Trivia that moves you to share

[Gunni]

Right now the Stripe bass/ Rockfish are returning to America’s largest estuary in their annual spawning. 50 lb and bigger females (cows) are working their way to the Susquehanna Flats and shallow tributaries to lay eggs before they return to the sea and work their way north to New England. Soon the fishery will begin to catch these “trophy” rockfish as they swim south in the bay.

 

[PGUTIERREZ]

Light beer. . . Budweiser horse has diabetes!

 

[jssailem]

@Gunni
Here is info on the book I mentioned.

Striper Wars is Dick Russell's inspiring account of the people and events responsible for the successful preservation of one of America's favorite fish and of what has happened since.​

Found it an interesting read. I fished for striper’s back in the early 70’s. Then they were gone.

 

[shemandr]

This is such a complicated subject but the Striper's have recovered since the strong restrictions placed on their harvest. As I recall they were implemented in the 80's and there was a lot of politics involved here on LI. I suppose there were everywhere. In any event, as it is now you can take striper home for the grill if it is over 28 inches, I think. That number changes yearly. What I don't understand is the large bass are the females. So I can't comprehend this policy. The smaller "Schoolies" are the males, which are the ones I would think it would be better to take. By the way, in Bassdom a few males transform into females in certain conditions. I believe all stripers are born males but I'm not an ichthyologist. I would appreciate some enlightenment on this.
We see ups and downs in their populations here and I think it has a lot to do with the supply of bait - specifically Bunker. In years long past these bays were so full of Bunker it is said you could almost walk across on them. They are filter feeders so it is theorized that they kept the water clean despite the large amount of organic nitrogen that was dumped into the bay by the duck farm industry - which is gone now. Now it seems when there are lots of Bunker we have bass and vice versa.
Another prospective fact is that there were periods of a decade or more when Stripers were almost non-existent one being in the thirties. This is detailed in the book Men's Lives by Peter Matthiessen. It is about the lives of the Bonackers of the South Fork who were "Baymen" meaning they lived off what the waters offered to hard working watermen going back a century or more. The book is biased towards them but nevertheless contains a lot of history of fishing on the East End.

 

[jssailem]

Thank you Andrew. I will read that book... I lived in Anne Arundel County MD back in the early 70-71. Fished for Stripers and other delectable Chesapeake Bay fish. Then there were none.
I never really knew why till I read about the “war” really a political fight between commercial and sports fishing interests. Something that I find repeated here on the Pacific. I understand it was not until the late 80’s that through combined focus and local political activity that there was a change in the situation. I am glad to hear that there has been a resurgence of the fish. They are great fun to catch and eat.

 

[shemandr]

I'll warn you that it's not an easy book to read. It really needed a good editor but if you stay with it you can learn a lot.
When the word war is used it is not overly dramatic. It is hard to over state the animosity between the commercial and recreational fishermen of that time. It actual shots weren't fired it was pretty close.
My sister-in-law did fishery management the PNW and from her accounts it wasn't much difference and there was a tribal complication overlaying the whole mess.
In summary the fishery usually takes a back seat to the political fight.

 

[jssailem]

I enjoyed the “striper wars”. It is told from the perspective of the sports fisherman by a reporter. It dealt with how they were able to create a united approach to the problem. I am sure not everyone agreed to the ban on fishing. It was a multiple state issue and not all of the states wanted to agree. Yes the Pacific NW has many o the same issues and complications.

 

[Gunni]

Have not read the book but I know a number of both commercial, recreational fishermen as well as natural resource enforcment officials. The Ches is the nursery for Strippers. The cows come up the bay to the shoals at the Susquehanna Flats and spawn, they are doing that right now. Then they will return down the bay where they will be subject to “trophy” fishing. That starts in about 14 days. Catch and release is going on now. Those fish that make it out will show up off Long Island in a few weeks!

Strippers were overfished for many years, most recently in the early 2000s when Maryland shut down the fishery for several years. The watermen were livid. Some went rogue and in the last year of the moratorium some jacklegs set gill nets off the Choptank in an illegal attempt to catch spawning Strippers. Some boaters saw the submerged netting and the DNR came in. By the time they pulled it all out they found that the toll on Strippers was so great that it rivaled the entire catch estimate for the year. The DNR delayed the start of the reopening of Stripper season and put a bounty on the outlaw fishermen. Somebody went down, not sure the details. Everyone knows everyone in the business and the scoundrels screwed over a lot of head boat captains. Stripper fishing draws lots of tourist fishermen.

