity of predatory fish species and those with longer life spans. Even in unregulated areas there were small improvements to the fish community.

The study appears in the February print version of Fisheries Management and Ecology. The authors of the study include Dr. Tim McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Christina Hicks of James Cook University in Australia.

The study examined the effects of increasing fisheries management and fishing gear restrictions in 11 coral reef sites along the 75-kilometer stretch of Kenyan coast around the city of Mombasa for a 10-year period.

The wholesale removal of fine-mesh seine nets was implemented in six sites to the south of Mombasa, all of which were more than 30 kilometers away from areas closed to fishing. Kenyatta Beach—a landing site and popular tourist destination near Mombasa Marine National Park—served as the study's most intensively regulated site. The northernmost sites, where fishermen continued to use seine nets in spite of restrictions, were within five kilometers of the fisheries closure zones. In addition to seine nets, other types of gear examined in the study were traps, lines, regular nets, and spears.

"The study shows that regulating coastal fisheries allows fish populations to recover in a number of predictable ways that correspond with knowledge of the biology and ecological characteristics of individual species, but also that the recovery was faster then predicted for some species," said Dr. Tim McClanahan, WCS Senior Conservationist and head of the society's coral reef research and conservation program.

From February 1998 to August 2007, researchers identified and measured individual fish from 152 species caught at each of the 11 sites—with 15 species representing approximately 90 percent of the data pool—as well as recording the gear used. On average, all fish species from regulated sites over the course of the study increased in body length over time, with two species—the rabbitfish (averaging a short lifespan of 5.9 years) and seagrass parrotfish (averaging a intermediate lifespan of 7.7 years)—exhibiting the most significant size increases following fishing regulations. The unregulated northern sites were dominated by short-lived herbivorous species and the very few species that were able to escape the gaps of small-meshed nets.

Predictably, the largest and longest lived fish were landed at the most regulated site (Kenyatta), and the smallest in the least regulated. Further, spears and gill nets caught the largest fish in the study, whereas the smallest were caught in seines and lines. Also, fish body lengths in the sites where seine net bans were implemented and enforced during the study were growing to the same lengths as fish from the most regulated site by the end of the study.

Dr. McClanahan said the improvements even in the unregulated areas suggest that strong management can improve conditions in adjacent areas where management is weak.

"This can lead to either free loading on the nearby stronger management or increased interests in participating in the improved management, depending on the interests, incentives, and organization of the fishing and management community," McClanahan said.

The study builds on a previous WCS study from the same sites on the costs and revenues of local fisheries along the coast of Kenya, which was published last year in Conservation Biology and demonstrated that effective fisheries management actually yields more profits for fishermen. In terms of income, fishermen working in Kenyatta experienced a 60 percent increase in revenue (from 224 up to 374 Kenya shillings, or $3 up to $5) following the beach seine ban in 2001. By contrast, daily income in the northern sites averaged $2 per person between 2002-2007. Overall, fishing revenue in the southern landing sites (all of which banned beach seines during the study period) was 41 percent higher than northern coast sites with the beach seines; Kenyatta's fishing revenue climbed to 135 percent higher than northern sites after seine elimination.

Dr. Caleb McClennen, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Marine Program, said: "This important comparison of various fisheries management systems over time demonstrates the critical need to move past unregulated open-access fishing in resource poor countries around the world. This empirical evidence demonstrates how both fishers and their supporting ecosystems can and do benefit from restrictions and improved management."

###

 

Critical support for McClanahan's work was provided by the Tiffany & Co. Foundation.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/wcs-kfm021011.php

Fishing nets claim third sea creature

Published: 19/01/2011 at 12:00 AM

Another dolphin has washed up dead on the Gulf of Thailand coast.

It is the third marine creature believed to have drowned in fishing nets in the past two days, officials said.

The body of the young Irrawaddy dolphin was found on a beach in front of a resort in Sam Roi Yot district of Prachuap Khiri Khan yesterday morning. The 1.2-metre-long mammal's body bore deep cuts believed to have been caused by a fishing net.

Local fishery official Chaiya Daotoon said the dolphin had probably died on Monday.

He said the bodies of two other rare sea creatures had come ashore in nearby Chumphon in the past two days.

A 2.3-metre-long hump-backed dolphin was found dead on Monday on Thung Wua Laen beach in Pathiu district of Chumphon and a dead green sea turtle with a 58-centimetre-wide shell was found on Sai Ree beach in Muang district of the same province.

