Dr. Skip Online

Regret Not the Gloaming

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:34:00 -0800

As we go from four to two to three.

Thoughts of another time turn us.

Looking back and wondering, why and if?

Seeing what might have been with mind's eye.

There is only now and tomorrow.

Past lessons and mistakes both guide and doom.

Why, maybe, if and perhaps.

Cloud our thoughts and slow our steps.

The promise looks at what was.

Asking only - if then was now?

Dr. Henry G. “Skip” Lazauski
Gulf Shores, Alabama

January 23, 2012

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Up date with progress

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:29:00 -0800

Well, I'm back on my feet from the broken leg and getting ready to start down the long road to getting in shape.
Renewed my membership at the local gym which is where I'll start with knee, ankle and lower leg exercises. Sifting into some bicycling later in the week.
I know, start out easy and assess at every increase in weight, reps or distance and I will do that. I don't know if you know it but this getting old(er) thing ;-) is really a pain in the a#*, especially when you're trying to comeback from an injury. At least I can be thankful that at 60 I have all my hair and then some. It's a moral boost – for me anyway.

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The spinning top of change

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:34:00 -0800

With all the environmental changes going on these last few years it may seem difficult to make any sense out of it. As a scientist climate change either caused or exacerbated by global warming is the obvious culprit. That being said, what people and governments really want and need to know is where is it going and how fast?

Did you ever have a top when you were a child? You know, cone shaped toy with a string you that wrapped around a groove on upper section and pulled to get it to spin really fast. When that top was spinning fast you could poke it with your finger and it would come back to nearly the same place it was when you first touched it. Once that top began to slow down when you poked this time it didn't come back to the start point. Not only was it spinning in a new place it began to wobble all by itself. Kind of like grandfather did on Christmas eve after three glasses of eggnog. Then after awhile longer the top fell over and was still.

This scenario is similar to what is going on with the world's climate. For centuries we had pretty much predictable and reliable amount of rain fall,snow and temperatures. Oh, there were the occasional hurricanes, blizzards or floods but nothing that changed the general climatic trend. The top was spinning fast.

After a couple of hundred years of pumping ever increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere we have slowed down the top. Temperatures and amounts of rainfall and snow are all over the place. Severe weather events are now common occurrences all over the planet. The top is now wobbling.

Where will it finally land? I don't have a crystal ball – that's a scientist's way of saying I don't have enough data to predict it – but if logic still serves certain events will occur. Sea levels will rise, it will get colder in the northern areas of the planet, the southeast will get drier and there will be wholesale changes in animal and plant distributions and survival. Solutions? Be diverse in your abilities, flexible in your thinking using logic and reason to make your decisions rather than listening to the loudest voice that tells you what you'd like to hear.

Act Global – Think Local!

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The end of the beginning

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:11:00 -0800

I don't know if you had a mother like mine. In times of trouble she was one for soothing phrases that were meant to make you feel better and give you hope. Hope for the future and hope that everything would turn out alright.

One of those phrases that comes to mind at this moment is 'I know you can't see it right now but this is probably the best thing that could have happened'.

Let me fill you in on what's been taking place. The local newspaper group that I've been writing for the past eleven years decided to drop my column. My guess that they would rather have someone who tells people what they want to hear and writes for free than a scientist who tells people what they need know and is payed. Since I've been trying to sell my place for sometime now, not having to think up something new to write about every week is kind of a bitter-sweet relief.

Two weeks after this I slipped down the stairs in my townhome and broke my leg. This puts a hold on the house sale until sometime after Christmas and no I hadn't been drinking. I kind of wish I had some excuse other than my own clumsiness. I'll get a ranch style the next time.

How might my mother's phrase apply to all this … all in all I can't as yet see what good these events will serve in my future but I'm looking forward to figuring it out as I learn to walk again.

I intend to keep up with this blog once I literally get back on my feet.

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Moon Jellies don't shine at night

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 08:27:00 -0700

It goes by many names (moon jelly, moon jellyfish, common jellyfish and saucer jelly) but scientists call it Aurelia aurita. In Alabama it's commonly called the moon jelly, pest or other names not fit to print. The moon jelly, when mature is about the size of a dinner plate.

Before Hurricane Lee this year there were ten of thousands of these jellyfish in Alabama and Mississippi coastal waters. They were particularly heavy off the barrier islands and drifted around Fairhope and its pier, washed up heaps on the barrier Islands and were so numerous in Orange Beach waters that it looked as if you could walk across Perdido pass without getting your feet wet. Why they are here in such numbers is a question that needs to be asked? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the oil leak.

