Horizon Charters, San Diego | Liveaboard diving Channel Islands and offshore Baja Mexico
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Representative Farr Introduces Fishery Legislation
The number of federally managed ocean fish stocks that are overfished, experiencing overfishing, or both, reached a record high of 107 last year—a nearly 10 percent jump over the year before, notes the Marine Fish Conservation Network (MFCN). Despite legal mandates to protect marine species, government managers last year continued to allow overfishing of 57 of the 92 U.S. stocks (62 percent), which were already known to be overfished. Among the fish found to be at risk are more than a dozen species of salmon, and California rockfish.
Representative Sam Farr, a California Democrat, introduced legislation to fundamentally change the way the United States manages fish in U.S. waters. The Fisheries Recovery Act of 2001 is intended to help develop fishing regulations with the goal of conserving ocean resources, rather than narrowly managing individual species of fish. Specifically, the Act would strengthen federal laws in order to:
1. Stop overfishing, in part by prohibiting the overfishing of all fish stocks living in mixed species fisheries. When fishers are barred from catching a particular fish species, but permitted to continue fishing in the same waters for other species, the result is often the unintended netting of protected fish. 2. Avoid bycatch—the killing of non-target fish and other species such as turtles and birds. 3. Protect essential ocean habitats, such as coral reefs, wetlands and other habitats where fish feed, breed and find protection, from damaging fishing practices such as bottom trawling and dredging.
Silver Prince Sinks then Refloated
Long time Monterey dive boat, the Silver Prince, sunk at the Stillwater Cove Pier in July. The vessel began taking on water while anchored at the Pinnacles, and managed to off load all passengers and crew before sinking. She was refloated the next day and is being repaired.
Red Tide Largest in Years
The red tide hit portions of the Southern California coastline with a vengeance in late July dropping coastal water visibility to near zero and contaminating shellfish up and down the coast. Red tide is a natural phenomenon owed to a population explosion of microscopic single-cell dinoflagelets. In high concentrations, filter feeding animals such as clams, mussels and scallops can accumulate high levels of toxins naturally found in this type of dinoflagelets. It then becomes unsafe for humans to consume the shellfish as the toxins can lead to severe illness, even death.
The most severe outbreaks of red tide occurred along the San Diego and Ventura County coastlines. The phenomenon gains its name from the red cast of the water when populations of the dinoflagelets are exceptionally high.
It is not unsafe to dive in these waters and an added bonus is the bioluminescense of the tiny organisms that can make for exceptional light shows underwater during night dives.