Friday Fishy News - June 8

[Flattieman]

Apologies for the tardiness this week, Raiders - I've been up on the Central Coast since Friday evening, so any chance of establishing an internet connection was lost without power! Needless to say, fishing was quite impossible in the terrible conditions... Enjoy the Fishy News!

Going Fishing? Only Some Catch And Release Methods Let The Fish Live

NSW DPI

Science Daily

June 4

NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) fisheries scientists are investigating ways to boost the survival rates of several more species of fish caught and then released by anglers.

Some guidelines designed to improve fish survival were recently developed for released line-caught snapper, silver trevally, mulloway, sand whiting, yellowfin bream and dusky flathead.

The research, costing more than $1.5 million and funded by NSW DPI and the Recreational Fishing Trust (using money from licence fees), is developing protocols designed to maximise fish survival via subtle changes to management practices.

Owing to bag limits, legal sizes and non-consumptive angling, between 30 and 50% of the total recreational catch is released each year in Australia. This amounts to more than 47 million fish being caught and released annually.

New research is now seeking to maximise the post-release survival of other commonly-caught species including luderick, sand mullet, garfish, tailor, Australian bass, Murray cod and golden perch.

NSW DPI scientists Matt Broadhurst and Paul Butcher have shown that mortality rates can be significantly improved through changed practices.

Key recommendations from an initial two-year project are that fishers should:

* Cut the line on fish that swallow hooks

* Remove hooks caught in the fish’s mouth

* Minimise air exposure

* Use landing nets without knotted mesh

* Maintain water quality in on-boat holding tanks, and

* Use the right rig for the fish species being targeting.

Dr Broadhurst said some of these actions were found to massively boost fish survival.

“Simply cutting the line rather than attempting to remove hooks swallowed by mulloway and yellowfin bream increased their survival from 12 percent to more than 85 percent.

“Up to 76 percent of the released line-cut, gut-hooked yellowfin bream then shed their hooks over an average of three weeks”, he said.

Fish Rock's shades of grey

By Samantha Williams

June 7

BATTLE-LINES have been drawn over one of the best known diving and fishing spots on the east coast. Residents in South West Rocks are bitterly divided over who should be allowed access to Fish Rock.

It's a small outcrop 2km from the shore. On one side are some divers and greens who are pushing for greater protection measures for the grey nurse shark population at Fish Rock. On the other are fishermen, underwaterfishers and businesses who fear a fishing ban would damage the town, coasting millions in lost tourism dollars.

South West Rocks Dive Centre owner Peter Hitchins, an ardent campaigner for shark protection, claimed yesterday hooks hanging from the mouths of grey nurse sharks was a common sight and if left unattended caused infection that could kill them. Mr Hitchins is backing the Nature Conservations Council's (NCC) push for more exclusion zones in NSW fishing areas such as Fish Rock on grounds the grey nurse shark species is nearly extinct.

If they are successful then Fish Rock will go from being a critical habitat zone where some fishing is allowed to a sanctuary zone with a 1.5km protection radius. The NCC is taking action in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in a bid to order the Government to set up sanctuaries. A hearing yesterday was adjourned until a date in July.

Mr Hitchins said Department of Primary Industries officers told people at a meeting in the town last Thursday that there was a maximum of 1000 grey nurse shark on the east coast _ contradicting State Government and green groups' official line that there are fewer than 500 sharks on the east coast. The original claim that there were fewer than 500 sharks was the basis for creating sanctuaries, but The Daily Telegraph has previously revealed serious concerns at how the figure was produced.

Rock Real Estate agent Mark Jordan said the ban would have a huge impact on the town because 80 per cent of the tourists that came to South West Rocks were there to fish. "It's war between fishermen and divers but what people don't realise is that we will lose millions in tourist dollars,'' Mr Jordan said. "Fish Rock is one of the best places...on the eastern seaboard and if a ban comes into place a lot of business will go out of business within 18 months.''

Amid a century's worth of toxic sludge, the hardy mummichog fish thrives

June 9

The hardy mummichog, a small fish known for its ability to survive in polluted waterways, is showing signs it can adapt to Canada's ultimate toxic test: the Sydney tar ponds.