The moon jelly is found throughout nearly all of the world's oceans and ranges from the tropics to the north 70 degrees near Iceland and Norway. In it goes south down to Australia and the Indian ocean. In our part of the world this species is found along the eastern Atlantic coast of Europe and western Atlantic coast of North America in New England, Eastern Canada and the Gulf Coast. The moon jelly is an inshore genus and can be found in nearshore waters, bays, bayous and creeks.

The adult jellies can reach up to 16 inches in diameter. The juveniles bud off of polyps that mature on the ocean bottom. They feed on plankton from various species including clams, crabs, fish eggs and most of the various types planktonic organisms. Both the adults and the larvae of moon jelly have nematocysts they use to capture prey and to protect themselves from predators. The nematocysts use mucus to capture food which is moved by down into the stomach

Moon jellyfish don’t sting so if you feel their soft bodies against your arms and legs as you swim don't worry about it. They ranging in color from a light pink to white and have short tentacles with and obvious four-leaf clover design in their center.

They are eaten by a large number of predators which includes the Ocean Sunfish, sea turtles and other very large jellyfish. Moon jellies are also eaten marine birds which can do some serious amount of damage to the jellyfish which are often found at the surface.

Moon jellies die after several months of living and reproducing. It's rare for moon jellies to live more than about six months. After years of study marine scientists have determined that moon jellies' numbers have a ten year cycle in the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently, we're at the beginning of a cycle. So, if this trend holds we should be blessed with their company for the next several years.

Maybe somebody could think up a jellyfish excluder device for shrimp trawls as it is just about impossible to catch anything in areas with moon jellies around.

Think Global – Act Local!

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Life in the ocean darkneess

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 09:37:00 -0700

Light, Licht, ligera or lumière – what ever you call it we all love a day full of sunshine and if you throw in a few warm gentle breezes we're set to go. That light that we love so much is something that all life on our planet needs to exist either directly or indirectly.

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight to produce sugar, which is then converted into another compound called Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is the fuel used by all living things. What most of us don't know there is another way that Mother Nature uses to make the fuel we need that requires no sunlight. It's called chemosynthesis.

This reaction takes place around deep ocean thermal vents on the ocean bottom. These thermal vents are just like those on the sides of volcanoes only they're just cracks in the bottom, for the most part. The distribution of the geothermal vents is worldwide. They're found where the tectonic plates that the continents float on collide, like the mid-Atlantic ridge, which runs from the Arctic circle south until it nearly touches Antarctica.

Chemosynthesis is the process by which some species of bacteria help make this fuel by chemical reactions inside their bodies. These bacteria live on or close under the bottom and use the chemicals coming out of the vents to process into the fuel.

There are hundreds of unique species of grazing animals like snails, slugs, worms and filter feeders, like tube worms, that feed off these bacteria, which grow in great mats around the vents. There are some small and very weird looking species of fish that feed on these invertebrates and bacterial mats. An entirely new class of crabs was discovered. Sometimes these bacteria live inside the bodies of animals around the vents in a symbiotic relationship. These bacteria provide the basis for all life around the vents, without these bacteria the animal populations would be as sparse as the rest of the deep-sea bottom, which is almost nothing.

Because the vents are located in a relatively small area the number of animals crowding around these food sources is high. This is in sharp contrast to the very sparse population of further away from the vents on the abyssal plain. Outside of the vents food is supplied from material that slowly drifts down from the ocean zones above that are exposed to sunlight. All of these species never see a single glimmer of sunlight from the moment they are born until the day they die.

Think Global – Act Local!

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Tough regulations work

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:24:00 -0700

Over the last three or more decades in an effort to conserve the fisheries of Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico regulations have been put in place that restricted the catch of many species. Even after these restrictions were put in place the prognosis for their full recovery was not as bright as some may have wanted.

Since the Gulf of Mexico is only one part of a much larger planetary resource if might be helpful to look at the big picture to put ourselves in context.

Every now and then we all take a look backward with longing at what we remember as a better time. Back then we were younger there were not so many regulations and fish just jumped right into the boat or so my father told me. The water was pure, air clean and the sea held all the fish that anyone could want – all there for the taking. Since it's impossible to attach numbers to myth or feelings surveys are needed to determine the health of the environment and fish stocks.

If you’ve lived on the Coast for more than a few years you’ve seen both commercial and recreational fishing under go some significant changes.

For various species and types of fishing there have been increases in length limits, decreases in number allowed, changes in gear types, area restrictions, seasonal closures, turtle and fish excluder devices and closed areas.

Every summer the oyster beds are closed due to sewage pollution. There is mercury in our fish, the price of seafood goes up, imported seafood is under cutting our commercial fleets and when we charter a boat for half a month’s rent only to throw back nearly all the fish we catch because their too small to keep.