Strippers are back through care catch management, cleaner Bay waters, and law enforcement on the herring fishery out of Reedsville, VA. These industrial fisheries were sweeping the bay of the herring food source for Strippers and lots of other marine life. They would case the herring schools out the bay and into the ocean where they would mop up what was left. The herring were squeezed for fish oil and the meal was turned into pet food. Citizen oversight documented that the herring industry was grossly under representing their impact, and over representing the herring population. The national marine fisheries board reminded the ability of the herring industry to self report and self police and our Bay herring fishery has rebounded in an astounding manner. Herring like clean brackish water. We have that now.

For the first time in years we see season long strippers, red drum (redfish to you Cajuns) are back too. We see pods of dolphin working the herring all season long. Oysters are making a comeback. Crabs are making a come back, although the puppy drum got fat on the crabs when they first show back up in the Bay. Thanks to all Americans for your support of the Chesapeake Bay restoration. Come visit, sail and fish this great national treasure.

 

[jssailem]

Thank you Gunni for the update. Remarkable how the industry and environment are so interwoven.

 

[Gunni]

Edited my comment to correct the date when the fishery was shut down, my recollection is this drastic step took place about 2005 or so.

 

[shemandr]

Glad to have the report that the Chesapeake estuary is in recovery. While driving on I 80, I think there are signs about entering and leaving the Chesapeake watershed. It's probably 75 miles and a lot of farms and industry away from Baltimore which causes me to think what a gargantuan task it is to protect or clean up. One day I'd like to take a long tour of the Chesapeake.

 

[dlochner]

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed is enormous!

Here's a link to a map: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/stelprdb1046486.png

 

[shemandr]

Wow. I could have said there are signs on I 90 going in and out of the Chesapeake watershed. That's a really interesting map. I've assumed that the lake affect snow in central New York all drains back into Lake Ontario but that map shows that at least a portion goes into the Chesapeake watershed.

 

[DougM]

In my opinion the vast majority of the population has no idea of the importance of the Chesapeake Bay and for that matter the Great Lakes to the economy in general.
We continue to ignore the impact of pollution from industry and agriculture and the effect on water quality. Yet we have a segment of our government that wants to overturn many of the regulations that have begun to help the restoration process.
I have lived very close to Lake Michigan most of my life, and have seen the water quality improve. Its not perfect yet but its getting there. I live near the Bay part of the year now, and I have seen some improvement. We need to continue to support any effort to continue theprocess.

 

[jon hansen]

what about the crap that all the suburbanites dump on their lawns. it is huge pollution issue to the great lakes. golf courses, home owners, lawn care services. in all the above statements i see no inclusion of one of the biggest pollution issues on the great lakes. the private land owner dumping all that crap on their lawns.

the great lakes are in big trouble and getting worse. so the next time you see your neighbor dumping that crap on his lawn to get some bizarre dark green mono blade lawn, run over to him and punch him for being so stupid. "NOT" well, at least scream at him for being so stupid.
the m. v. neeskay docks near me most summers. i talk to the research scientists. the captain has become a good friend. the head of the wisconson dnr fresh water crews on aeolus. the jumping carp dna has been found in, not near, the great lakes.

it ain't good up here.

while true that the farmers need to adhere to the laws already on the books. and get industry to collect their own waste. the lawn people, the stupid lawn people. and the mono grass look is killing the biology.

 

[Alansails]

It is true the Great Lakes are in dire straits due to a combination of all, and Sailing on Lake Erie, in the western Basin we see this evidence coming down the Maumee river from Toledo.
All this needs to be controlled and its sad that we need to do this instead of self regulation.
Kudos to the Chesapeake but it has taken them along time and serious commitments.

 

[Gunni]

Eat mo’ jumpin’ carp. Fry it up, people will eat it!

The Susquehanna River is the largest of the Chesapeake tributaries. Stretches north into upstate NY.. Agricultural run-off remains the largest portion of pollutants to the Sus. River/Bay. Fields without winter cover crops, spring tilling, over-application of manure, poor concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs) animals allowed to stand in creeks and tributaries. Pennsylvania and New York need to improve farm best practices. Mr. Pruitt needs to do his job protecting water quality.

 

[Gunni]

I have seen underwater vid of before/after zebra mussell infestations where the water quality has greatly increased. Seems to me that they provide some benefit to cleaning up water quality. Maybe there could be some recipes for zebra mussel soup! Yum.

 

[jssailem]

zebra mussel soup! Yum.

You have actually cooked and eaten this concoction?
From “Eat the Invaders”

Zebra mussels are so small and do not have much in the way of “meat” inside them, you would have to be pretty hungry to want to eat them. However, because they are filter feeders, they can accumulate pollutants in their tissues that may not be healthy for people to consume.

Their impact comes from their filtering of water to eat plankton. Nearly a liter a day. They and their hoard as cleaning the water and the food chain of plankton.​

 

[JamesG161]

Zebra mussels

I am glad you cleared that up. I thought Gunni meant...

Zebra MUSCLES

Which would a HORSE of a Different color...
Jim...