Nipawan Busarawit, director of the Chumphon-based Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre for the central Gulf of Thailand, said it was common for dead marine animals to come ashore in Chumphon and nearby provinces at this time of year. Six dead dolphins and four dead green sea turtles have washed ashore since November.

Nearly 20 dolphins and green sea turtles were found dead last year. Some were killed by fish nets and intestinal infections. Others bore no trace of damage and officials have not established the cause of their death.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/217056/fishing-nets-claim-third-sea-creature

Fishing nets claim third sea creature

Published: 19/01/2011 at 12:00 AM

Another dolphin has washed up dead on the Gulf of Thailand coast.

It is the third marine creature believed to have drowned in fishing nets in the past two days, officials said.

The body of the young Irrawaddy dolphin was found on a beach in front of a resort in Sam Roi Yot district of Prachuap Khiri Khan yesterday morning. The 1.2-metre-long mammal's body bore deep cuts believed to have been caused by a fishing net.

Local fishery official Chaiya Daotoon said the dolphin had probably died on Monday.

He said the bodies of two other rare sea creatures had come ashore in nearby Chumphon in the past two days.

A 2.3-metre-long hump-backed dolphin was found dead on Monday on Thung Wua Laen beach in Pathiu district of Chumphon and a dead green sea turtle with a 58-centimetre-wide shell was found on Sai Ree beach in Muang district of the same province.

Nipawan Busarawit, director of the Chumphon-based Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre for the central Gulf of Thailand, said it was common for dead marine animals to come ashore in Chumphon and nearby provinces at this time of year. Six dead dolphins and four dead green sea turtles have washed ashore since November.

Nearly 20 dolphins and green sea turtles were found dead last year. Some were killed by fish nets and intestinal infections. Others bore no trace of damage and officials have not established the cause of their death.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/217056/fishing-nets-claim-third-sea-creature

Monster chub hands angler John Leyland a Bradford Number One hit on River Nidd

Angler John Leyland shows off a huge chub of 7lb 4oz,
which helped him win the Bradford Number One contest
on the River Nidd at Cowthorpe

9:38am Friday 7th January 2011

A brace of chub weighing in at over a stone provided John Leyland with the match of a lifetime.

Drawn below the gauging hut, he topped the 30-peg Bradford Number One contest on the Nidd at Cowthorpe with a seven-fish haul of 32lb 3oz.

Offering waggler to the far-bank willow cover, he picked the monsters off on a double maggot offering.

A fish of 6lb 11oz is one to remember, but his amazing bag was topped off by a huge chub of 7lb 4oz.

The beast is possibly the largest chub ever landed in a match and equals the biggest ever banked in Yorkshire.

Runner-up Fred Prudham (Medlock Bridge) also had seven chub from two below the foot bridge.

His fish, which fell to stick and maggot, were of a more standard stamp and scaled 13lb 6oz.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/sport/8777307.Monster_chub_hands_angler_John_Leyland_a_Bradford_Number_One_hit_on_River_Nidd/

Monster chub hands angler John Leyland a Bradford Number One hit on River Nidd

Angler John Leyland shows off a huge chub of 7lb 4oz,
which helped him win the Bradford Number One contest
on the River Nidd at Cowthorpe

9:38am Friday 7th January 2011

A brace of chub weighing in at over a stone provided John Leyland with the match of a lifetime.

Drawn below the gauging hut, he topped the 30-peg Bradford Number One contest on the Nidd at Cowthorpe with a seven-fish haul of 32lb 3oz.

Offering waggler to the far-bank willow cover, he picked the monsters off on a double maggot offering.

A fish of 6lb 11oz is one to remember, but his amazing bag was topped off by a huge chub of 7lb 4oz.

The beast is possibly the largest chub ever landed in a match and equals the biggest ever banked in Yorkshire.

Runner-up Fred Prudham (Medlock Bridge) also had seven chub from two below the foot bridge.

His fish, which fell to stick and maggot, were of a more standard stamp and scaled 13lb 6oz.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/sport/8777307.Monster_chub_hands_angler_John_Leyland_a_Bradford_Number_One_hit_on_River_Nidd/

WWF welcomes EU Commissioner’s call for big cut in Mediterranean bluefin tuna catches

Last chance for Mediterranean tuna

October 2010. WWF, the global conservation organization, has welcomed the EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki's call for a significant cut in catches of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic ahead of the European Union's leadership role at a major fisheries management meeting next month in Paris, France.

