Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Dorado
Nomads, thanks for the encouragement about my writing.
GOLDEN ONES
One beautiful day on the beach at La Capilla I walked over to the fish cleaning station to see what three local guys had caught that day. They were
all busy cleaning very small female dorado full of eggs. I smiled at the strangers and said ?it always makes me sad when I see the eggs.? I took
their silence as a rebuff so I left the shade of the station, walked back to the shore. Just as I turned to go I added ?that?s why I?m always after
the prepubescent ones.?
The episode got me thinking about writing an article putting forth the position of selective harvesting ? releasing all females during the time they
would normally carry eggs. It works all over the world?s oceans, rivers, streams, for all kinds of fish when the regulators know what they?re about.
Why not with dorado? In most selective harvesting plans, the male can be captured while you release all the females. In the case of dorado I thought
I?d better do some investigating lest I find out, when it?s too late, that killing the bulls dooms all the fry.
My search engines told me a lot about dorado. They also told me we need to learn a lot more about this marvelous animal than we know now.
There are two specie, the common and the Pompano. The common is much larger, thinner, has fewer dorsal rays. Females lay 400,000, mas or menos,
eggs, in serial fashion every six weeks in the open ocean.
During some periods of a dorado?s life in the open ocean the fish grow at the astounding rate of 10% of their body weight per day.
Big bulls around here (to 50 or more pounds) may only be two or three years old.
Soo. I have not learned enough to put forth any meaningful position. I hope the readers won?t see this as an ad like ?take all you want, we?ll make
more?. The Mexican fishing license allows only two per fisherman per day (with a three day limit if you can prove you were out that long). Those
two equal one billfish or shark.
Usually mother nature has the females grind out eggs in numbers to assure the survival of animals in relation to how many grow to maturity versus loss
to predation and adverse conditions in the environment.
All I can do is try to play by the rules, try to learn a little more about these fabulous creatures while I?m enjoying the catching and the eating.
They say ?character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.? When it comes to fish, at least around these parts, I say ?character is taking
only your limit while you watch the other boats fill to the gunnels?.
P.S. The chemical and biological engine that runs so deep and so fast in this animal is the thing that allows it to take in food, add it to body mass
at such a prodigious rate. When you catch and keep one, when it dies, the process continues. The stomach and all the flesh around it begin to
putrefy at an accelerated rate. Sooo this is the one fish you want to take care of. On my boats the fish go on ice the moment they are in the boat.
Wish I had known that all those years on rented pangas allowing the guide to simply let the fish fry in its own juices on the deck beneath the
scorching tropical sun. I guess I?ve just been thinking that my wife is getting to be a better cook than she was years ago because now the fish
tastes so much better. She will not cook fish given to us by other fishermen because she doesn?t trust that they have taken care of the fish.
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RJM
Newbie
Posts: 23
Registered: 7-2-2004
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Managing any wildlife species is not as simple as one would first envision. I find it very refreshing to see someone who will step back from the
simple answers and understand that in nature all isn't an easy solution. Most of us are quick to set a size limit or number limit on the take of a
certain species without knowing the biology of the critter we are trying to enhance. Wildlife and fishery professionals are always criticized because
they tend to look at the big picture while most of us just want to look for the easy answers. Osprey; ... I will continue to not only appreciate your
writing ability, ... but I am; fast becoming a fan of a critical thinker.