If you have experienced some or all of this then you have probably realized that the ocean’s fishery resources are not infinite.

The Gulf Coast is not alone in its marine resource related problems. The cod fishery in the north Atlantic was closed over 20 years ago and will be closed for another 10 years due to over-fishing. Alaskan salmon runs are down 50% over the last 30 years. The red snapper season in the Gulf seems was closing earlier each year. The fish we see in our markets are smaller and aren't available for as long. Will there be seafood in 20 years and what kind?

Fishing has changed rapidly in the twentieth century especially after WWII. During that war fishing was curtailed all over the globe especially in the Atlantic. When the war was over recreational and commercial fishing expanded rapidly.

Nations like the Japan and Russia developed large trans-global distant water fleets of trawlers, long liners, deep-water crabbers and purse seine vessels. Japan, which spent decades collecting oceanographic data, developed new and innovative fishing methods and equipment that greatly increased their catch.

The United States has its fishery management councils with their regulations and 200-mile limits but it is a big planet. The bottom line is that a constantly expanding human race is taking more than a finite resource can provide.

When and if the stocks now under increasingly strict regulation recover there will never be enough fish to supply our markets like they did in the past without risking a protracted collapse.

As a footnote, the red snapper quota has been increased this year by 345,000 pounds, so those regulations that everyone seemed to complain about so vigorously over the years appear to be working. Stay the course and we'll see more of this over the coming years. Get greedy and we'll be back where we started.

Think Global – Act Local!

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Stingers can come in purple and mauve

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:41:00 -0700

In the biological world not being seen is most species preferred mode of life. The lower down the evolutionary scale a species is the less this seems to matter.

Pelagia noctiluca a jellyfish found primarily in Bermuda and warm temperate waters is now on the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. This species is also called the purple striped jelly and the mauve stinger.

It's pink to purple in color and will cause painful stings if swimmers come in contact with it. This species is well known for it's luminescence which can be very beautiful. When this jellyfish is disturbed it will bioluminesce and the luminescence will most often be seen at night. Don't not go wading around at night looking to it. It is best if you do your looking from the beach unless you want to risk getting stung.

Even for a scientist who has worked in the field for decades the Latin used in the genus species names can be confusing. In this case it isn't if you take a little time to look it up. The genus “pelagia” means open ocean and the “noct” part of the species name means night and and the second part “luc” means light. This tells us that this species lives in the open ocean and glows in the dark.

The mauve stinger feeds on the larger zooplankton including fish eggs. It can be found Bermuda, in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and off California.

It forms actively swimming schools and is usually found within 40 feet of the surface. These schools can be large and contain over 600 animals within a cubic meter.

The mauve stinger hasn't been seen in the northern Gulf Coast for about the last ten years and marine scientists don't know why it has appeared or if it is here to stay. It doesn't seem to have any relationship to the oil spill. The mauve stinger will most likely be with us for the rest of the tourist season and will probably be seen on the beaches for the next couple of years.

Stings should be treated like that of any other jellyfish. Individuals who are allergic or have a severe action should seek medical attention.

Think Global - Act Local

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Heaven is a 'Thurderbolt Grease Slapper'

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:54:00 -0700

Thought it was time for something different.

I was at the first one in 1979.

It was major fun and full of nice people.

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Rush for land under the ice

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:23:00 -0700

Living here on the coast we're all familiar with the saying 'They aren't make any more waterfront property'. While all the waterfront property around here is pretty much taken there's a new type of 'waterfront property' that has the power brokers of the world lining up for the game of the millennium.

In the fifties and sixties the word 'Plastics' was whispered in the ears of college graduates. For the last ten years it has changed to 'look north' for those with a long view of things.

The land referred to is pretty much under Arctic ice for the moment but there's getting to be less and less ice every year. Surveys have found that the sea bottom under Arctic ice is home to approximately 90 billion barrels of undiscovered and recoverable oil. Additionally, preliminary estimates are that one-third of the world's natural gas may be harbored under the Arctic's ice. But wait there's more, the Arctic also contains large mineral deposits. As and example, Canada, which wasn't a diamond-producing nation is now the third-largest diamond producer in the world thanks to recent discoveries in melting tundra.

In 2007, a Russian expedition planted a flag on the bottom of the Arctic polar sea floor at 14,000 feet below the surface. This act has brought about a renewed interest in the Arctic and kicked off a great deal of activity -- scientific, economic and military.

Arctic nations are building up their military presence on, over and under the ice. Russia recently announced that it's deploying two brigades to the Arctic, including a special forces unit and bomber flights over the Pole have been resumed. Canada, Denmark and Norway are also rapidly rebuilding their military presence. Two U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines, the SSN Connecticut and the SSN New Hampshire, recently finished conducting exercises in the Arctic.

