Byron Report

[Guest danielinbyron]

After a tailor free winter they've shown up in droves down the cape...

pulled the calcutta out of retirement and suffered the northerly fish off the rox with a boat rod for fun:brained them with a couple of mates and had a hoot..

{ i made the mistake of lending my long overhead rod to someone }

The chop ups of bigger fish are getting closer but there is still a band of green water between me and them..V exciting watching schools of bait getting smashed from one end of the cape to the other but. I'd speculate the bait is getting boofed by tuna.

Again it just isn't any kind of weather to be out in the boat.. there seems to be some warm water and some hot water just to the north..But the only thing that stops the northerly is a stronger southerly.. just unpleasant. But those who are commited are getting a cross seasonal catch of tuna kingies spotties to the south allot of cobia bruns to tweed and still some big knobbys. There was even a report of a surprise beaky off ballina wall.

There have been a few jew getting cought in ballina river in the chanel near the rsl and the odd one off the beach, but they've dropped off as the moon has wained. And reports of the odd jak busting folks up. But i haven't got into any..I have looked at the Bruns and Ballina rivers and they are looking v clean and clear but a little green and cold..

The gts are still hanging around the cape as my booby prize for hunting mulloway and plentiful to 4kgs , and there have been reports of spotted mackerel a little further south which is odd for this time of year..I think its going to be an interesting summer once the winds die down a little and the hot water reaches the shore.

I could do with a big swell to wash some sand out of my favorite holes and ledges but that won't happen until the wind dies i bet.

[kantong]

good report mate. whats the difference between blue and green water? Different fish in different types of water?

I usually fish land based, so I dont really get to see the ocean and deep water all that much.

cheers

[inhlanzi]

Nice report there daniel

seems like you live in fishing heaven up there!

cheers

inhlanzi

[Guest danielinbyron]

good report mate. whats the difference between blue and green water? Different fish in different types of water?

I usually fish land based, so I dont really get to see the ocean and deep water all that much.

cheers

color = temperature, its quite an outstanding difference sometimes within a few feet... Allot of pelagics will stay only in water above a certain temperature.Right now here its like two or three bands in a rainbow in the first few hundred meters and the big chops are in the dark blue water" 22degrees.the green water is 17/18

[kantong]

Thanks for clearing that up.

So i presume that you would see the blue water before you see the green, because the sunlight will warm up the water, and the deeper u go, the colder it gets.

Is that correct?

[M-L]

Looks like byron bay is a great place for fishing. Luckily I'm going to be heading up in a few weeks and looking to go for a fish, except i dont think i'l lbe able to take the beach/rock gear. are you allowed to fish at the mouth of belongil creek or is it part of the marine park?

[Guest danielinbyron]

Looks like byron bay is a great place for fishing. Luckily I'm going to be heading up in a few weeks and looking to go for a fish, except i dont think i'l lbe able to take the beach/rock gear. are you allowed to fish at the mouth of belongil creek or is it part of the marine park?

No mate the mouth is out MP.. But there is still allot of good water in. If your problem is rod length / travel.. you are may be able to borrow one of mine. I'll also pm you my number re wots on and where to possibly fish in the weather we have when you get here..

[Guest danielinbyron]

Thanks for clearing that up.

So i presume that you would see the blue water before you see the green, because the sunlight will warm up the water, and the deeper u go, the colder it gets.

Is that correct?

In this case the water inside ,is only slightly shallower, and 4 or 5 degrees cooler..There is a cold=green current trapped against the shore..And a warmer=blue current quite distinctly and abrubtly starting out after it.. it has been this way for about 4 or five weeks .. the cold water is probably being held up by the northerly wind .. which is where i start to get lost...

i know they do . but i'm buggered if know why northelies cool surface temp pushing warm water down and southerlies warm it drawing warm water up.

although the sun does warm the water this is long term not short term , ie it warmed the water when it was closer to the equator and that water is now passing here.