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bajaden
Nomad
Posts: 496
Registered: 4-7-2005
Location: Ensenada
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Mood: vicarious
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Great info. I agree with RJM about managing wildlife. As an X deerhunter I watched California conservationists with the best of intentions screw up
the deer herd. Against the wishs of the fish and game dept I might add. I always found it interesting that a cattle rancher will keep the biggest and
strongest of the new bulls and cull out the scrawny ones. But in California they insist you only hunt the biggest deer with the biggest racks and
leave the scrawny ones to breed. So your right, its very complicated and deserves a lot more research. Hopefully we have time to get it right.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Fish and Game laws
Bajaden,
A hunting pal in Nevada told me he read All The Laws on Hunting deer. He claims: you can't shoot one migrating, mating, sleeping, going to or from
water, near a water source, on private property. He claims that unless you catch one making a phone call, you can't shoot it. The La Paz and Cabo
restaurants all make a big deal of Huachinango Entero, the whole small snapper, head and all, on the plate. They pay our local guys 30 pesos a kilo
for the whole juvenile, 9 pesos a kilo for ones too big for the plate -- guaranteeing the eventual ruinous depletion of the specie. Now, if I could
only convince the restauratuers to make a market in a dish called "filet of really old, ugly fish" we could turn it all around.
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Oso
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2637
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: on da border
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Mood: wait and see
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Now, if I could only convince the restauratuers to make a market in a dish called "filet of really old, ugly fish" we could turn it all around.
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Back East, that would be Monkfish, "the poor man's lobster". Hideous to look at, deeelicious to the tastebuds. Don't know if the species or similar
exiists in Baja. I love to eat Lingcod and they wouldn't win any beauty contests either.
P/S for bajaden; Every Fall, I start missing NC where I usually had venison in the freezer every year. The state biologists keep a pretty good handle
on what is a pretty abundant herd. There are many private hunt clubs that restrict what you can shoot beyond what the state allows. It is usually
imperative to take a certain number of doe and if you're lucky, you may take that majestic 10 or 12. Otherwise, you usually have to settle for spikes
and forkers and leave sixes and eights alone. (Eastern count) Nowadays, I think the major harvest is vehicular.
[Edited on 6-17-2005 by Oso]
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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Don Alley
Super Nomad
Posts: 1997
Registered: 12-4-2003
Location: Loreto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
The La Paz and Cabo restaurants all make a big deal of Huachinango Entero, the whole small snapper, head and all, on the plate. They pay our local
guys 30 pesos a kilo for the whole juvenile, 9 pesos a kilo for ones too big for the plate -- guaranteeing the eventual ruinous depletion of the
specie. Now, if I could only convince the restauratuers to make a market in a dish called "filet of really old, ugly fish" we could turn it all
around. |
Larger fish have already spawned, perhaps repeatedly.
Small fish have yet to spawn and do their part to replenish the species.
Logic dictates letting the little ones go, and only keep big ones.
But...
Big fish produce more eggs. The bigger the fish, the higher its reproductive power.
Small, young fish are the easiest to replace, and many, perhaps most, do not live to reproduce anyway.
So release the big ones, keep a couple of small ones, say some biologists.
So who knows? Are the best keepers the small ones or the big ones? I suspect the small ones. In the meantime, if only everyone could take whatever
they take in moderation, fish populations might improve, instead of decline.
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OFFCOURSE2
Newbie
Posts: 13
Registered: 6-7-2005
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Mood: LOVIN LIFE
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On the gulf coast many of the states have gone to a slot limit----keep only 18 to 27 inch redfish for example . It seems to have had a big effect on
the stocks. That and reeling in the netters.
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bajaden
Nomad
Posts: 496
Registered: 4-7-2005
Location: Ensenada
Member Is Offline
Mood: vicarious
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Bajaden,
A hunting pal in Nevada told me he read All The Laws on Hunting deer. He claims: you can't shoot one migrating, mating, sleeping, going to or from
water, near a water source, on private property. He claims that unless you catch one making a phone call, you can't shoot it.
I haven't hunted in Nevada in years. Usually go to Idaho. They don't have many phone booths there. I can't really speak for any other state except
california. The big problem is the mountain lion. There were only about 900 left when they went on the endangered list. Now there are somewhere
between 3500 and 4000. One lion eats at least 50 deer a year. Probably more. You do the math. When you have that many lions hunting deer and man
hunting deer also, it won't be long before deer will be on the endangered list. |
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