COUNTING FISH IN THE OCEAN; HOW RELIABLE?

NOAA has made a new cod stock assessment"

"The 2008 assessment estimated the offshore cod biomass at 17,672 metric tons. The new assessment estimates the stock at 9,494 metric tons.

Based on the new estimates and modeling, NOAA dropped the hypothetical size of the rebuild stock from 148,084 metric tons to 140,424 metric tons."

Would you believe it? They tell you how many fish there're in the sea to the last tonne. What a precision...
Not 18,000, not 17,600, but exactly 17,672. Wow!!! 
That's how fish stock assessment are assessed: THE MORE PRECISE THE LEAST RELIABLE !!!

TRUE LOVE

Find arms that will hould you at your weakest...
Eyes that will see you at your ugliest...
Ears that would listen to you at your stupidest...
And a heart that will love you at your worst.
Then you have found true love!

PROBLEMS WITH STOCK ASSESSMENTS

According to the U.S. fisheries management, they made a big mistake (by 100%) in the 2008 cod stock assessment. So, fishermen caught twice too much and should now more or less stop fishing to "rebuild" the cod stock. Their new assessment is based on additional, new data, but uses the same model.

I've got 3 questions. One: does their model consider the consumption of cod, at all its life stages, by predators of all sorts?  Two: who's catching more, fishermen or predators? Three: do the predators follow the management's rules, or would just enjoy reduced catches by fishermen?

WHO OWNS THE SEA?

• “There are some things we will always own in common. No one will ever homestead an ocean. ” – Wally Hickel

Discards, discards

The EU fisheries commision wants to ban discards.

Discarding results in as much as two-thirds of the fish caught being thrown back in the water, with about 1m tonnes estimated to be thrown back each year in the North Sea alone. So why there's so much resistance among European fishermen?

Because discarding is a consequence of the strict quotas in the EU under the common fisheries policy on the amount of fish that boats may land. When fishermen exceed their quota, or catch species of fish for which they do not have a quota, they must discard the excess. If Ms. Damanaki, the Commissioner, wants to stop or reduce discards, the way is to reform the EU fisheries management by stopping single-species managing in multi-species fisheries, and replacing the ITQ quota system with management by input that would fit the different fisheries according to the biology and ecology of the targeted species.

From Einstein's wisdom

• "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

Tsunami

One year passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, which destroyed villages and port towns in Japan's Tohoku region, killing over 15,000 people, and caused major damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

One year later, over 3,000 people remain unaccounted for,  and more than 340,000 evacuated from the disaster zone have not been able to return.

The economic damage is enormous. And, probably the most affected sector was fishery with many of the dead an unaccounted for were fishing people. This was the  greatest natural disaster, since the 2004 Christmas tsunami that caused havoc and mass deaths all over South Asia's coasts, reaching as far west as the East Africa's shores. Also then, fishing people and their livelihood and communities were the most affected. They all should be remembered. 

Somebody hates fish quotas

The following sent me an American commercial fisherman:

With IFQs or catch shares , the number of boats goes downhill fast; jobs are eliminated, Money starts getting scraped off the top and is sent off to other places in lease fees.  Who has and who doesn't have, gets to be obvious and the discourse that evolves from that is terrible.   People are thrown into panic, they see their neighbors going thru the same turmoil and uncertainty , and the fact that their life as they knew it, isn't happening anymore, It's no fault of theirs. People in power didn't listen and didn't care anyway, as all they see is $ signs! 

  No matter what some groups say about how it's going to be better in the long run and just wait and see, be patient.  I can tell you all from personal experience, living in  Kodiak Ak, since 1981, that the proof of the economic impact of IFQs for Halibut, sablefish and crab, has had a devatating effect on our once vibrant and exciting economy!  there is hardly anywhere for a new guy to get in .  a person has to be rich first to fish halibut, tho it used to energize and encourge participation and the bounty the ocean brought. this plan is all about greed for the powerful.  I truly hope that this suit is the beginning, or at lest a continuation, of the bright light being shown on the injustice of the privatization of our ocean resources, and that acknowledgement that there is no way to give a resource to 'any one', and have it be 'fair to ' everyone else'!  We are sharing equally now, or were, at least there was opportunity in other systems.  Catch shares are about the elimination of opportunity, because someone else has already taken it and there is none left for the rest of us.  Abolish Catch Shares , under ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!  It's all here'  'Enclosing the Fisheries, People, Places and Power'., by Lowe and Carothers.  Thank You Your Honors, and I truly hope you can see the big picture, and  see fit on one OWNS the fish, before it's caught! 

 Thank you, Rhonda Maker  907 481 3100