It’s something like a doomsday race – with nobody being sure where the starting gun is even at.
Limbering up to the west is the San Andreas Fault. That famed fault line is fully ready – some say it’s champing at the bit -- to crack wide open, orchestrating a multi-state slide into the Pacific. See ya, Left Coast.
Doing stretching exercises to our east is Cumbre Vieja, a living, breathing volcano in the Canary Islands, off northwestern Africa. Like the San Andreas Fault, Cumbre Vieja dangles a massive chunk of terra non firma on its west side. That multi-acre-sized land mass is ready and itchin’ to slide into the Atlantic. Its collapse could surely generate tsunamis the height of upper-shelf skyscrapers for the entire US Eastern Seaboard.
The million dollar question aimed at geologists is “When!?”
The earth experts indubitably offer the same timeframe for either of these teetering time bombs: “It could happen later today or in tens of thousands of years.”
Thanks a lot, geo-breath.
However, I recently had a Left Coast geologist buddy offer an oddly out-there forecast for San Andreas and Cumbre. He rather nonchalantly said “odds are that huge things will hit us long before either of those let loose.”
Talking on, I soon realized he wasn’t being overly morose or ill-omened. He simply knows his science -- and odd charts. “With our planet, it’s always the sneak attacks that get us.”
As evidence, he pointed out the 2011 Japanese earthquake/tsunamis and the 2004 Boxer Day tsunamis. He even acknowledged Sandy and Katrina as earthly trauma events. “Hell, we could easily have a hundred, even a thousand, destructive events like those before the San Andreas Fault gives way,” he said, chuckling somewhat cynically.
He was even willing to think in terms of meteorites or asteroids striking the ocean. “There are almost too many things that can happen to us. If you wanted, you could worry about them constantly.”
“The best we can do is having emergency plans in place. In fact, that’s all you can do,” he said, adding, “And always remember that many natural upheavals are far beyond the scope of any human preparation. I’m open for suggestions on how to stop a fifty-foot tsunami.”
His insights at first struck me as gloomy and menacing. But were they? It’s absolutely nothing we haven’t been living with for, well, forever. Oddly, it’s the new and enhanced worrying about them that adds to day-in/day-out uneasiness.
Which circuitously brings us back to our beloved coastal lifestyles.
None of us deceive ourselves into thinking we’re safe near the ocean – any more than folks in Oklahoma can think they’re safe being so far from the sea. The planet is actually an equal-opportunity destroyer – and provider. It should be our call when deciding if we want to risk it all here – or risk it all there. I pick here – and, admittedly, keep my ear tuned and truck fully fueled should any upheavals come knocking.
Life for us earthlings is a bit of a survival game. It’s our call as to where we choose to play it out. The last thing I need are folks trying to tell me where I can or can’t chose to planet-down. It's my given American right to decide if I want to get hit by a tsunami or a tornado. So back off.
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BAIT ROCKET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxYn-U_H7GQ
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The Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association will be running a 2-night New Jersey Boater Safety Course. The Course will be open to the general public as well as to the BHCFA Junior Mates.
The New Jersey Boater Safety Course that will be taught on Wednesday and Thursday, July 23 and 24, and, as noted above, is open to the public. Pre-registration is required for members of the public. Members of the public wishing to take this course should contact Capt. Keith Gunsten at 609-660-2245 or KGunsten@hotmail.com
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Truly blessed to live the life I live and not a day goes by that I don't appreciate it. Caught at least 40 bass this morning with @_mbraz_ an the gunner man. Wishing you were here dad.
![]() Atlantic cod. Credit: NOAA |
![]() Sand lance in the Gulf of Maine. Credit: NEFSC/NOAA HabCam. |
![]() Map showing location of Stellwagen Bank. Credit: USGS. |
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SS14.06
June 25, 2014
Contact: Shelley Dawicki
PDF/Print Version
A shift in the prey available to Atlantic cod in the Gulf of Maine that began nearly a decade ago contributed to the controversy that surrounded the 2011 assessment for this stock. A recent study of how this occurred may help fishery managers, scientists, and the industry understand and resolve apparent conflicts between assessment results and the experiences of the fishing industry.
When the dominant prey species of Atlantic cod changed from Atlantic herring to sand lance beginning in 2006, cod began to concentrate in a small area on Stellwagen Bank where they were easily caught by fishermen. The fishermen perceived the Gulf of Maine cod stock to be abundant in subsequent years as they reported increased ease in catching cod, yet the 2011 stock assessment concluded that the Gulf of Maine cod stock had not increased as expected and that fishing rates had been too high even though catches had not exceeded the quotas. Fishermen were skeptical, and the 2011 assessment conclusions were questioned and criticized.
Writing in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, researchers from NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) show how the fishermens' observations and the assessment results could both be accurate. Their findings reveal why fishermen targeting these cod would conclude the fish were abundant, and also illustrate how commercial catch-per-unit of effort can be a misleading indicator of stock abundance.
The NEFSC has been routinely monitoring the diet and distribution of cod and many other marine species since 1973 in an ecosystem survey of waters off the Northeast from Maine to North Carolina and eastward into Canadian waters. By collecting, analyzing, and documenting stomach contents of cod taken in the Gulf of Maine during this survey, the researchers can see what cod eat both seasonally and over time.