The United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Finland all claim a stake to a portion of the Arctic and it's resources. These countries make up the Arctic Council which is designed to mediate disputes on Arctic issues.

If you're involved in fisheries or environmental issues in the Gulf of Mexico you seen kind of land rush before. In 1983 then president Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 5030, setting up the “Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States of America”. This zone is called the EEZ and was the next to last and greatest land-grab the world has known. The EEZ extends out 200 nautical miles from the coasts of the US.

This concept of having legal control vs. de facto control over so much of the surface area of the planet was so well liked by other governments around the world that now any nation who has a boarder fronting on the sea has set up something similar.

The EEZ is intended is to … “ establish an Exclusive Economic Zone by the United States to advance the development of ocean resources and promote the protection of the marine environment, while not affecting other lawful uses of the zone, including the freedoms of navigation and over-flight, by other States.”
The primary intent of establishing the EEZ wasn't the protection and management of the living resources out to 200 miles but rather control of the mineral resources under the seabed. Given the threat of control of the world’s oil resources by middle-eastern governments, at the time the EEZ was established, it was a protective response by the United States. Still, creation of the EEZ has provided for some real gains in the management of fishery resources in the Gulf of Mexico and the rest of the United States’ territorial waters. Fish don't know or care which state’s or countries' water they in. The Fishery Management councils, coupled with the authority from the establishment of the EEZ’s, have set up a regulatory process for fisheries management which is on course to provide for sustainable and fair management of the Gulf's fishery resources.

The next resource grab will probably be on the moon or the asteroids.

Think Global – Act Local!

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Rainfall Update

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 07:54:00 -0700

For all you party types on the island we've gone from down 16” of rainfall for the year to 20” and counting. How long will it be before the cost of water goes up and there are usage restrictions?

Have you noticed that there are very few mosquitoes? Is that pool water cool enough for you?

Rock on Dudes!

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Dry weather – dry yard

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:35:00 -0700

As we all know we've been a little short on rain these last few months. In fact, data for Mobile indicates that for 2011 we're very nearly 16 inches short of our yearly average rainfall. What can individuals do about it?

We hear about the need for conservation of our natural resources all of the time. Most of us on the Gulf Coast think of fishing regulations and recycling as conservation measures but there are other ways to help but they're just not as obvious.

A green and perfectly trimmed lawn is one of the things most of us associate with home ownership. We've all seen that neighbor who spends every weekend making sure that the yard is the pride of the town. That perfect weedless lawn, flowering plants, shrubs and prize hybrid roses all take more that a little extra water, herbicide, insecticide and fertilizer to stay just perfectly so.

Some people say that the little bit that the water they use doesn't hurt the environment that much, if at all. Well it does if you add up all that water use across the nation. Billions of gallons of water and millions of tons of lawn and plant care additives are used every year to keep those lawns and flowers green and growing. Most those products and water end up in our water systems contributing to oxygen depletion, fish kills and ecosystem degeneration. Granted, most of us like a well-kept lawn but who said it had to contribute to freshwater depletion and pollution? There are other ways to have a beautiful yard.

There is something called Xeriscape (dry view), which is a systematic method for saving water in landscaped areas. Most of us are not familiar with the term because it was only coined in the last 25 years when water availability became a severe problem and subject to strict regulation in the western United States. In times of severe drought some states don't allow swimming pools to be filled and when a home owner's monthly water quota is used up the water supply is turned off. It has and can get that bad. The western states are currently in their ninth consecutive year of drought.

To put something like Xeriscape together in Alabama requires learning about the native and non-native plants in our area that have low water requirements and maybe even some experimentation with a few plants in a small area of your homestead just to test things out. As an example many irises, tulips and even some roses are introduced plants that have been adapted to non-irrigated landscaping in the Rocky Mountain area.

Who are we trying to impress with that perfect yard? As children we were told not to judge people by how they looked but rather by what they did? You can find out more information about Xeriscape by typing it into your favorite Internet browser.

Think Global – Act Local!

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Hey!! Love is a Science

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 06:09:54 -0700

Science is like Love: "The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing." Isaac Asimov

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Seafood – where do we go from here?

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:30:00 -0700

With the tragedy of the oil spill and now the massive flooding from the Mississippi river both having an affect on commercial seafood production in the northern Gulf of Mexico we might want to ask ourselves where do we go from here?

If you’ve lived on the Gulf Coast for more than a few years you’ve seen both commercial and recreational fishing under go some significant changes. For various species and types of fishing there have been increases in length limits, decreases in number allowed, changes in gear types, area restrictions, seasonal closures, turtle and fish excluder devices and closed areas. Every Summer the oyster beds are closed due to sewage pollution, mercury in our fish, the price of seafood going up, imported seafood under cutting our commercial fleet and we charter a boat for half a month’s rent only to throw back nearly all the fish we catch because their too small to keep.

