Has Banda been fished out??

[Dan]

Fish are taken not just for food and America is playing a role in depletion of fish stocks in Indonesia.
How Tropical Fish Get From Coral Reefs to Your Aquarium

Most of the fishing that I saw around Banda Neira was for tuna. When I was there 30 years ago, there was a Japanese refrigeration ship anchored in the harbour throughout my stay there. At that time, the local fisherman would fish for tuna with hand lines from little one man sampans and sell their catch to the refrigeration ship.

I saw a fishing boat at Batu Kapal when I was there last October and they were catching a lot of tuna with the pole and line method (about a dozen guys at the front of the boat with poles and line, and tuna biting every couple of seconds). It was during that visit in October that I saw the tuna whilst diving. I saw neither the fishermen nor the tuna during my visits to Batu Kapal in November and December last year. The local fishermen knew that the fish would not be there during the moon phase and tide combination but LOB schedules can’t accommodate such considerations for all dive sites during a trip.

Tuna is a high value fish, but I think the market is more Japan and the west. It’s not just the Chinese who eat fish.

Furthermore I think seafood is not part of the normal diet of Chinese from the inland provinces of China. And citing 1.42 billion Chinese with lots of money is probably quite inaccurate as quite a few hundred million of them would not have much money.

Negative generalization of people is bad. My apology. Post has been edited accordingly.

 

[Bora_Horza]

Very interesting documentary about whats likely to happen with fish in pretty much all the oceans... Its quite an old documentary (2010), but things have not changed a lot since it was made.

 

[Cali_diver]

Check out White Manta Diving's latest trip in Banda!
White Manta Diving

 

[Dan]

Check out White Manta Diving's latest trip in Banda!
White Manta Diving

Thanks for posting the link. So, were you on that trip?

I'll be on Blue Manta in 5 months.

 

[charlier]

Thanks for posting the link. So, were you on that trip?

I'll be on Blue Manta in 5 months.

Dan_T, this video is from P.J.Widestand, a videographer on the Blue Manta during a spring crossing trip.

 

[Cali_diver]

Thanks for posting the link. So, were you on that trip?

I'll be on Blue Manta in 5 months.

No, my friend was! I am doing Banda in October!

 

[Dan]

Dan_T, this video is from P.J.Widestand, a videographer on the Blue Manta during a spring crossing trip.

Good to know. Will he be there in the Fall crossing trip too? Is he replacing Nu Parnupong?

 

[charlier]

She went on a liveaboard there last year. Said there were beautiful corals but no fish.

One liveaboard or a random trip is not representative of the Banda Sea, the coral ecosystem, health of fish, and bleaching events.

 

[charlier]

Good to know. Will he be there in the Fall crossing trip too? Is he replacing Nu Parnupong?

Dan_T, I would not say anyone is replacing Nu. P.J., Nu, and Andrei, plus a few other videographers move about between LoBs, other dive regions, and other travel/work commitments.

 

[Tippytoes12]

May be the dolphins fished them out.

I went to Alor in 2012 & greeted by huge pod of dolphins, as shown here:

We saw the super pod of dolphins in Alor last year , there were hundreds of not thousands of them !