Please do not send me any more information concerning this topic. Thank you,
Eric Arseneau PWMG-GSBP Inc. -----Message d'origine----- De : [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] la part de [EMAIL PROTECTED] Envoye : March 5, 2004 10:02 AM A : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Objet : Re: (Fundy Forum) Grey seal cull - opinions please Hi Gareth, Have you spoken with the lobster fishermen or the lobster buyers lately? The focus of concern is not lobsters that are in a normal and healthy (if somewhat soft and vulnerable) growth stage. Lobsters are being found dead in the traps before they reach the surface. There are many weak, limp, animals that are dying before they can be transported to shore or to market. They are so "hard to hold" that some lobster buyers are now going out of business because they have purchased so much stock that has no market value. Canneries are swamped with the bulk of low value, weak lobster this season, and some fishermen have resorted to burying their losses in landfills. Even lobsters with nice hard shells have been found to have unusually low meat content. This is more pronounced at the biggest sizes. Industry biologists have been following this mounting problem for a number of years now, and the only biological abnormality that they have found is "low protein." But, from DFO's lobster assessments that I have seen, no mention has been made of the "condition" of the lobsters. Falling physical condition, most acutely at the largest fish sizes, plus the early loss of peripheral population components, were trends that appeared prior to the dramatic collapse of the Northern cod of Newfoundland. DFO is reluctant to connect the dots, it seems to me. This evening in Yarmouth, the lobster fishing association is holding a meeting (with scientists) to discuss the problem of the falling condition of the lobsters. I know many of these people personally and the worry they express "rings true" to me. It is not a "fall fishery" that is finding weak lobsters today, it is a late-winter fishery. I would be interested in knowing your thoughts on the plankton-positive aspects of the ecological role of seals and fish. Did that ring true at all? Also, are you able to share any insight into the reasons why DFO has refused to be interviewed by CBC television on these issues? cheers, Debbie MacKenzie http://www.fisherycrisis.com At 03:27 PM 04/03/2004 -0400, you wrote: I found the concern expressed about lobsters, particularly offshore lobsters, didn't ring true. Below is the explanation given by the lobster scientist Doug Pezzack who studies this region. Soft lobsters are a perfectly normal and healthy growth stage of the lobster which occurs after the animal has shed its shell and starts to form another in order to grow. The value ($$$$) of moulting lobsters is low because they are more readily damaged, are vulnerable to mutilation by hard shelled lobsters and therefore not feasable to ship to market. The reason for more soft-shelled lobsters turning up off southwest Nova scotia than normal would most likely be due to colder bottom temperatures. Moulting in this region is typically late August through to early October so just a slight drop in bottom temperatures could delay the moulting process such that more softshelled lobsters would appear in this fall fishery. Cheers, Gareth Harding. > ---------- > From: Pezzack, Douglas > Sent: Thursday, March 4, 2004 12:12 PM > To: Harding, Gareth > Subject: RE: (Fundy Forum) Grey seal cull - opinions please > > No. > > Last fall there was a soft-shell and quality problem of "Offshore" > Lobsters in LFA 34 where "offshore" was anything not along the coast and > > say 15-20 fathoms. This has occurred in 2 of the last three years and may > be related to changes in the timing of the molt or distribution of the > animals and fishermen. (i.e. it is possible that the differences in > quality is always there but in some years fishermen hit those deeper areas > harder so the problem is more evident?) > > In the real offshore (LFA41), there are quality differences (percentage > meat yield) between areas but this has always been the case (back to the > 1970's at least) and may be related to temperature, animal sizes, molting > periods etc. The lower quality has always been on the outer shelf/upper > slope east of Browns with higher quality on Georges Bank and to the west > and southwest of Browns. > > Doug > > -----Original Message----- > From: Harding, Gareth > Sent: March 4, 2004 11:57 AM > To: Pezzack, Douglas > Subject: FW: (Fundy Forum) Grey seal cull - opinions please > > Hi Doug, is there any problem with the "health" of offshore > lobsters? > > ---------- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2004 3:55 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: (Fundy Forum) Grey seal cull - opinions please > > Dear fellow humans, > > It is later than you think for seals, fish, whales, etc. in Atlantic > Canada. > The fishing industry is proposing a Nova Scotia grey seal cull now > that will > in all likelihood exterminate this species. The smaller, "cuter" > harbour seals > can expect to be indiscriminately blown away too. Grey seals are > being shot on > a daily basis by fishermen now, and the only thing that will change > is that a > full-out blitz will be mounted once the Department of Fisheries and > Oceans > (DFO) gives its blessing to the project. "Management" of nature > could not be > more inept. > > Killing seals will not offer one iota of assistance in the > "rebuilding" of > fish stocks that are generally faltering now, because the root of > their problem > lies in an alarming decline in plankton production. That is why fish > are so > small and lean now; they are