The Bountiful Ocean

I know...it's been a while since I posted. What can I say? I'm just a slacker.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go shrimping in Beaufort with my dad and brother(We put in near the historic Penn Center). I have to tell you...it was like a homecoming. I hadn't been back in those creeks in years, yet the shore birds, Spartina, and fluff mud seemed as if I'd never left. As we all got into that familiar rhythm of poling and casting, it was as if I was 10 again. I rarely find that place...I was completely at peace.

After about four hours of intense work we had about 20 quarts of shrimp (well below the legal limit of 48 quarts). We decided we'd had enough 'hard work' for one day (my arm felt like it was going to fall off), so we sat down, fired up the Mercury, and headed to a larger channel that looked promising for some fishing. We set anchor near the mouth of a creek and sacrificed a few of our shrimp (plus a finger mullet or two that we had caught). Fishing was slow, with the exception of a couple of bluntnose stingrays that Dad and Bubba landed after a brief fight. Mostly I just stared at the creek, memories of awe from the past washing over me like a tide. I remembered why I loved this so much. Each cast of the net; each tug at the line held the promise of a marvelous surprise. Would your net come up empty, brimming with shrimp, or with some strange fish that looked like it came from the set of Star Trek? When your line finally broke the surface would your adversary be a stingray, guitar fish, flounder, drum, or (my favorite) a shark? Most of the time we just landed the fish, admired the amazing attributes that fit it perfectly for its environment, and sent it on its merry way (although Mom would kill us if we let a good looking flounder go. I think it's her favorite).

As we loaded the boat and got back into the truck to head home, the pleasant haze of memory was slowly replaced with a harsher reality. The shrimping and fishing, though fun, hadn't really been that productive. Why? Maybe we just didn't have a stellar day, but then maybe something more sinister was going on. When I was fishing in the boat as a 10 year old, I imagined the channels to be hundreds of feet deep, brimming with innumerable fish of every description. Even now when I gaze into the ocean it's not too hard to think that. Even wordly explorers like Alexander von Humboldt (On par with Charles Darwin as far as I'm concerned) thought that the ocean's bounty was without end. How could little ol' Homo sapiens have an effect on ANYTHING as vast as the estuaries of the Atlantic Coast, let alone the oceans of the world?

I'm a little older now, so I can look at numbers and have a better sense of reality. Those fathomless channels are only a few meters deep. And the innumerable fish are declining. Prime spawning habitat is being lost at an alarming rate. Marshes are viewed by the general public as worthless, smelly, wastes of space. Wouldn't they be much nicer if we filled them with sand and built a beach house on it? Marshes are also EXCELLENT for natural pollution remediation...but they are being severly overworked. Our world fisheries are also being fished intensively. According to one report from the World Resource Institute the average world citizen consumes 13.4 kg (~30 pounds) of fish annually. If you do the math that works out to being 198 BILLION pounds of fish being harvested from our waters every year. I can hear the interjections now..."but we have laws in place to protect fish. We can't over harvest them." Yes, we do have laws, but no, that doesn't prevent overfishing. For an excellent read on that you should try Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish by G. Bruce Knecht. It's a true story, and it's an interesting and fast read.

I guess I can't blame my small catch ENTIRELY on a weakened fishery. But I must say that the reality of fisheries collapsing is a sobering one. If you are interested in learning more or becoming a part of the solution, get involved. There are plenty of good conservation groups that focus on these critical marine resources. Try your local Coastal Conservation Associtation (CCA) chapter, or visit the SC Aquarium's Sustainable Seafood page. Until next time...happy fishing.