- Joined
- Jun 3, 2004
- Messages
- 486
Just to stick my little oar in here,
If you hit an ecosystem hard in one area the effects can be unforseen and long reaching.
There is a NZ paper from the 1960's, when there was commercial whaling in that general area of NZ, (O showed me, It's based on Sperm Whale stomach contents) that indicated that Orange Roughy are probably part of the Sperm Whale's diet. Not a big part admittedly, but they were there.
It may mean nothing, it may not. However, since the 1980's Orange Roughy have been fished with extreme prejudice, so I think it would be optimistic to assume it's had no effect on Sperm Whale diet.
Sperm Whales (from the above paper) appear to eat prey of a certain availiblilty and size. (Otherwise what would be the point of those long deep dives). To me that tends to correspond with the point of steaming out and fishing for something i.e. That it's big enough and/or common enough to be worth the effort economically.
So, it seems we compete for prey with the Sperm Whales, and we usually win in these things.
Sometimes when you win, you also loose.
Well that's my sound bite.
If you hit an ecosystem hard in one area the effects can be unforseen and long reaching.
There is a NZ paper from the 1960's, when there was commercial whaling in that general area of NZ, (O showed me, It's based on Sperm Whale stomach contents) that indicated that Orange Roughy are probably part of the Sperm Whale's diet. Not a big part admittedly, but they were there.
It may mean nothing, it may not. However, since the 1980's Orange Roughy have been fished with extreme prejudice, so I think it would be optimistic to assume it's had no effect on Sperm Whale diet.
Sperm Whales (from the above paper) appear to eat prey of a certain availiblilty and size. (Otherwise what would be the point of those long deep dives). To me that tends to correspond with the point of steaming out and fishing for something i.e. That it's big enough and/or common enough to be worth the effort economically.
So, it seems we compete for prey with the Sperm Whales, and we usually win in these things.
Sometimes when you win, you also loose.
Well that's my sound bite.