If you have experienced some or all of this then you have probably realized that the ocean’s fishery resources are not infinite. The Gulf Coast isn't alone in its resource related problems. The cod fishery in the north Atlantic was closed over 15 years ago and will be closed for another 15 years due to over-fishing. Alaskan salmon runs are down 40% to 60% over the last 20 years. The red snapper season in the Gulf seems close earlier each year. The fish we see in our markets are smaller and aren't available for long. Will there be seafood in 20 years, what kind and where will it come from?

A little history: fishing changed rapidly in the twentieth century especially after WWII. During that war fishing was curtailed all over the globe especially in the Atlantic. When the war ended recreational and commercial fishing expanded quickly. Nations like the Japan and Russia developed large trans-global distant water fleets of trawlers, long liners, deep-water crabbers and purse seine vessels. Japan, which spent decades collecting oceanographic data, developed new and innovative fishing methods and equipment that greatly increased their catch.

There is no planet wide agency that manages and enforces international fishing regulations with any great effect. The United Nations and organizations like the International Committee for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) make motions in that direction but nothing is being done that has any real and enforceable effect on the stocks of fish. The United States has its fishery management councils with their regulations and 200-mile limits but it's a big planet. The bottom line is that a constantly expanding human race is taking more than a finite resource can provide.

Aquaculture has and is being touted as a way to fill the gap between the fish that we want and the fish our oceans can provide. Farmers know it is easier and more profitable to “raise deer than wolves” – which are animals that are lower on the food chain and require less intensive care. Fish like mullet, tilapia and the carps (which have been cultured for centuries) will start to fill this gap over the next few years. When and if the stocks now under increasingly strict regulation recover there will never be enough fish to supply our markets like they did in the past without risking a protracted collapse. Factors like the potential for oil spills and flooding from climate change are exogenous factors that we can't control and they will tend to destabilize reliable and predictable production of seafood.

Think Global – Act Local!

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Some history about shrimp fishing

Sun, 15 May 2011 09:52:00 -0700

The Gulf Coast shrimping industry evolved from a local fresh market with a distribution controlled by how quickly the shrimp would spoil. Shrimp have been caught by a number of methods over the years from people just grabbing them with their hands out of shallow water to the modern offshore diesel powered shrimp trawler using four 50 foot otter trawls in the Gulf.

In the late 1800’s shrimp on the Gulf Coast were harvested using cast nets and seines because they could be operated in by hand in shallow water. There are records indicating the harvest of large amounts of shrimp in Galveston bay, Texas using haul seines from sail and oar powered small boats (Journal of Francis Sheridan). In the 1860’s a Chinese rice farmer from Canton named Lee Yuan brought the method of drying shrimp from California to Louisiana.

The first platform for sun-dried shrimp was built on Grand Bayou in Louisiana in 1873. The shrimp were boiled first in salt water then placed on a platform where they dried for three to four days. The shells were removed from the shrimp using a method known locally as the “shrimp dance”. Workers wearing special wooden shoes would slide across the dried shrimp cracking the shells making the meat easy to sift out. This method was so successful that it was registered with the US patent office. In 1884 the demand for this sun-dried product resulted in the establishment of a town called Manila Village deep in the marshes of Louisiana. There was 40,000 square feet of drying platforms, a store, post office and housing.

The vessels they used were called sailing luggers. They were shallow draft boats with a single square red sail set on a spar running diagonally across the mast. Another method of preserving shrimp other than drying was pickling, often called canning then, though the shrimp were usually placed in jars or barrels. With the advent and rapid spread of the otter trawl in 1912 and the replacement of sails with engines, the shrimp fishery began to ramp up its ability to produce product, especially after WWI.

In the 1920’s canning became was the major shrimp processing and marketing method with dried shrimp fading off the market. The shrimp vessel primarily used until 1938 was still the small shallow-draft lugger only now it was equipped with an engine instead of a sail. In many cases these vessels used butterfly nets instead of trawls to get into very shallow and weedy areas. This type of net was rigged off the bow with a spar straight out from the side of the boat using a net either on one side or both. With the advent of ice making equipment and refrigeration in the 1930’s the marketing range of shrimp was greatly increased.