Martha Jones, a Cape Breton University fish biologist who has studied the species for three years, says that aside from subtle problems with their fins, the mummichogs are growing as quickly and becoming as large as their cousins in healthy bodies of water.

The sprawling tar ponds, polluted by a century of waste from Sydney's steel mills and coke ovens, surround the Muggah Creek tidal estuary, a two-kilometre-long waterway that bisects Sydney's north end and empties into Sydney Harbour.

There are 700,000 tonnes of contaminated sediment in the area, containing toxic amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, as well as a brew of heavy metals and other substances.

Jones says she's studying the state of marine life before a seven-year, $400-million cleanup of the site starts this fall.

She had expected to find relatively few species so close to the black, tar-like goo that covers the nearby industrial ponds.

Instead, she says she was taken aback by the diversity of life in the salty estuary that gathers water from the surrounding hills.

"I was surprised to get fish in the first place," she said in an interview.

"We're also sampling catfish, American eel, a variety of stickleback species and some tom cod, grass shrimp and green crab."

She focused her study on the small prey fish, hoping they could become sentinels for how pollution has affected marine life - and how they would respond to a cleanup.

After taking over 700 samples of the fish, she said she concluded the tar ponds mummichog were generally as fat and as long as mummichogs in pristine environments.

Mummichogs have shown resilience in other studies in the United States, but given the extreme pollution levels in the ponds, Jones was expecting slow development.

"We're finding they're actually doing quite well, relative to the reference estuaries."

However, there were some defining characteristics that need to be tracked, she says.

Sydney's mummichogs, for example, often have unusual fins. Some photographs show fins gnarled like twisted trees, rather than the normal, bamboo-pole shape.

Also, some of the fish are more developed on one side than the other.

However, Jones says these differences are not major, and may indicate that the mummichogs are giving up non-essential features to ensure development of their vital internal organs.

"The one question we're also trying to ask is whether the mummichog has evolved resistance to the contaminants ... We've done some toxicology work to look at heavy metals and PAHs. It appears they're able to break down PAHs, which are formed from combustion."

Jones hopes the mummichogs' fins and lopsided bodies can be measured for signs of improvement or worsening as the ponds are cleaned up.

Wilfred Kaiser, environmental services manager for the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency, says further study would be welcome.

"What's important is that we have something that we can watch as we proceed," he says. "We'll look at whether or not this project is impacting the mummichog or other life in and around the ponds."

Rare, Comical Live Fish Washes Up on Seaside, Oregon Beach

Salem-News.com - Oregon, USA

June 3

The odd but somewhat endearing fish appeared to enjoy the spotlight.

Another rare find from the deep has the crew at the Seaside Aquarium buzzing. The fish is cute and bizarre at the same time, and usually lives too deep in the ocean to show up on land.

A group of kids from Oregon City brought in a three-foot-long Spotted Ratfish Saturday, which they had found on the southern cove area of Seaside - still alive.

“They brought it up to a lifeguard at one of the stations and asked what to do with it,” said aquarium spokesperson Tiffany Boothe. “They told them to bring it here.”

The spotted ratfish’s technical name is Hydrolagus colliei, and is named a ratfish for its rat-like appearance. It is sometimes called a rabbit fish because of the visual similarity there as well.

It exists between SE Alaska and Baha, California, normally living at depths of 3,000 feet, although it is found in shallower waters off the Oregon coast, at around 15 feet to 65 feet.

“Fishermen sometimes bring them in here when they accidentally catch them,” Boothe said. “We’ve had them in here before. But it’s really very rare they wash up on the beach.”

Boothe said the ratfish had a visible sore on one of its fins, and she believes it will die.

“At one point, it got stuck upside down and couldn’t right itself,” Boothe said. “If it was in the wild and that happened, then it would be eaten pretty fast. It wouldn’t survive.

Boothe said it may live now that it’s in captivity. It may only need rest and the sore will heal. If it does live, they will put it on display. For now, it is cloistered in a holding tank.

Boothe said “Hydrolagus” means water hare in greek, because of the rabbit-like appearance. “Colliei” honors M. Collie, a naturalist.