I THINK . cos the more i learn the more i realise how little i know

Edited October 19, 2006 by danielinbyron

[Mondo Rock]

Perhaps it is not the Northerly wind that brings the cold water, but the cold water that brings the Northerly wind?

We get a similar phenomenon down here, where an 'upwelling' from the north will result in seriously cold water and generally co-incide with northerly winds.

[M-L]

thanks for the help daniel

i'll let you know if i need to borrow any equipment later down the track

[BOB_SMITH]

The currents and wind and El Nino all affect what happens on our east coast.

Some scientists are now declaring that these currents are changing which in turn alters the food chain and water temp which is altering the survival of marine species. Something to think about.

The abc has a good short explanation here > http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/...005/default.htm

Bob Smith

[BOB_SMITH]

Is this a related issue- copied from another source

The Sunday Times

Cod doomed - and it's the climate's fault

Camillo Fracassini

CLIMATE change, rather than overfishing, is the pricipal cause of falling cod stocks in the North Sea, and conservation measures imposed by the European Union will do nothing to reverse the decline, a new study has revealed.

Changes in the North Atlantic current, caused by global warming, have disrupted supplies of plankton, which are essential for the survival of newly hatched cod.

According to the study by the Natural Environment Research Council, the amount of vital plankton in the North Sea has plummeted by 50%.

Researchers investigating marine productivity say the decline in cod stocks is now irreversible.

“No amount of fishery regulation is going to bring the cod stocks back. The fate of cod is commercial extinction,” said Dr Martin Angel, a government adviser who led the study.

Academics at the Southampton Oceanography Centre, the marine laboratory in Aberdeen and the University of Strathclyde analysed hundreds of plankton samples collected from the North Sea. The plankton, which used to be carried to cod spawning grounds by the North Atlantic current, is now drifting further north.

“Probably the main reason for the lack of success of cod to recover after overfishing is that the ecosystem has changed and the Calanus finmarchicus is no longer in the right place at the right time,” said Angel. “Normally this plankton is carried to cod spawning grounds, but the current has changed and they are now drifting to the southeast of Greenland.

“At this critical period, when cod require to feed on high plankton densities, the plankton they favour is no longer there.”

While Calanus finmarchicus used to account for about 80% of plankton in the North Sea, it now accounts for just 40%. A new species of plankton that thrives in the warmer waters is becoming more common, however it spawns at the wrong time of year for the cod larvae.

Angel believes the changes in the North Atlantic current will have far-reaching implications for the environment.

“The engine of the Atlantic current — the cold, salty water that used to drive it — has been switched off,” he said. “This will have a major impact on global climate because the oceans distribute energy over the surface of the globe. The seas off Britain appear to be getting warmer and the animals are responding to that.”

Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, added: “These findings do look very significant and it may already be too late for some species.

“While we have seen interesting changes with birds moving further north, butterflies changing their distribution and trees flowering at the wrong time of year, this is clear evidence of a fundamental change in the marine ecosystem, which will make a really big difference.

“Half of Scotland’s plants and animals live in the sea and a large part of our diet and economy are based on there being a diversity of life in the oceans.”

Michael Park, chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producer’s Association, said Angel’s findings were supported by the experience of Scottish fishermen.

“At every branch meeting I have attended — which constitute around 70% of the UK catching industry — my members have asked when the water temperature and other environmental issues are going to be taken seriously,” he said.

“There have been big changes. We have a big squid fishery in the northeast, which we never had before, while the pink shrimp has disappeared.

“The North Sea is increasing in temperature by about one degree per decade, which is a sprint in ecological terms. There has been a decrease in plankton since the 1970s, but it has fallen off the edge of the scale recently, and cod, which are dependant on it during the early stages of life, are suffering as a result.

“Meanwhile, the targets we are facing to get the stocks up to recovery are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.”

Angel’s finding follows recent research by the UK National Oceanography Centre, which found that the Gulf Stream — which carries warm water to Europe from the tropics — has weakened dramatically in recent years.

Bob Smith