During WWII 150 million pounds of shrimp or more were caught every year ranking shrimp in the top five fisheries in the US. White shrimp, as opposed to brown now, were the dominant species caught. Shallow water or near shore trawlers made up the bulk of the shrimping fleet in the Gulf. After WWII the abundance of white shrimp decline and was replaced by the brown shrimp in the catch. Shrimpers had to go father offshore to get the larger more marketable brown shrimp. Larger 50 to 60 foot vessels were used in this fishery and rigged with a single otter trawl up to 120 feet wide at the mouth.

It wasn’t until the mid-fifties that offshore vessels were “double rigged” with two otter trawls each 40 to 50 feet wide. It was found that even though the total size of the trawls were less than a single rig it produced 15 to 30 percent more shrimp. By the mid-sixties nearly all offshore vessel were at least double rigged with two 75 foot trawls, were refrigerated and used loran which enabled them to travel farther and stay out longer than ever before. The typical offshore trawler today is rigged to pull four otter trawls, has GPS, refrigeration and even a few are equipped to produce “Individually Quick Frozen” (IQF) shrimp.

Think Global – Act Local!

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The Shrimp time is coming on

Sun, 08 May 2011 20:38:00 -0700

Shrimping has been part of the rhythm life in the here on the Gulf Coast as long as anyone alive can remember. Whether you’re actually involved in the industry, eat them as a part of your diet or just have seen the boats working in Mobile Bay or leaving the passes to work in the Gulf, shrimping is part your life.

There are two general types of shrimp fishing, the inshore and the offshore. In Alabama the inshore fishery is composed of smaller boats which work from the I-10 freeway down the ship channel past Dog and Fowl Rivers to the intra-coastal water way and the mouth of Mobile Bay. They work west into Mississippi Sound, east past Oyster and Wolf Bays and up the Perdido system to the black water. The offshore fishery ranges from the US-Mexico boarder to Key West and many miles out into the Gulf.

As events over the last 40 years will attest things are changing in the Gulf Coast. Our population especially in the coastal areas has increased greatly.

The pressures on the marine environment have increased along with the population. Not only are commercial shrimpers using the marine waters, but recreational boaters and anglers, crabbers and gill-netters are out there too. Housing developments and condos have and are rapidly covering up coastal land and adding their share of pollution the aquatic ecosystems. We tend to view our local communities on the Gulf Coast as isolated from the events taking place around the world - perhaps, years ago that was true but not anymore as recent events will attest.

According to NFMS information only 13% of the shrimp eaten in the America come from US waters. Global shrimp farming along, with foreign capture fisheries are producing shrimp at prices on the world and local markets that the US commercial shrimp industry is having a hard time competing against. State and Federal regulations that restrict what type of gear can be used, when and where, plus Turtle Excluder Devices (TED) and By-catch Reduction Devices (BRD) are impacting the US catch. What kind of future is in store for the US shrimp fleet?

Our commercial shrimping is dependent on a product from the sea that's not predictable, never controllable and constantly argued and fought over. With a global marketplace, intensive worldwide shrimp farming, rapid transportation of products, increasing labor, fuel costs and concerns about how the act of shrimping itself affects the Gulf’s marine environment, shrimping is looked upon as having a very challenging if not problematic future.

Due the reduction in wholesale prices caused by imported shrimp there will probably be a general decline in offshore shrimping with a concomitant increase in the inshore component due to lower operating costs. Both real and perceived conflicts with environment groups will continue to impinge on the shrimpers’ ability to make a living, especially if the inshore component of the fishery increases. No matter direction future events take a fresh product should be available to local customers.

The Gulf of Mexico shrimp fisheries has been part of us for over 200 years and during that time it has met and endured many challenges. The challenge is how can the richest country in the world’s shrimp fishery successfully compete against pond-raised shrimp from all over the world and greatly increased operating costs?

An additional concern of all shrimpers is the short and long term effects of the recent offshore oil spill on the shrimp.

Think Global - Act Local!

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Challenges in the Charter boat Fishery

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:07:00 -0700

The charter boat community has been a significant component of recreational fishery in the Gulf of Mexico for many decades.

In Alabama it started with a few vessels fishing within in sight of shore and evolved to a fleet working miles offshore from Texas to Tampa. Red snapper are and have been a species of primary interest to this sector of the fishery. That's not to say Grays, Vermilions, Yellowtails, Lanes, triggerfish, grouper and amberjacks aren’t important.

Recreational saltwater fishing started to come into its own in the 1950s around the nation and has continued to grow with the passage of time.

In the 1970’s a radio navigation system called Loran “A” was made available to fishermen. Anglers were no longer limited to line-of-sight triangulation to fixed shore positions. This enabled them to return to the exact same successful fishing spot time after time. Loran “A” evolved into Loran “C” which offered increased precision and accuracy. Finally the global positioning system, which utilizes satellites, came along and is accurate to within five feet, time after time.

