How Does Feeding Marine Life Effect the Ecosystem

[Scott from LongIsland]

I was recently on a trip to Bonaire and I was surprised and disappointed to see one of the resorts feeding the Tarpon at their dock.


Can anyone share some insight on how this effects their behavior and the overall ecosystem in the area.


I know that it is not a good thing to feed any wild animals but I am looking for specific studies and/or examples on how feeding effects the ecosystem as a whole. Some people that I met thought that this was A - Okay...is it?


Thanks for any input.

 

[alewar]

*affect

 

[DaleC]

Occasionally, probably not a problem (depending on species and food). Wild animals are not magical or made of glass and many piscine species have opportunistic diets by nature. But long term feeding raises several concerns for any wild animal:

• Over reliance on humans and a loss of own ability to secure food.

• Removing species input into ecosystem. Each animal affects the whole system in some way (grazing, scavenging, culling).

• May create a false sense of population bearing capacity within the eco-system.

• Alters behavior and relationships with humans.

Most people feeding fish are only concerned with the last point - wishing to neotenize the animal for their pleasure.

Unfortunately most people will also not feel the effects of their actions unless the animal has the capacity to potentially harm them in some way ie. a shark learning to equate people with food, moray eel biting off someones thumb. Garbage bears or raccoons entering residential neighborhoods, coyotes learning how to take pets.

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

Thanks Dale. I am aware of the generalities as to why this is a bad thing. What i am looking for is specific studies that address this activity. Any ideas?

 

[diver 85]

I have no idea, but it sure helps out a nite dive there.....

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[DanMont]

My first port of call would be google scholar - quick search revealed:

Orams (2002) 'Feeding wildlife as a tourism attraction: a review of issues and impacts' Tourism management vol. 23

Bruce and Bradford (2012) 'The effects of shark cage diving operations on the behaviour and movements of white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, at the Neptune islands' Marine Biology vol 160 issue 4

I believe these are both freely available and should give you plenty more papers to read from the reference lists

Dan

 

[j2s]

It's not a good thing.....Bears in National Parks, sharks as a diving attraction, there's a long list and many studies.....They all come to the same conclusion.....DON'T !!!!!

 

[danvolker]

I was recently on a trip to Bonaire and I was surprised and disappointed to see one of the resorts feeding the Tarpon at their dock.


Can anyone share some insight on how this effects their behavior and the overall ecosystem in the area.


I know that it is not a good thing to feed any wild animals but I am looking for specific studies and/or examples on how feeding effects the ecosystem as a whole. Some people that I met thought that this was A - Okay...is it?


Thanks for any input.

You do "get" that the FISHING LOBBIES have 10,000 people to every one of us divers that would even "ask" a question like this....and that the fisherman are ALWAYS going to feel it is just fine to feed or bait the fish.
Whatever effect WE could have, it is "pissing in to the wind" when considered against the effects of fishing.

Also...the fisherman and the lobbies actually care about what they do....and LOBBY with great power...divers are largely an apathetic group when it comes to actually DOING anything..some will talk big on Scubaboard, but try to push a needed environmental action to be undertaken by divers--something critical for the future of the oceans--and scuba boarders will not do anything.....as to divers having a useful reaction to the tarpon feeding, it would be better to run this by elementary school kids.

 

[DaleC]

I don't know any fish studies locally to relate because we don't really have that issue up here but we have similar issues with land animals and birds, most notably at the moment; geese.

Two human factors currently affecting geese behavior are hand feeding and keeping large expanses of lawn near lakes (preferred food source not naturally abundant). This artificially increases the population density of geese at several sites and results in raised fecal content which affects water quality and fuels eutrofication. It also causes geese to alter migration patterns by staying later into the season or even over wintering (which may have negative consequences if the weather turns severe). Close proximity of populations also creates better conditions for disease dissemination and introduces conditions for higher populations of predators to become established. when the geese leave the predators seek alternative sources of food.

That's just geese though. I would suggest, if you are interested and can't find a particular study, to map out the life patterns and ecology of the Tarpon. Where they range, what they do, who or what interacts with them; and see what impacts could be assumed from human intervention.

 

[drbill]

This is a bit different than what you ask in your original post. The other day I was walking down our Front Street with a Mexican pastry in my hand (to add extra buoyancy and bioprene). A seagull swopped down, flapped its wings all over my head and grabbed 1/2 of the pastry before flying off. Why did this happen? Because visitors and some locals here on the island feed the darned rats of the sea despite the fact it is against city ordinance. They have trained seagulls to expect food from humans. I just hope the darned seagull can't descend to get its own food due to its increased buoyancy and bioprene! I've also had one grab a bagel out of my hand as I was sitting.