What if shrimp, minnows, mullet, etc. were restocked instead? Is it feasible? Has it been tried?If you feed them (reds, trout, etc.), will they come? I don’t have an answer…just asking.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
I don’t think so for a couple of reasons.
Primarily, reds, trout and such are on a higher tropic level than the bait are. Basically this means that to supply enough food to support new predators, we would need to add about ten times as many shrimp as we plan to yield in redfish.
Also, redfish and other popular gamefish are constantly being removed from the population, which means there is a niche there to be filled. Apart from shrimp, fishermen hardly make a dent in the bait fish populations, so by adding more fish to an already stable system they would just compete for the same resources and ultimately there would be the same number of baitfish there were to start out with.
That makes sense. I remember reading somewhere that there was less food supply for inshore gamefish than in times past, so I was thinking about it from that angle.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
Not sure about shrimp, but fish hatcheries are a great idea. I remember reading a report a few years ago and some 90% of the fish caught in the great lakes are from a hatchery. In our local waters, something like 4-6% of the redfish caught came from our hatcheries. They know this because when they are fry, they expose them to a chemical that binds to their DNA that does not occur naturally. So, when the racks are returned to DNR biologists, they look for this chemical present in the fish. Thus, they “mark” them. 4-6% doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you think about what comes out of just that one hatchery compared to “the wild”, it’s significant. And, there is no reason why it couldn’t be 10%-15% if we wanted to increase our investment, etc. Many species in the wild (grouper, red snapper, etc) have “good spawns” and “bad spawns”. Sometimes these poor spawning efforts can last for several years. We can actually detect these for gags by doing seine trawls in our estuaries. Now, the population of humans is ever-growing, so if we want the pressure on the resource to be sustainable for the next 1000 years, then technology needs to lend a hand. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a fish hatchery and you wouldn’t know the difference between a fish born in a hatchery and one born in the wild. Maybe people frown upon it because of the experience with waterfowl hatcheries. Not sure.
Wife wouldn’t let you out today skinnee?
“I am not involved in this thread, only helping Fred understand who he is dealing with.”
quote:No :frowning_face:
Originally posted by PeaPodWife wouldn’t let you out today skinnee?
“I am not involved in this thread, only helping Fred understand who he is dealing with.”
quote:Let's build some more then. I agree that we need to be thinking long term about food supplies.
Originally posted by skinneejNot sure about shrimp, but fish hatcheries are a great idea. I remember reading a report a few years ago and some 90% of the fish caught in the great lakes are from a hatchery. In our local waters, something like 4-6% of the redfish caught came from our hatcheries. They know this because when they are fry, they expose them to a chemical that binds to their DNA that does not occur naturally. So, when the racks are returned to DNR biologists, they look for this chemical present in the fish. Thus, they “mark” them. 4-6% doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you think about what comes out of just that one hatchery compared to “the wild”, it’s significant. And, there is no reason why it couldn’t be 10%-15% if we wanted to increase our investment, etc. Many species in the wild (grouper, red snapper, etc) have “good spawns” and “bad spawns”. Sometimes these poor spawning efforts can last for several years. We can actually detect these for gags by doing seine trawls in our estuaries. Now, the population of humans is ever-growing, so if we want the pressure on the resource to be sustainable for the next 1000 years, then technology needs to lend a hand. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a fish hatchery and you wouldn’t know the difference between a fish born in a hatchery and one born in the wild. Maybe people frown upon it because of the experience with waterfowl hatcheries. Not sure.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.