TOP FISHING NEWS: NJ Legislator Calls for Hearings After Funding Lost for Artificial Reef Programs

by Brandon
Published on 04-21-2011 02:41 PM

Many coastal states have made a increased effort over the years to increase the number of artificial reels to replace lost fish habitat and enhance existing habitat. New Jersey was recently notified by the federal government is that it will be terminating funding for New Jersey’s artificial reef program because the state has failed to comply with fishing regulations near the reefs, Assembly woman Alison Littell McHose called for an immediate hearing on bipartisan legislation she has sponsored that would bring New Jersey into compliance with the federal rules.

“Not only will the loss of this funding hurt our state’s tourism industry and businesses such as tackle shops and charter and party boats, but it’s unfair to the 800,000 recreational anglers and divers who will suffer because state lawmakers failed to take appropriate action to protect the reefs and much needed federal dollars for the program'” explained McHose, R-Sussex, Morris and Hunterdon.

“For years, various outdoor organizations have appealed to legislators to bring New Jersey into compliance with the federal Sport Fish Restoration Act (SFR),” she continued. “Unfortunately, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears. As a result, our recreational fishermen, who paid to have these reefs constructed, are the ones who will have to endure the consequences.”

McHose is a co-sponsor of A-1152 which would limit commercial fishing on New Jersey’s artificial reefs that are located in federal waters. Specifically, the measure would prohibit any person from using, leaving unattended, setting or deploying fishing gear, other than rod-and-reel, hand line spear or recreational gig, within 100 feet of artificial reefs created under the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s artificial reef program.

According to SFR regulations, the artificial reefs are meant for hook and line, and spear fishing only. Commercial fishermen however, have been using fixed gear on the reefs in violation of federal rules. Since the state has failed to rectify the situation, it is in violation of SFR rules which has resulted in the loss of federal funding.

Five states along the Atlantic coastline have brought their reef programs into compliance with federal regulations including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and New York. Delaware is in the process.

McHose said Assembly Democrat leaders should post the bill for an immediate hearing and move it quickly through the legislative process to minimize the effects of the funding loss. The Senate last month approved an identical bipartisan measure, S-221.
(pictured are the locations of New Jersey’s current reef locations)

Here’s to hoping New Jersey pulls things together to continue to allow the great fishing and habitat that the reefs provide.
Brandon, Chief Angler, TidalFish.com
All Fishing, All the Time!

By Brendan Trembath

Updated Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:51pm AEST

Use old oil rigs as fish nurseries, scientists say Researchers believe fish could find refuge within the rigs and be safe from the trawlers.

AUDIO: Oil rigs could have new ocean friendly role (The World Today)
Australian marine scientists are proposing leaving thousands of decommissioned oil rigs in their deep-sea spots indefinitely to become long-term fish nurseries.

The huge chunks are of steel are meant to be removed when they reach the end of their productive life, but the scientists say their approach could save the oil industry millions of dollars and protect vulnerable fish nurseries.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster a year ago showed deep sea oil exploration at its most destructive.

Eleven workers were killed and almost 5 million barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.

Now marine researchers at University of Technology Sydney are pondering the future of the more than 6,000 rigs still in the sea.

“There’s a huge number that are due for decommissioning – they’ve reached the end of their production life, there’s no more oil left and the question is what do we do with these structures?” Dr Peter Macreadie said.

“There’s actually not much habitat in the deep sea – not a lot of hard structured habitat, not a lot of reef and so by adding more reef the idea is that maybe you can boost production, you can boost the amount of fish.”

But it would take some major legislative changes to put the proposal into practice.

“Current legislation requires rigs to be dismantled and removed and recycled onshore if they can be recycled,” Dr Macreadie said.

“But we’re actually starting to think maybe there’s a much better use for those rigs and in some cases there actually isn’t the technology to remove these rigs.

“They’ve been in operation for 20-odd years and now we’re wondering actually, in removing them are we actually causing more problems than if we left them in place or if we moved them into the deep sea to form artificial reefs?”

Protection for species

Dr Macreadie says illegal fishing trawlers going through deep-sea areas are decimating coral reef communities and fish species.

“What’s really devastating about that is that these organisms that live in the deep sea, they’re slow growing, they reproduce very late in life and they are very vulnerable to exploitation,” he said.

“To give you an example, the orange roughy takes about 30 years until it can reach sexual maturity and breed.

“They form huge aggregations around structures in the deep sea and structures are very rare.

“When they form those aggregations fishermen have become aware of this and they can remove entire populations, generations and generations with one swoop of their net.

“So the idea is with rigs – which have a lot of hollow internal space – the fish could find refuge within those rigs and be safe from the trawl fisheries.”

Dr Macreadie says researchers do not know how long the defunct oil rigs will take to disintegrate.