EU Commissioner Damanaki has announced her support for a substantial decrease in total allowable catch of East Atlantic bluefin tuna next year. Spanish Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Greens, Raül Romeva i Rueda, confirmed Commissioner Damanaki's urge for a "substantial decrease" in catches at the meeting.

WWF is calling for this to form a fundamental part of the EU's position at the meeting of International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) members on 17-27 November 2010 in Paris, France.

Recovery plan
A new recovery plan for East Atlantic bluefin tuna must be agreed at the Paris ICCAT conference. In the coming days the EU Commission and Member States will formally agree the EU's negotiating mandate for that meeting.

"Commissioner Damanaki is laying out what could be a possible rescue plan for the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery based on science and not politics" said Tony Long, Director of WWF's European Policy Programme in Brussels. "We call on Member States to follow this lead to secure a long-term future for a sustainable artisanal fishery and a thriving marine ecosystem. The EU Commissioner is showing a way forward that counteracts strong pressure from short-term business interests."

Current stock is only 1/3 of sustainable levels
A recent scientific assessment of East Atlantic bluefin tuna by ICCAT scientists has shown that stock size is only one third of sustainable levels, and that only a total fishing quota of less than 6,000 tonnes per year might allow the tuna stock to rebuild by 2020 with a probability of over 60 per cent. The scientists also urged ICCAT to be especially precautionary this year, given the high uncertainty in data available - a result of the poor quality of reporting related to rife illegalities.

The EU, including all Member States, is legally obliged through its Marine Strategy Framework Directive to immediately establish measures aimed at achieving recovery of fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2020 at the latest.

Purse seine fishery
Besides cutting total annual catch to below 6,000 tonnes, WWF is also calling on the EU and other ICCA members to suspend the industrial purse seine fishery - responsible for the current catastrophic situation of the stock - and to establish no-fishing zones in the six known spawning grounds of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea.

"This package of measures gives at least a chance of recovery to East Atlantic bluefin tuna," said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. "It is high time to show the world that Europe, with its historical role in willingly allowing the depletion of tuna stocks, is ready for a U-turn by leading on the recovery of Atlantic bluefin."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/iccat-2010.html

WWF welcomes EU Commissioner’s call for big cut in Mediterranean bluefin tuna catches

Last chance for Mediterranean tuna

October 2010. WWF, the global conservation organization, has welcomed the EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki's call for a significant cut in catches of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic ahead of the European Union's leadership role at a major fisheries management meeting next month in Paris, France.

EU Commissioner Damanaki has announced her support for a substantial decrease in total allowable catch of East Atlantic bluefin tuna next year. Spanish Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Greens, Raül Romeva i Rueda, confirmed Commissioner Damanaki's urge for a "substantial decrease" in catches at the meeting.

WWF is calling for this to form a fundamental part of the EU's position at the meeting of International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) members on 17-27 November 2010 in Paris, France.

Recovery plan
A new recovery plan for East Atlantic bluefin tuna must be agreed at the Paris ICCAT conference. In the coming days the EU Commission and Member States will formally agree the EU's negotiating mandate for that meeting.

"Commissioner Damanaki is laying out what could be a possible rescue plan for the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery based on science and not politics" said Tony Long, Director of WWF's European Policy Programme in Brussels. "We call on Member States to follow this lead to secure a long-term future for a sustainable artisanal fishery and a thriving marine ecosystem. The EU Commissioner is showing a way forward that counteracts strong pressure from short-term business interests."

Current stock is only 1/3 of sustainable levels
A recent scientific assessment of East Atlantic bluefin tuna by ICCAT scientists has shown that stock size is only one third of sustainable levels, and that only a total fishing quota of less than 6,000 tonnes per year might allow the tuna stock to rebuild by 2020 with a probability of over 60 per cent. The scientists also urged ICCAT to be especially precautionary this year, given the high uncertainty in data available - a result of the poor quality of reporting related to rife illegalities.

The EU, including all Member States, is legally obliged through its Marine Strategy Framework Directive to immediately establish measures aimed at achieving recovery of fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2020 at the latest.

