rojosramblings

For the scientifically inclined:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/15/18913/356

This is kind of how this relates to global warming:

http://www.climateark.org/blog/2006/12/global_warming_threatens_marin.asp

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/07/MNG1JMQUL01.DTL

and with less phytoplankton, there is less zooplankton and less free swimming feeders and then less food for the higher ups in the food chain.

http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,71444-0.html?tw=wn_index_7

and this report just sites rockfish and birds. Does anything in the ocean eat rockfish? And so it goes…

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650213317,00.html

In case you missed this, that is 50,000,000,000 TONS less biomass produced annually. Take that out of the human food chain. Ow.

It can be even more depressing. My son two years ago went to Mexico for one month. While there he got a ride to an island (whose name escapes me) and paid for his room and board by helping locals fish. They were handlining. He said the village ate at the beach almost every night based upon their catch. One of the things they did catch were sharks. The sharks were cut up and used for bait, not eaten. If you ask me, say I had a 90 pound shark on a handline (yes, that means you pull the fish in by hand) –If I had a shark, bye, bye line. No they dragged them on shore and killed them and then released the hook. The next step was to cut off the fins and then either use the fish for bait or release the carcass back to the ocean. The fins were the cash cow, so to speak. They saved them for Japanese boats to stop by and sell the shark fins.

Now, lest we get too depressed—here is a link to a nice past time that is usually accompanied by lots of beer and float tubes. http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0601a-tina_butler.html Why the hell else would someone try to entice fish to eat your hand? I have heard horror stories of people who have accidentally gotten water moccasin wrapped around their arms trying for catfish. http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/story?columnist=sutton_keith&page=g_col_sutton_noodling

And as anyone who has caught catfish knows, be very wary of the spiked projections on the side of the head. Yeehaw! Yes, I am guessing lots of alcohol involved.

rojo