NB: For those who instead of deliberately eating animal tissue (such as
mahi mahi describe below) but propose an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet or a
full vegan diet, what resources are required for a balanced diet
including adequate digestible protein without excessive fat or
sugars/carbohydrates as well as various vitamins and micro-nutrients?
(This is mentioned because Homo evolved to be an omnivore, but requiring
a balanced diet for development and health, including brain health.) How
many hectares of arable land per person if sustainable agricultural
practices are used, including water, pest control (organic, of course),
and fertilizer (sterilized, not raw sewage, organic of course)? How
much energy needs to be used for planting, crop maintenance, harvesting,
processing, storage, and distribution?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mahi-mahi-dwindling-keys-charter-174351547.html
Miami Herald
Mahi mahi are dwindling and Keys charter boat captains agree why. ‘This
is disgraceful.’
Miami Herald File
David Goodhue
Fri, October 7, 2022 at 10:43 AM
Jon Reynolds, a Florida Keys charter boat fishing captain, opened up a
plastic trash bag Thursday night during a meeting with federal
regulators and pulled out a huge ball of thick monofilament line that’s
used to target en masse mahi mahi, also commonly known as dolphinfish.
He removed the discarded line by hand from the ocean during a recent
outing on his Drop Back charter boat, which he operates out of Islamorada.
“To even have this in a fishery anymore in 2022, this is disgraceful —
to even do to the ocean,” Reynolds told National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration officials at the meeting. “Our customers are sickened by
the fact that our country is even allowing this gear to be deployed into
the water. I mean, this is absolutely insane.”
Reynolds, who also heads a conservation group called South Atlantic
Fishing Environmentalists, or SAFE, said an 11-mile-long pelagic
longline can have as many as 1,100 large J hooks that snare the bright
blue and yellow migratory fish, which are increasingly popular at
restaurants, fish markets and grocery stores across the country.
And, it’s because of this practice that Reynolds and other charter
captains, as well as recreational anglers, say they are seeing fewer
mahi mahi out in the ocean, and the ones they are catching are much
smaller than these multi-generational fishermen have been used to
catching throughout their lives.
“We’re acting like this is ‘Unsolved Mysteries.’ We all know this,”
Reynolds said. “You can’t go hunting deer with machine guns.”
The federal government allows commercial anglers to lay 32 nautical
miles of line at a time. Reynolds said there are 70 longline vessels
currently targeting mahi, most based in northern Florida and North
Carolina. He said longliners have recently begun targeting mahi in
Puerto Rico.
Representatives from the Bluewater Fishermen’s Association, the trade
group representing longliners, could not be reached for comment.
The purpose of the meeting, hosted by NOAA and the South Atlantic
Fisheries Management Council at the Florida Keys History & Discovery
Center at the Islander Resort, was so federal regulators could receive
input from the charter sector on future rules to maintain a healthy fishery.
The roughly 30 captains and mates in attendance were in agreement on two
things: Their catch is way down and long-lining is to blame.
“This fishery has gone from healthy to almost nonexistent in 36 months;
that’s the life span of a fish,” said Larry Wren, owner of First Choice
Charters in Islamorada.
This is bad for business, and for the environment, they say.
Keys anglers are still catching plenty of smaller dolphin. But missing
from the fishery, they say, are sustainable numbers of larger “gaffer”
dolphin that start around 20 pounds and grow up to seven feet and 88 pounds.
Mahi live up to five years and can start reproducing at four to five
months old, according to NOAA.
Mahi fishing brings in $450 million to the U.S. economy, and most of
that flows to Florida, according to SAFE. Not only do people fly in from
around the world to fish for mahi in the Keys, they pay a lot for
charter boats to go after them.
Unlike other species that can be lured to a boat using chum, mahi
fishing is more akin to hunting. Captains drive their boats out to the
reef line looking for tell-tale signs that the fish are in the area —
like frigate birds circling overhead. They also look for sargasso weed
lines and floating debris, under which mahi are often found chasing
smaller bait fish.
The boat is in constant motion trolling baits like ballyhoo for miles,
eating up gallons of fuel in the process.
“Every year, it gets a little harder. This is the first year I told my
clients I can’t take them dolphin fishing because of fuel,” said Gary
Salyers, 43, who’s been in the charter business for 20 years.
The Keys charter fleet welcomed last year a federal rule lowering the
recreational bag limit on mahi from 60 fish per boat to 54. And, they’re
not opposed to that going even lower if it would help bring back the
numbers and sizes of fish that used to be commonly found off South
Florida waters.
“A bag limit of 20, 30, 40 fish, I’m happy with. We’re trying to get
back to those numbers. We’re not seeing them anymore,” said Justin
Hopper, 53, captain of the Fantastic II, out of the Holiday Inn marina
in Key Largo.