Came across this in my daily Science Daily reading- keeping big fish

[JackK]

Yep... In a lab, with no predators.

Not going to cherry pick data, I'll cite all of the findings, whether or not they support my conclusions. But it's common sense in biological terms. To make it overly simple: You have oviparous fish (let's say herring, cod, stripers) that often produce millions of eggs, with innumerable larvae... They get preyed upon, with the hope that one out of every million survives to maturity to breed again. Then you have the species that put a ton of energy and care into producing small amounts of large, healthy juveniles- generally ovoviviparous and viviparous, sharks & rays come to mind. The theory is that these larger juveniles have a better chance of survival as they're born larger.

So yes, in a controlled setting with no natural predation there was no difference in survival 25 days post hatch (DPH). But what about 50 DPH? 100? Study hasn't been done, so who knows? Striped bass don't metamorphose fully into juveniles until 33-35 DPH (Lal, Lasker and Kuljis, 1977), and I know from my own aquaculture days (albeit with different species) that that's when a high percentage of mortality can occur.

All I'm saying is that big fish make big babies that grow fast. There's no scientific record of a big fish being any less fertile than a smaller one... Which is what the original discussion was about. The graphs below show fecundity vs. weight. I'd rather have more of those big, fertile fish swimming around... in addition to those 20's and 30's that also pump out young.

One thing's for sure, it's surprising that such little research has been done on this subject.

[Mr. Sandman]

This is all very interesting and we can debate these nuances until the cows come home (pun intended) but IMO, due to the unknowns of nature we should just protect the entire species and stop pretending how smart we all are and say we can protect the species by saving a subset of the fish. Face it fishery management results have not been that great in recent decades.

What has worked is total protection...on the west coast 450 stripers were transplanted in 1880-something. They established themselves and eventually they had a commercial harvest of over a 1 million #, then, the population declined due to overfishing. It was then made a game fish and there are now plenty of bass...The West Coast range of the species is now from Los Angeles north to the Columbia River...all from 450 original fish.

This does not require a lot of expensive science..and it certainly does not require management decisions based on user groups and POLITICS!....all it requires is common sense.

Make it a game fish, allow 1 fish bag limit any size. Then go focus on its food supply.

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

This is all very interesting and we can debate these nuances until the cows come home (pun intended) but IMO, due to the unknowns of nature we should just protect the entire species and stop pretending how smart we all are and say we can protect the species by saving a subset of the fish. Face it fishery management results have not been that great in recent decades.

What has worked is total protection...on the west coast 450 stripers were transplanted to 1880something. They established themselves and eventually they had a commercial harvest of over a 1million # then the population declined due to overfishing. It was then made a game fish and there are now plenty of bass...The West Coast range of the species is now from Los Angeles north to the Columbia River.

This does not require a lot of expensive science..and it certainly does not require management decisions based on user groups and POLITICS!....all it requires is common sense.

Make it a game fish, allow 1 fish bag limit any size. Then go focus on its food supply.

Yes!!
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[JackK]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

This is all very interesting and we can debate these nuances until the cows come home (pun intended) but IMO, due to the unknowns of nature we should just protect the entire species and stop pretending how smart we all are and say we can protect the species by saving a subset of the fish. Face it fishery management results have not been that great in recent decades.

What has worked is total protection...on the west coast 450 stripers were transplanted to 1880something. They established themselves and eventually they had a commercial harvest of over a 1million # then the population declined due to overfishing. It was then made a game fish and there are now plenty of bass...The West Coast range of the species is now from Los Angeles north to the Columbia River.

This does not require a lot of expensive science..and it certainly does not require management decisions based on user groups and POLITICS!....all it requires is common sense.

Make it a game fish, allow 1 fish bag limit any size. Then go focus on its food supply.

Amen x2!