Purse seine fishery
Besides cutting total annual catch to below 6,000 tonnes, WWF is also calling on the EU and other ICCA members to suspend the industrial purse seine fishery - responsible for the current catastrophic situation of the stock - and to establish no-fishing zones in the six known spawning grounds of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea.

"This package of measures gives at least a chance of recovery to East Atlantic bluefin tuna," said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. "It is high time to show the world that Europe, with its historical role in willingly allowing the depletion of tuna stocks, is ready for a U-turn by leading on the recovery of Atlantic bluefin."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/iccat-2010.html

Fish With "Human Teeth" Bites Fisherman On SC's Lake Wylie

Credit: WBTV

By WBTV
LAKE WYLIE, SC --

A fishing trip on Lake Wylie went a little differently than one Clover man planned when the fish he caught bit him with human-like teeth.

Frank Yarborough went fishing along Lake Wylie on September 6th and ended up with a catch that is puzzling local marine biologists.

Yarborough thought he'd caught a catfish near the Buster Boyd Bridge, but when he scooped his hand in the water to pull it out, the fish clamped down on his thumb. The bite stung, because the fish had teeth that very closely resemble human teeth.

Robert Stroud, a Freshwater Fisheries Biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, says the samples from the fish have been sent off to Charleston and to Florida to help determine what kind of fish Yarborough caught.

"This fish is more than likely a common species of Pacu, Colossama macropomum, originating from the Amazon River basin of South America and is quite common in the aquarium trade," Stroud told WBTV.

Pacus are a distant relative to the piranha family.

Stroud told WBTV the fish weighed in just under five pounds and was 19.4 inches long, the largest of its kind found in Lake Wylie.

A pacu is a warm water fish, and not a native species to Lake Wylie. Biologists believe it was probably raised in an exotic fish tank and was released when it got too large for the tank.

The fish is currently in a freezer in Yarborough's Clover home.

See also: http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/2010/09/fish-with-human-teeth-bit-angler.html

Fish With "Human Teeth" Bites Fisherman On SC's Lake Wylie

Credit: WBTV

By WBTV
LAKE WYLIE, SC --

A fishing trip on Lake Wylie went a little differently than one Clover man planned when the fish he caught bit him with human-like teeth.

Frank Yarborough went fishing along Lake Wylie on September 6th and ended up with a catch that is puzzling local marine biologists.

Yarborough thought he'd caught a catfish near the Buster Boyd Bridge, but when he scooped his hand in the water to pull it out, the fish clamped down on his thumb. The bite stung, because the fish had teeth that very closely resemble human teeth.

Robert Stroud, a Freshwater Fisheries Biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, says the samples from the fish have been sent off to Charleston and to Florida to help determine what kind of fish Yarborough caught.

"This fish is more than likely a common species of Pacu, Colossama macropomum, originating from the Amazon River basin of South America and is quite common in the aquarium trade," Stroud told WBTV.

Pacus are a distant relative to the piranha family.

Stroud told WBTV the fish weighed in just under five pounds and was 19.4 inches long, the largest of its kind found in Lake Wylie.

A pacu is a warm water fish, and not a native species to Lake Wylie. Biologists believe it was probably raised in an exotic fish tank and was released when it got too large for the tank.

The fish is currently in a freezer in Yarborough's Clover home.

See also: http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/2010/09/fish-with-human-teeth-bit-angler.html

Fish with 'human teeth' bit angler

22 September 2010

An angler had a shock in the US - when a mystery fish bit him back with distinctly human-looking teeth.

Frank Yarborough was fishing in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, when he hooked the fish which was 5lb and nearly 1ft 8ins long.

Assuming it was a catfish, he scooped his hand in the water to pull it out, only to find his fingers clamped between what appeared to be a set of dentures.

Robert Stroud, a freshwater fisheries biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, has confirmed that samples from the fish have been sent off to determine the fish's species.

Stroud told WBTV: "This fish is more than likely a common species of Pacu, Colossama macropomum, originating from the Amazon River basin of South America and is quite common in the aquarium trade."

Pacus, a distant relative of the piranha, is a warm water fish, and not native to Lake Wylie. Biologists believe it was probably raised in an exotic fish tank and released when it got too large for the tank.

The fish is currently in a freezer in Mr Yarborough's Clover home, but unsurprisingly he has no plans to cook his catch.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Fish_with_human_teeth_bit_angler
(Submitted by Naomi West)