These electronic developments and others greatly accelerated the expansion of charter fishing right on into the 1990’s.

Another factor that aided the development of charter boat fishing was the recognition that bottom structure attracted and held fish. Early in the history of the fishery anglers knew that they'd find red snapper around exposed rock outcroppings and sunken vessels. Rather that run many miles out into the Gulf to try and find one of these sites they began making their own bottom structure near shore. Charter boat captains would take old car bodies or most anything else that would stay in one place on the bottom out into the Gulf during the off season and covertly sink it. They were sunk covertly because at that time it was against the law. This later evolved into a legally approved system for individuals to create artificial reefs in approved areas of the Gulf off Alabama.

The 'Rigs to Reefs' program was another way to make more structure in the Gulf. Old oil rig platforms were floated over to approved areas from Louisiana or Mississippi and sunk.

The old way of thinking about the ocean was to view it as an endless sea of fish and this was soon put to rest as landings of red snapper and other species began to decline from over fishing.

In an effort to manage the fisheries of the United States on a sustainable basis, the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, (renamed the. Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act when amended on October 11, 1996) established a U.S. exclusive economic zone that ranges between three and 200 miles offshore and created eight regional fishery councils to manage the living marine resources within that area. This Act was passed principally to address heavy foreign fishing, promote the development of a domestic fishing fleet and link the fishing community more directly to the management process.

Members of the Gulf of' Mexico Fisheries Management Council include the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), United States' Fish and Wildlife Service, all the Gulf States, commercial and recreational interests. The council convenes scientific panels composed of qualified state, federal and academic personnel to look at the economic, social and biological status of all species under its management.

Because Alabama has the largest artificial reef zone in the U.S. off its shores (1200 square miles) which supports a large charter boat fleet (154 resident licenses in 2009), a bone of contention from the recreational sector has been that it should be managed separately. Reasons to support this effort include the contention that artificial reefs not only attract red snapper but they also help to produce more fish by creating hard bottom where none existed before.

Another point that all sectors of the fishery seem to have a problem with in the red snapper management plan is that the recovery goal is set too high and that it should be lowered allowing for increased quotas, length limits and numbers sooner than planned.

In 2007 the Gulf Council reduced the number of red snapper a recreational angler is allowed to catch on each fishing trip from four to two.

Given the seasonal availability associated with other species caught by the charter boats and their regulations, it's not surprising that some captains around the Gulf have started to turning to other ways of making a living on the water.

Dolphin cruises have become popular with tourists and keep the boats earning. There're even some shrimping / ecological cruises where paying passengers are taken out shrimping in the bays and bayous.

The ecology of the area is explained with identification of birds, mammals and other fauna provided. Animals caught in the trawls are identified and the passengers get to keep the shrimp, crabs and whatever comes up that the law allows.

With the ongoing increase in fuel costs, slowdown in the economy, boat maintenance and further regulations the next few years will be challenging for the charter boat fishery in the Gulf of Mexico.

Think Global – Act Local!

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Get your Spring Break on with flounder!

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:14:00 -0700

For you spring breakers who've made Gulf Shores your beach of choice you might be wondering what kind of fishing there is around here this time of year. In this season, you have access to a boat, there are Cobia, Spanish mackerel and maybe some early King mackerel. You can also fish from the beach or State pier or in the creeks and bayous for various bottom species. Red snapper season is currently closed – sorry.

Species come and go with the seasons but one species group that's around all year are the flounders. Here on the Gulf we eat them stuffed, deep-fried, as “fingers” and filets but what do you really know about flounders?

Their Names

The three primary species of flounders along the Gulf Coast are from the family Bothidae. Members of this family are all “left-eyed” flounders. You can tell a left from a right-eyed flounder by looking at it with the tail towards you with the white side down. As you are looking at a left-eyed flounder in that position it will have the gill opening on the left side of the fish’s head. In a right-eyed flounder it will be on the other side (right). Right-eyed flounders are not found in the Gulf of Mexico but live in the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In the Gulf recreational anglers primarily catch the southern, gulf and fringed flounders. There are over 24 other species of flounders in the Gulf but these small and are usually seen only in shrimp trawls. Flounders have strong mouths with very sharp pointed teeth. Flounder larvae and juveniles have the shape of any other typical fish up to a certain point in their development when the right eye begins to move. It migrates to their left side over a period of a few weeks and after that their body develops a flat presentation. This allows them to retain binocular vision, which for a predator is standard equipment – look in the mirror if you do not believe me.

