August 01, 2006
8/2 - How low will we go? NOAA watching slimy hagfish
Yet another sign of the shifted baseline times. A friend just sent me this little tidbit. Apparently the mud-dwelling slimy hagfish, a descendant of the early jawless fishes along with the lamprey, which was once cursed at by fishermen and thrown overboard in disgust, is today being fished in sufficient numbers to cause concern with NOAA. Here's the item he came across in one of their announcements:
NEW ENGLAND - LIMITED ACCESS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR HAGFISH -
NOAA Fisheries is considering proposed rulemaking to control future access to the Atlantic hagfish fishery. Since there is currently no management program for this fishery, and consequently no permitting or reporting requirements, there is considerable uncertainty regarding the actual level of hagfish landings and discards. The New England Fishery Management Council has indicated that limiting access to the hagfish fishery may be necessary to reduce capitalization and constrain fishing to sustainable levels, while ensuring that the fishery does not become overfished.
How low (on the food chain) will we go? Plankton stew, anyone?
Blah, eat me!
Posted by Randy Olson at August 1, 2006 06:13 PM