The odd but somewhat endearing fish appeared to enjoy the spotlight a bit as Boothe photographed it in its holding tank.

It almost seemed to pose as Boothe clicked away. Depending on the angle, it could resemble a duck or some Disney cartoon character.

A ratfish’s skin has no scales, but has some white spots amidst the usual brown. The males have a tenaculum, club-like structure in their foreheads. There are pits all over the front snout area which are used for detecting electrical fields.

Boothe determined this one was a male.

“They live in a wide variety of habitats, including sand, mud, rocky reefs,” Boothe said. “They also feed on a lot of different kind of invertebrates. They’ll eat worms, brittlestars, sea stars, clams and shrimp. But in turn they’re eaten by sharks, dogfish, halibut, elephant seals and fur seals.”

Boothe said one was found drifting around a Columbia River estuary once, apparently quite lost.

Their spines are slightly poisonous, but the toxin doesn’t affect everyone. Eating their ovaries is also dangerous as they are quite toxic, but otherwise the fish is edible, with a reportedly bland, slightly mushy taste.

Many of their parts have been found in native shell middens in the Washington area.

Thousands of asthmatics take 'miracle' fish medicine

mangalorean.com

June 9

Thousands of asthma patients lined up Saturday to swallow tiny fish stuffed with a medicinal paste in the hope that the "wonder drug" would give them relief from nagging respiratory problems.

An estimated 50,000 people have been administered the "fish prasadam" or holy offering since Friday night at the sprawling Exhibition Grounds and hundreds more were waiting to receive it.

The distribution of the medicine, which began at 10 p.m. Friday, is expected to continue till 10 p.m. Saturday.

Notwithstanding the campaign by rationalists and physicians against the "unscientific" drug, thousands from across the country and some from abroad lined up to take the fish medicine, distributed by the Bathini Goud family free of cost on the Mrigasira Karti day of the Hindu calendar.

The medicine, which the family has been distributing for 160 years, consists of a yellow herbal paste, the ingredients of which have remained a family secret. The paste is first stuffed into a live three centimetre-long murrel fish that is then slipped through the throat of the patient.

If taken for three successive years, the medicine is believed to cure asthma.

About 300 members of Bathini Goud family and volunteers administered the medicine at 24 counters. Though the distribution was to start at 9.15 p.m., the auspicious time decided by astrologers, it began only at 10 p.m. as the family was caught in a traffic jam near the venue.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Bandaru Dattatreya was the first to take the medicine from Bathini Harinath Goud. Secunderabad MP Anjan Kumar Yadav also took the medicine.

Though the number of patients coming for the event has drastically come down over the last five years due to the controversy surrounding the ingredients of the herbal paste, thousands still throng to receive it out of faith.

It is for this reason that the Goud family renamed the event as "fish prasadam" three years ago in the face of the controversy.

The family claims that in 1845 a holy man passed on the formula for the miracle medicine to their great-great-grandfather Veranna Goud, if he promised to distribute it free of cost and never reveal the ingredients to others.

The family has consistently turned down demands from rationalists and physicians to reveal the ingredients, claiming the medicine would lose its efficacy.

For many the controversy has no relevance.

"People say many things but my belief is that it works," said Narayan Yadav, who has come all the way from Uttar Pradesh. It is the second consecutive year Yadav is taking the medicine, and he hopes to come back next year too.

"I heard about the medicine from others who had taken it. The medicine has given them some relief," he said.

For Biswajit Swain from Orissa, it is his first stint with the medicine. "Many people told me that it is very effective. I have tried many medicines to get rid of asthma and thought I should try this one too," he said.

The medicine has drawn even foreigners.

T. Lora, a 23-year-old Russian, was among the few foreigners who turned up this year. "I have come for the first time. My cousin recommended me to take the fish medicine. I hope it works," she said, adding she plans to come next year too.

Though the medicine no longer enjoys the kind of patronage given by then chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the government departments continue to make elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the event.

The fisheries departments supplied 100,000 murrel fingerlings while other departments arranged for transport and water. Several NGOs too came forwards to arrange food for the patients.

Flattieman.