How to fish

You can catch flounders in a number of ways that including gigging. You can buy yourself a Colman fueled lantern with a reflector on the back, a gig, some wading shoes and a strong length of line to haul your catch around. Check the papers for a low tide night and find a length of shallow shoreline that you can get to easily. Wade along the shoreline about knee deep or shallower and look for the shape of a flounder in the sand. With the gig underwater, slowly bring it within a few inches of the flounder’s gills and stab it. If you like to use a rod and reel try a slip sinker setup with a small gold hook and live bait. Live shrimp is always good but you might have better luck with some saltwater minnows if the bait dealers have them.

The smallest of the three common flounders is the fringed flounder (Etropus crossotus). It rarely gets longer than four inches, has a very small mouth and an almost straight lateral line. Anglers seldom catch this flounder though it is common in the by-catch of shrimp trawls. There is a rude common name associated with this species and as such it will remain unmentioned. Flounders both primarily feed on various species of shrimp and any fish they can get their mouths around.

The other two look very similar to each other but the gulf flounder (Paralichthys albigutta) usually has three large spots on its back similar to those found on the tails of red drum. The gulf flounder can be found on sandy substrate near and inshore but most often is found on similar habitat in the deeper Gulf waters, which it prefers. It ranges from North Carolina south around the Gulf of Mexico and down to the Panama Canal. They can be longer than 18 inches and weigh more than five pounds. The young gulf flounder stay in the bayous and creeks and migrate to the Gulf as they mature. For some reason unknown reason they are rarely found to the west of Mobile Bay but are abundant to the east.

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The southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma), the one you'll most likely catch, has a high arching lateral line and doesn't have the distinct spots of the gulf flounder. It has the same range as the gulf flounder but prefers muddy substrate and is not limited by Mobile Bay. This fish can get big. It is the largest flat fish in the Gulf of Mexico and can go three feet and weigh greater than ten pounds. If you're around when cold weather sets in you might find it helpful to know that in the winter it migrates into the Gulf. In Alabama this is down the east side of Mobile Bay and along the Fort Morgan peninsula. You might try working the northern shore of Fort Morgan peninsula one night when the wind is down if you want to go gigging.

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CO2 making the sea more acid

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:21:00 -0700

Do you ever use a sponge? Of course you have. It absorbs liquids as we clean things the way we like them. The oceans absorb chemicals in a similar way peculiarly carbon dioxide.

CO2 absorption by the oceans is a natural part of the carbon cycle of our planet. When CO2 is absorbed by the oceans it changes their PH making it more acid. Given the huge amounts of carbon human activities have put into the atmosphere since the start of the industrial revolution it only follows that the oceans have absorbed more of it. The oceans of our planet have absorbed one-third of the CO2 we have produced from our activities. With the concomitant increase in the PH what are the changes we're currently seeing and what will happen in the future unless we stop making the oceans more acidic?

Shellfish like oysters, clams and snails form their shells from calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Making the oceans more acidic has a direct effect on their shell formation. This affects them in all stages of the life cycle from larvae through adult. The oyster larvae start forming their shells while they are still in the water column. This was documented in an oyster hatchery in Tilamook, Oregon which piped in Pacific ocean water for use it the hatchery. The increase in acidity of the ocean water used in the hatchery was found to be the cause. The effects of increased acidity are being seen all over the global in places like Australia, Seattle – Washington, Los Angles – California and Maryland.

The commercial implications are obvious. There will first be and increase in the variability of shellfish with an associated rise in prices. Then the seafood brokers will turn to the hatcheries to make up for the shortfall in natural production and will find they have the same problems. That person we all know will feel that this doesn't affect him but what he doesn't understand or chooses to ignore is that there are many of species in the world that eat shellfish besides humans. Bivalves provide a significant link in the food chain, one thing eats another and so on, and with their reduction or loss many or species will be impacted. As examples, the impact of this will affect species like the sea otters which eat abalone, many filter fish which eat the oyster larvae and the base of the food chain plankton.

How fast is this happening? It's like watching grass grow. Stare at it all day and you won't see any change, take a picture of the grass once a week for two months and you'll see significant change. If you ignore it you'll have trouble finding your yard furniture in a couple of years.

The acidification of the oceans in the coming decades will have a profound impact on how we look at the oceans.

If you'd like a good primer on ocean acidification the following video puts in terms that everyone should find understandable .

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Which one are you?

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:29:00 -0700

Thinking about what I've written over the decades and why I've done it, I offer you this short story.

There is a huge fire in the forest, and all the animals are fleeing except the hummingbird, which is zipping back and forth from a spring and scooping up slivers of water with its tiny beak and dumping them on the flames. The other animals, standing on the edge of the forest, taunt the hummingbird. The panther asks derisively, “What do you think you are doing, foolish little bird ?” and the hummingbird answers, “I'm doing what I can.”

What's to blame - those who started the fire or those who did nothing?

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