Sad view

[DA Aquamaster]

Last night in a restaurant at a table next to mine, I heard a woman talking general "green" type stuff and she seemed generally interested and concerned about environmental issues, then later in the conversation at her table she was talking about how much she liked orange roughy and that it is was her favorite fish to eat.

I suspect she was just ignorant of the impact of commercial fishing on orange roughy populations. They are very long lived (150 years) but are very slow growing and are not sexually mature until age 20 - so they are incredibly prone to overfishing and the sustained yield of any given population is extremely low. Commercial fishing for them simply should not be allowed and importation should be banned in most countries.

But here in the US we continue to eat about 20 million pounds per year...

 

[DRsharky]

Got a cell phone? get one with a camera next time. never be without a camera again. good if you get in a car accident, etc...

Had one but damaged it a while ago. Getting to my boat I forgot it in my packet and the water was deeper then I expected

 

[DRsharky]

I do not think conservation is at the top of the agenda for these people, just the $ sign.

Well it's not always about money, it has changed a lot last couple years, but still they need to eat

I don't think they're ignoring it, I think in most cases they're not aware of it.

I agree with that. They've done it for years and nobody told them to do it differently. But in the past they mostly fed their families, now they are fishing for many restaurants and hotels around.

.... Sometimes people do what they need to do to feed their families. It is still stupid and short sighted, but long term conservation efforts can be a luxury you can't afford if the kids are hungry. ....It is a larger economic problem that requires a much better economic solution than the average caribbean government can muster.

Very very true.

The only problem I have with all this is that they fish in the park where fishing is prohibited by Dominican government. But like said above, even in other countries fishermen don't respect that. I am afraid we won't have anything to show tourists in 20 years if it continues like this.