“Atlantic herring and sand lance are dominant prey for Atlantic cod in the Gulf of Maine. This long, standardized time series of data has been invaluable to our ability to both show and understand where and when predators and prey are distributed across the region,” said David Richardson, an oceanographer at the NEFSC’s Narragansett Laboratory in Rhode Island and lead author of the study. “When sand lance are abundant, they account for a high proportion of the diet of cod. Also, cod tend to be more aggregated when they are feeding on sand lance than when they are feeding on other prey.”
An assessment is an examination of fishery stock conditions used to develop catch limits and other management measures. The 2011 assessment results were also controversial because the 2008 assessment had suggested an uptick in young fish that would grow the stock. Ultimately this growth in the population did not materialize, and the catch limits set based on the 2008 assessment were found to be too high.
“The sand lance-induced cod aggregations led to a number of challenges in evaluating population trends in Gulf of Maine cod,” Richardson said. “During the 2007 and 2008 spring bottom trawl surveys, extremely high catches of cod were recorded at individual stations on Stellwagen Bank, while the remainder of the stock area had low catch rates. At the same time, the fishing industry was experiencing high catch rates of cod in the same small area on Stellwagen Bank. One of the main conclusions of this study is that the trends in cod abundance in this small region were not truly reflective of the overall resource at the time.”
Atlantic herring and sand lance have very different habitat and life history requirements that affect their distribution. Atlantic herring are migratory, shifting distribution in response to changing oceanographic conditions like temperature. Sand lance are burrowers, and have a nightly need to burrow into shallow sandy bottom, such as that found on Stellwagen Bank, an underwater plateau covering about 156 square miles located in the southwestern portion of the cod stock area.
“Data from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center survey and from the fishery both indicate that an increase in sand lance abundance resulted in cod aggregating in a small and predictable area on Stellwagen Bank where they were easily caught by fishermen,” Richardson said. “The cod were fished in a very small area, approximately 100 square miles, while the entire cod stock area on which the assessment was based is 20,255 square miles.”
Michael Palmer, an assessment scientist in the NEFSC’s Population Dynamics Branch at the Woods Hole Laboratory and a co-author of the study, said the concentration of cod and of the fishing fleet was significant. “Between 1994 and 2010 the number of fishing trips occurring in this small area increased by 191 percent, and the number of trips occurring outside this area declined by 46 percent.”
“This shift in the fishery distribution indicates a large influx of fishing effort into this small area during the same time period that sand lance was abundantly available to feeding cod,” said Palmer. By 2010, 45 percent of all Gulf of Maine cod landings came from this area, compared with 12 percent prior to 2005.
This dynamic is important not only for cod but also for other species, including whales that have been reported feeding on sand lance in the same area. “The change in the composition of the forage fish community in the Gulf of Maine may have driven distribution shifts, not only for Atlantic cod, but also for other predators feeding on the same set of prey species,” said Richardson.
In addition to Richardson and Palmer, study authors include fishery biologist Brian Smith, who studies the link between fish feeding and offshore benthic habitats and leads the NEFSC’s food web dynamics program.
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NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation's living marine resources and their habitat through scientific research, management and enforcement. NOAA Fisheries Service provides effective stewardship of these resources for the benefit of the nation, supporting coastal communities that depend upon them, and helping to provide safe and healthy seafood to consumers and recreational opportunities for the American public.
NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.
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Sherri & Johnny Johnson got a 36" wooden fluke with steel fins I sculpted and is hanging on there wall in GOOD OLD BEACH HAVEN ! NJ ! Hope it STOKES all your friends !
THANX TONZ !
Fishing Striper's catch and release 27"
CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2014 GOVERNOR'S ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS ARE AVAILABLE
AWARDS RECOGNIZE NEW JERSEY'S ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS
(14/P69) TRENTON - Environmental, academic, businesses, science, government, non-profit and youth leaders from throughout New Jersey are encouraged to show off their environmental accomplishments by participating in the upcoming 2014 Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards, with applications now available.
The awards program recognizes outstanding environmental performance, programs and projects throughout the state. Since the awards program was established in 2000, 135 groups and persons have been recognized for their accomplishments.
"Through their dedication to environmental protection, these award winners annually set an example of environmental excellence for everyone in New Jersey to follow,'' said Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin, who annually presents the awards to the winners. "The winners and all of those who participate each year set a very high standard for environmental excellence. They demonstrate real environmental leadership through their actions.''
Previously honored projects include Princeton University's ongoing work toward sustainability, Linden's redevelopment of a former landfill as a natural area reconnecting residents to urban waterfronts, community-wide efforts to reduce stormwater runoff to Camden's sewer system, and the American Littoral Society's "Bayscape for Barnegat Bay" program which encourages responsible landscaping practices around the bay, among many others.
"The spirit of the Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards Program is to honor the outstanding accomplishments and contributions made by our award recipients each year," said Dr. Richard Magee, Technical Director for the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology. "My corporation is proud to co-sponsor this program with DEP and I encourage businesses, educators, institutions, communities, youth and others to put forth nominations about their accomplishments for our consideration this year."
In one major change to the program this year, the category for "Environmental Education" has been divided into two awards: one for adult-led educational initiatives and one for projects that are student-led or have succeeded due to a high level of student involvement.
The Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards Program is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology, in partnership with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.
Award winners will be honored at a luncheon and program to be held in December. Last year's event supporters included PSEG, Duke Farms, New Jersey Natural Gas, Atlantic County Utilities Authority and Greener by Design.
Completed applications must be received at DEP by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17.
The 2014 application and other awards information can be found at www.nj.gov/dep/eeawards.
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