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Pastimes : I Love to Fish -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Snowshoe who wrote (1172)	10/16/2009 10:35:17 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1413

Ach, they're just another breed of alarmists.... [sarcasm alert] See Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World amazon.com Two reviews: From Library Journal In this engaging history of a "1000-year fishing spree," Kurlansky (A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny, LJ 1/92) traces the relationship of cod fishery to such historical eras and events as medieval Christianity and Christian observances; international conflicts between England and Germany over Icelandic cod; slavery, the molasses trade, and the dismantling of the British Empire; and, the evolution of a sophisticated fishing industry in New England. Kurlansky relates this information in an entertaining style while providing accurate scientific information. The story does not have a happy ending, however. The cod fishery is in trouble, deep trouble, as the Atlantic fish has been fished almost to extinction. Quoting a scientist from the Woods Hole Biological Laboratory, Massachusetts, Kurlansky notes that to forecast the recovery of the cod population is to gamble: "There is only one known calculation: 'When you get to zero, it will produce zero.'" Highly recommended for all general collections. --Mary J. Nickum, Bozeman, Mont. --------------------------------------------------------- Fishy Recipe for History and Evolution, August 27, 2002 By "cloudia" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews There's a cartoon in Matt Groening, the nine types of professors. One is the single-minded type, as in "The country that controls magnesium controls the world!" His main drawback is that he could be right. Cod sort of reminds me of that. You may not have known how important or popular this particular fish was to most of our ancestors in Western civilization, but, according Kurlansky, Cod was practically like bread. It was easy to fish, there was a ton of it, and once Europeans learned the various ways of drying it (with cold and/or salt) all people could think about was trading this staple. Yes, Kurlansky's book is single-minded, and at times you might forget this is a fish tale. When the Vikings found America, what where they looking for? And how did they manage to sustain themselves through the long ocean voyage? The answers are of course, cod. Kurlansky also has a few outlandish things to say about another favorite topic of his, the Basque, who it appears had been regularly fishing for Cod in Newfoundland long before Columbus found America. They were really good at keeping a secret, you see. Fortunately, there's a serious, or, at least more socially acceptable side, to Kurlansky's fish story. The fishing trade really is threatened. You can no longer practically walk on Atlantic cod. Even Icelanders who found their entire economy changing from one of sustenance to a first world service economy, during the two world wars, have a difficult time protecting their dwindling stock. If Aldous Huxley's grandfather, Thomas, asserted in the 19th century that cod would never become extinct, it was only because he could not imagine the rapid technological changes which would turn fishing into harvesting, and the classic practice of drying fish into freezing it, on board the fishing boats themselves. Good bye bacalao, hello fishsticks. It's a sad tale as ways of life dwindle and change, and even the very essentials of human existence that have lasted for thousands of years go unheard of by the post-industrial society. But are we really evolving into something better? Kurlansky peppers his narrative with quotes from notables throughout the ages and interesting, if often archaic, recipes.

To: Snowshoe who wrote (1172)	10/20/2009 12:36:50 AM
From: Neeka	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1413

This is one pic I took on the North Fork Skykomish River last week. The river is boiling with spawning Pinks. Ling Cod is my favorite white meat fish. Their aren't a lot of them left now, although I heard the sports catch was very good this year. Maybe we should stop regulating the cod catch? Either that, or stop it all together until the stocks grow. It sounds like Marine life suffers the same chaos we humans experience here on land. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Angler's delight: Record run of pink salmon By Mike Archbold The News Tribune Biologist Steve Fransen calls the record pink-salmon run that has area anglers whooping for joy "nature at its finest." He's not exactly sure what's happening, but he's impressed nonetheless. "Fish are always trying to tell a story and we don't speak their language," Fransen said. The pink run is doing so well "because we don't manage it," joked Mike Scharpf, area fish biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Like Fransen, he can't fully explain this year's massive run. There are no management plans for pink salmon. There are no hatcheries. These are wild salmon whose numbers have exploded in Puget Sound and on many rivers. The record pink run is on display in the trap-and-haul facility on the White River near Buckley below the Mud Mountain Dam. Since August, crews have collected more than 470,000 pinks and transported them to their natural spawning grounds above the dam, using specially designed tanker trucks. Their fingerlings will head downstream through the dam's tunnels to Puget Sound and the ocean. Those pinks will return in 2011 and with any luck, set another record. "I do believe this is a record number of salmon hauled at any facility in the country in a single season," said Fransen, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Pinks, which have a two-year life cycle, return in odd years on the White River. The previous record for pinks at the dam was 127,541 in 2007. In 2003, only 13,190 came home. Their numbers may be growing but the market for them is still small. Pink salmon, which average about 4 pounds, are considered oily and aren't served in restaurants. Instead, they are often canned, smoked or salted. Chinook and coho are the prize salmon, but their numbers aren't growing. Last week, pink salmon were still swarming into the trap-and-haul facility. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates the Mud Mountain Dam for recreation and flood control on the White and Puyallup rivers in South King County and North Pierce County. It was completed in 1948. The trap-and-haul facility was built at the same time at the White River Diversion Dam near Buckley that for nearly a century has diverted water into a flume to Lake Tapps for hydroelectric power and recreation. Every hour, 750 pinks are lifted up in the water-filled hopper at the diversion dam and emptied into three tanker trucks. They're hauled 13 miles upriver around the dam. Record numbers of fish have meant increased costs. Andrea Takash, a spokeswoman for the Corps in its Seattle District Office, said the Corps received an extra $460,000 in federal stimulus money to handle the pink-salmon run. Takash said the Corps is designing a new diversion dam and a larger trap and haul facility with three hoppers. The Corps also traps and hauls native chinook, coho and steelhead. "Efforts like these serve to substantiate the feasibility of trap-and-haul fish passage alternatives when fish ladders (at dams) are not feasible," Fransen said. He admitted the size of the pink-salmon return this year to the Puyallup and White rivers took him by surprise, even with the forecast of a record 5.1 million pink salmon returning to Puget Sound this year. While pinks have always been present in the White River, there were few of them. Jeff Dillon, a biologist with the Corps at the dam, said conditions in the river have improved in the past 10 to 15 years, particularly increases in instream flows needed to support fish. For decades, the White River served mainly to provide water for Lake Tapps and the hydroelectric project there. Flows were almost nonexistent in the late summer and early fall when the pinks returned. The low flows also hurt other salmon species that called the river home, though in much smaller numbers. Dillon said the removal of Tacoma Public Utilities' pipeline crossing, which acted as a partial barrier, also has contributed to the pinks' success. Improvements at the dam have made it easier for fingerlings to pass back through the dam. Fransen also suggested that small climatic changes that have expanded the pink salmon's range in the Pacific Ocean have helped the overall Puget Sound run. The lesson of the pinks is simple. "They are a good example of the resiliency of salmon if environmental factors can bounce back," Fransen said. seattletimes.nwsource.com