“But we can say that many of these rigs have been in production for 30-odd years and they’re showing very little signs of decay, but at some point they will eventually disintegrate in the deep sea,” he said.

Dr Macreadie and his UTS colleagues have written an article published in the US journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

They hope to stimulate a rational debate about the future of the world’s rigs.

Dr Macreadie says he does not work for, consult, or own shares in any company or organisation that would benefit from the proposal.

Coral reefs in crisis – But they have vast potential

Humans are stopping proper functioning of reefs
April 2011: In an unprecedented collaborative analysis, scientists from 49 nations demonstrated that the ability of reef fish systems to produce goods and services to humanity increases rapidly with the number of species.

COMPLEX: But coral reef systems function best when there is more biodiversity

However, growing human populations hamper the ability of reefs to function normally, with the most diverse reef fish systems suffer the greatest impairments from stressors triggered by human populations.

‘Coral reefs provide a range of critical goods and services to humanity – everything from nutrient cycling to food production to coast protection to economic revenues through tourism,’ says Camilo Mora at Dalhousie University in Canada and lead researcher of the study. ‘Yet the complex nature and large-scale distribution of coral reefs is challenging scientists to understand if this natural ecosystem will continue working to deliver goods and services given the ongoing loss of biodiversity in coral reefs.

Study involved 2,000 coral reefs worldwide
‘Numerous experiments have shown that biodiversity has positive effects on several ecosystem processes, although the number of species required to ensure the functionality of a given process is fairly low, as many species often have similar ecological roles,’ says Michel Loreau from Canada’s McGill University, a co-author of the study. ‘What remained largely unknown, however, was whether the results of experimental studies reflect what happens in real ecosystems.’

To fill this unknown, 55 researchers, in a two-year study, collected the necessary data to determine whether biodiversity influences the efficiency of reef fish systems to produce biomass, and if so, work out the role of humans in such a linkage.

The team collected demographic data on human populations as well as environmental and biological data on the identity of species, their abundances and body sizes in almost 2,000 coral reef locations worldwide. The data on abundance and body size were used to calculate the cumulative weight of all fishes on each reef (also called standing biomass), which is one of the main services reef fishes provide to humanity through food supply but also a very close proxy for how effectively ecosystems produce biomass.

‘The more biodiversity the better’
‘The results of the study were stunning,’ says Kevin Gaston at Sheffield University. ‘While experimental studies have elucidated that the biomass production of ecosystems stabilises after a certain number of species is reached, this field study demonstrated that the production of biomass in reef fish systems did not saturate with the addition of new species.’

‘This study shows, quite simply, that the more biodiversity, the better,’ says Marah Hardt with OceanInk. ‘The benefits appear limitless, if we allow ecosystems to operate at their full potential.’

Michel Kulbicki of the French Institute for Research and Development said: ‘This strong relationship clearly indicates that species interact in such a way that their combined effect is larger than the addition of their individual parts and that the loss of species can have far-reaching consequences in the functioning of coral reefs.’

The study also demonstrated that standing biomass reduced with increasing human density, although for the same number of people the reduction of biomass was significantly larger in more diverse ecosystems.

‘Curbing human population growth is at the core of finding ultimate solutions for the protection of biodiversity’
‘It’s been usual to expect that diverse ecosystems could lose a few species without it mattering very much because the high redundancy of species should allow the replacement of any species that is lost,’ said Peter F. Sale, assistant director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health of the United Nations University, who was not involved in the study.

‘The results of this study now suggest that we do not have such insurance and that reef ecosystems are at greater risk from human pressures than we previously thought.’

The negative impact of humanity on reef fish systems can be widespread, as some 75 per cent of the world’s coral reefs are near human settlements and could worsen, as 82 per cent of countries with coral reefs are expected to double their human populations within the next 50 to 100 years.

‘Unfortunately, we find again and again that our global population cannot be sustainably supported without the deterioration of the world’s natural resources and the resulting backlash on human welfare,’ says Mora. ‘Thus, identifying socially and politically acceptable solutions to curb human population growth is at the core of finding ultimate solutions for the protection of biodiversity and the prevention of unnecessary hardship.’

‘This is a critical situation,’ says coauthor Sebastian Ferse from the Leibniz Center of Tropical Marine Ecology. ‘It underlines once again that current management approaches are insufficient to protect marine biodiversity on a large scale, and that holistic approaches combining natural and social systems are needed.’

However it was not all doom and gloom. The study reported that at least 25 per cent of the world’s reefs remain distant from direct human effects. Those reefs are located on small and isolated areas where human habitation is sparse. ‘These few reefs are in stark contrast with degraded sites, and may still be able to act as sources to replenish others. This is a fortunate situation that can buy us some time while we figure out effective solutions to this coral reef crisis.’

artificial fish habitat at fishiding.com