starving. Seals naturally work towards > stimulating > plankton production, but perhaps that is beside the point. An > important > question is why DFO is keeping the plankton problem under their hat, > why they are > not coming clean to the fishing industry, and to the public, on the > implications > of this disastrous "unexpected" development. > > Where's the proof? It's in the gradual disappearance of a multitude > of small > plankton-feeding animal life along the shoreline. The public can > easily see > this. Barnacles, mussels, clams, snails, anemones, small fish, are > all quietly > disappearing from "pristine" coastal areas, and DFO is utterly > silent on this. > Pollution causes "too much" plankton growth, but these broad trends > today > point in the opposite direction. Proof of the plankton decline, > spanning decades, > can also be found in DFO's science data. > > Why the reluctance of science to discuss the mysterious plankton > decline? It > seems DFO lacks the courage to contemplate this evidence that the > very > foundation of their "fisheries science" is fatally flawed. For a > short while longer > DFO may be able to let the seals take the fall for this, because the > general > public does not suspect what is happening and has been brainwashed > into > believing that seals are some scourge that is "damaging" fisheries. > > Lobster fishermen are shooting seals on sight, even as they cannot > understand > why their prey, plankton-feeding lobsters, is getting physically > weaker. > Lobsters caught offshore Nova Scotia now are dying like flies. Top > prices are only > paid for the healthier inshore ones, and this is a new development. > Food-stressed populations of fish and lobsters cave in from the > outer edges first, in a > pattern that has been amply shown by cod and many others before > this. > Lobsters are also vanishing to the north and the south, yet DFO and > the lucrative SW > Nova lobster fishery act as if it exists inside a magic bubble. > > Shrinking options for fish, lobster, and seal are all driven by > faltering > plankton - and each of these animals, under these stressful > conditions, makes > adjustments to accelerate the plankton-boosting aspects its own > existence. Egg > output (which feeds plankton) has been maxed out by fish and others, > as "little > ones" now unexpectedly carry roe. Thus ocean life strains to > maintain its > "balance." The more of these animals that we take out, the faster > the whole living > ocean endeavor sinks. But this version of the truth (the real > truth?) is > unspeakable. Best not to think about something so alarming, and > people can instead > continue to be "surprised" "shocked" and "dismayed" as marine animal > life > ever sickens and disappears. Thinking about all of this might be > just too hard on > the human head. But, wishing for a world in which problems can be > solved by > blowing off ones frustrations, by shooting seals, will not make it > so. Once > again, we will only "manage" to shoot ourselves in the foot. If we > have no > compassion for the now-very-hungry grey seal, can we find any for > the future of our > children? > > Please take a couple of minutes to write a "letter to the editor" > voicing > your opinion on the proposed Nova Scotia grey seal cull. Whether you > agree with > me or not, a variety of views will make the media more likely to > draw attention > to this "contentious" issue. Letters to the Halfax Herald newspaper > can be > emailed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] , these need to be short - not over > 200 words - > and you must include your name, address and phone number (although > they will not > print that). My arguments against the seal hunt can be found in > greater > detail at: http://www.fisherycrisis.com/seals/greysealhunt.htm > > The days are numbered during which DFO will be able to avoid openly > discussing the whole truth of what they know about the changes in > the ocean. It seems > that only public pressure will be able to force it out of them, > however. The > fishing industry is not particularly keen to bring the nature of > this disaster > into sharp focus because the implications for their future are not > good. Denial > seems to be the most comfortable place for many fishermen to be. But > that > doesn't change the truth, and the truth is that the whole general > public has a > serious stake in a healthy ocean, in healthy plankton. > > Debbie MacKenzie > http://www.fisherycrisis.com > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > PLANKTON > We're an indolent lot . . . > Shiftless microscopic drifters. > Here in the oceans a million trillion trillion of us just float and > aimlessly > worship the sun. > We have no brains at all. > And we don't do anything at all except procreate with promiscuous > abandon and > generate most of the Earth's oxygen. > And we have no advice at all for you diligent bipeds who use your > capacious > intellects to so industriously befoul the seas. > For about two billion years we got along Quite well without you. > And without us, you will suffocate. > > ---From the poem Love and Anger by Gordon McCloskey. > > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Fundy Forum listserver is dedicated to providing a forum for Bay of > Fundy Issues. > List moderator: Maxine Westhead > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Phone:(902)426.4215 > On-line Archiving: > <http://www.fundyforum.com/listserver/main_archive.htm> > Post message: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > List-Unsubscribe:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fundy Forum listserver is dedicated to providing a forum for Bay of Fundy Issues. 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