If you put it in front of me I'm going to take a picture of it

For whatever reason, I am definitely inclined to take pictures of the dead fish I see on my walks to and from work.  As it happens I encountered such fish on both Thursday and Friday.

On Friday afternoon I finally saw my first partially consumed fish.

I can't help but wonder why I keep seeing all of these dead fish.  Is this just part of a normal Spring die-off, or is there something else at work?  While most of the fish don't seem to be injured, I can't help but wonder if this last fish died of a different cause - maybe an animal attack?

As always, this blog is engaged in providing its readers with small-n cutting edge ecological monitoring.  And isn't this what such a blog should be doing (when I'm not posting vids of kitties or snow melting)?

Not sure what to make of this

The following video was brought to my attention earlier tonight.



[Embedded video]

Definitely a different approach to fishing than I am used to and I really don't know what to make of it (partly because I don't really know what is going on). In one sense it is kind of cool to see so many people come together and engage in a similar activity while, on the other hand, it is kind of crazy to see a lake basically drained of life in just minutes.

A Few Quick Notes 429

-Thus far today has been beautiful. As far as I know, things should be similar for the rest of the day.

-For about a year I have been a little frustrated that the small propane cylinders that our barbeque requires cost about $5.00 apiece (the price doesn't even drop much when you buy them in packs of three). This cost problem, and the fact that our barbeque would frequently blow out, lead me to the idea of a charcoal barbeque.

This weekend I finally got around to buying my first low-end charcoal barbeque. While my first use was somewhat less than satisfactory (I didn't really have the coals properly lit), I was able to have a much more satisfactory experience last night. Unfortunately, I am now quite keen to use the barbeque but I have a few things that I should cook that aren't barbeque friendly.

Anyway, I am quite pleased with our new barbeque and am looking forward to using it frequently as the summer progresses.

-I am presently in the midst of making some hamburger buns. My plan is to use these buns to help me consume a few of the extra hamburgers that I cooked with my new barbeque.

-Last night I barbequed some pollock. Though I have likely had pollock before in one form or another, I was pretty pleased with this fish (particularly given its cost). I imagine that not only will I be frequently barbequing but also frequently consuming pollock.

-Thus far my recently transplanted plants seem to be doing well. I am really hoping that today's sun will be particularly good for them.

A Few Quick Notes 359

-Today (Sunday) was a pretty bland day as far as I can recall, though at moments the sun did shine rather intensely. Fortunately, unlike last night, we are not presently in the midst of a frost warning.

-Tonight for dinner we had black beans, couscous, and vegetables. I tapped into my new 5 kg bags of beans and couscous during the preparation process. Much to my surprise, the whole wheat couscous were pretty good, and didn't taste as 'healthy' as I imagined they might, which is good as we have almost 5 kg of them.

-I went for a very pleasant walk this evening. Instead of my normal distance, I went a few blocks further along Spring Garden, almost to Coburg. It was quite nice to get out of the apartment for a while and soak up some of crisp fall air.

-Last night while I was moving my plants in to protect them from the possibility of frost I managed to knock the ripest of the tomatoes off. Though it is not quite as ripe as I would have liked, I think that it is close enough to ripe that I might be able to convince Neil to give it a shot.



The other good tomato related news is that a few of the other tomatoes seem to be turning reddish, though I fear that they still won't be ripe before the real frost threat hits. Though at this point I guess there isn't much that I can do aside from wait and move the plants in at night.



-The peppers are also continuing to develop nicely. Though I don't have an exact count, I wouldn't be surprised if we had about a dozen at various stages by the end of the week.



-The Thermos I mentioned buying a few days ago has seen pretty steady use since its purchase. Actually, today I used it for both coffee and tea, though the latter beverage was a bit of a mistake as it ended up being very strongly influenced by the earlier beverage.

-My sense of things is that for the past few days I have been forgetting to eat lunch. I don't seem to notice that this has happened until I sit down for dinner, when it is a little to late to do anything about rectifying the problem.

-For some reason that I don't quite understand I decided to make myself a more elaborate breakfast than usual this morning. Along with my usual toast I also prepared some scrambled eggs and a half a pound of bacon. I think that my elaborate breakfast then inspired Neil and Rebecca to also do something a little fancier than normal, though aside from having a sense that they prepared a few sausages I don't know what else they had.

-While at the grocery store this afternoon I decided to swing by the seafood section to see if there were any deals I might be interested in taking advantage of. As it turns out, there was one such deal. I managed to pick up a marlin steak, or something approximating such a cut of meat, for about $2.25. Hopefully it is a good as the discount shark I purchased a few weeks ago.

What a novel idea

In his 1966 book Marine Resources of Newfoundland, written for the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Wilfred Templeman suggests "As fishing pressures are continually increasing, cod are bound to be smaller in the future and the catch per unit of effort less.”

You mean we can't go on fishing forever and expect the fish to just be there?

Edit: Shockingly, the conclusion Templeman reaches is that if Newfoundland hopes to remain competitive they need to increase their efforts, particularly in terms of offshore trawling for cod, and also in the inshore fishery. Apparently we can just try and go on forever, even if the fish keep getting smaller and smaller, and the harvests less and less efficient.

Reallocation of powers: Aquaculture style

A few days ago I was listening to CBC Radio One and happened to hear a story about a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling (there is this one too). It seems that the Court found that fish farms, or aquaculture facilities, should be fall under federal jurisdiction, though for more than 20 years this area had been administered by the provinces. The federal government has been given a year to take over.

As far as I can tell this hasn't received all that much attention, though I don't now why. Firstly, this seems to be one of the biggest division of powers cases in the past few years (at least as far as I can remember). Secondly, neither the provinces nor the federal government were looking for this change, it came about because of third party litigation. Thirdly, this likely means a big shake-up in the various federal and provincial ministries. All of a sudden a number of provinces have capacity in a an area that is no longer in their jurisdiction, and the federal government has to scramble to put in place this capacity.

On top of all of this, there is the issue that started the controversy in the first place, which is the charge that aquaculture poses environmental threats to native fish populations, among other problems. Though not a juicy story in the traditional sense, it might be worth seeing how such a change impacts the aquaculture industry (as there will presumably be newly implemented national standards) and the relationship of provincial governments with the aquaculture sector.

Blog-off
Cameron: 14
Neil: 0

My Very Own Sea Kitten

It seems that PETA has launched a new campaign, they are now trying to Save the Sea Kittens (read 'fish') from being hunted and needlessly killed.

At first the campaign's supporting website seems to be aimed towards the Finding Nemo demographic, though if you read some of the Sea Kitten Stories you see that they might have a slightly different group in mind.

Anyway, one of the interactive aspects of the website is that you can create your own Sea Kitten, as I have. This is a pretty quick and painless process if you are so inclined. Apparently mine is supposed to be a tuna, though it was the same size as the trout, salmon, and flounder.




I was going to make a Sea Kitten for Neil, but that seemed a little like cheating, and I probably wouldn't be able to channel his design choices appropriately, so I decided to give it a skip. Hopefully I can convince him to make one of these later today.

Edit:

Neil made has now made his own Sea Kitten.