17 August 2008

news 4 fishing


Bass


Largemouth fishing has improved at many of the lakes and ponds across the state. Good reports for bass from Pattagansett Lake (several more than 4 pounds), Hatch Pond (more than 30 largemouths and smallmouths for one angler) and Long Meadow Pond (many fish, one 4 pounds, 13 ounces). Highland Lake and Park Pond report many fish caught but not very large. Other areas reporting fair to good fishing for largemouths are Candlewood Lake, Lake McDonough, Scoville Reservoir, Lake Zoar, Lake Lillinoah, East Twin Lake, Gardner Lake, Beseck Lake, Gardner Lake, Powers Lake and Moosup Pond. Mixed reports for Lake Wononscopomuc. Smallmouth bass fishing reported to be very good at Candlewood Lake. Other areas reporting good catches are Colebrook & Saugatuck Reservoirs, Mashapaug, Bashan, Coventry, Highland, Gardner and Bantam lakes.


Trout


Another variable week of conditions; rain late last week slowed the trout fishing in rivers for the early part but conditions improved as the flows moderated. Summer trout fishing is still variable in lakes and ponds, with good reports from East Twin and West Hill Reservoir the top producing lakes this past week. Good numbers of trout were found trolling baits in deep water anywhere from 25 to 40 feet using either lead core line or downriggers. Live bait and spoons presented behind large spinner blades and dodgers caught the most fish.


We review the effects of fishing on benthic fauna, habitat, diversity, community structure and trophic interactions in tropical, temperate and polar marine environments and consider whether it is possible to predict or manage fishing-induced changes in marine ecosystems. Such considerations are timely given the disillusionment with some fishery management strategies and that policy makers need a scientific basis for deciding whether they should respond to social, economic and political demands for instituting or preventing ecosystem-based management. Fishing has significant direct and indirect effects on habitat, and on the diversity, structure and productivity of benthic communities. These effects are most readily identified and last longest in those areas that experience infrequent natural disturbance. The initiation of fishing in an unfished system leads to dramatic changes in fish community structure. As fishing intensity increases the additional effects are more difficult to detect. Fishing has accelerated and magnified natural declines in the abundance of many forage fishes and this has lead to reduced reproductive success and abundance in birds and marine mammals. However, such donor-controlled dynamics are less apparent in food webs where fishes are the top predators since their feeding strategies are rather more plastic than those of most birds and mammals. Fishers tend to target species in sequence as a fishery develops and this leads to changes in the composition of the fished communities with time.


Regulators vote to overhaul West Coast groundfish fishing


Associated Press - June 12, 2008 7:24 PM ET


FOSTER CITY, Calif. (AP) - Pacific Coast fishery managers have voted for new rules that would dramatically change the way fishermen harvest snapper, flounder, cod and other bottom-dwelling fish.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted Thursday to give preliminary approval to a plan that would give each boat a fixed share of the West Coast groundfish fishery. A final vote on the plan is scheduled for November.
The new rules would give each trawler an individual fishing quota, so fishermen would not need to rush out to harvest their piece of the $60 million fishery.
Backers say the system would make fishing safer and reduce the number of unwanted fish that are caught and thrown back to sea.
Individual fishing quotas are already used in British Columbia, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
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