Virgin Islands Nat. Monument Fish Populations May Not Survive - Reuters

[hatrack]

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands — "Fish populations in the underwater national monument around St. John and elsewhere in the U.S. Virgin Islands are so sparse that they may not be sustainable, marine biologists said. U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researchers concluded two weeks of study last weekend at the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument in St. John and the Buck Island Reef National Monument off St. Croix.

On Monday, they reported finding fish size and population to be about the same as the previous year: dangerously small. "They're so low in the first place, its hard for them to go anywhere," said Mark Monaco, NOAA's chief scientist for the recent expedition. "There's not a lot of fish out there. You seldom see a fish larger than a clipboard."

The relatively low number of fish has been caused by overfishing and destruction of habitat, including coral reefs, Monaco said.

EDIT

During the study, the NOAA team saw just one Nassau grouper, a fish once common to the area which scientists say was nearly fished out of existence in the 1970s and 1980s before receiving federally protection. A candidate for the endangered species list, the Nassau grouper and the similar yellow fin grouper spawn during full winter moons at an area known as the Grammanik Bank, about 3 miles (about 5 kilometers) south of St. Thomas."

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-10/s_13857.asp

[Dogmudgeon]

1. This is happening to ALL the fish

Worldwide.

Fishing yields have been falling for nearly 40 years now. It has never been given extensive public attention, in spite of the fact that a huge number of people depend on fish for food.

Overfishing, reductions in oceanic oxygen, changes in salinity, temperature, and dissolved nutrients, pollution ... we piss in it, they breathe it.

--bkl
"Tell 'em Charlie sent ya"