Saving Seafood

Gender-bending fish under Rutgers microscope

July 7, 2015 — We’ll say this for the sea bass: It’s sure good at keeping its options open.

If it surveys the mating landscape and fails to see enough prospects, it simply switches gender.

Problem solved.

This ability bodes well for New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fishing industry, for it offers natural protection from over-fishing, says one Rutgers researcher.

A fish may begin life as a female, only to switch to male if that looks like it will improve its chances of reproduction. Smaller males, called “sneaker males,” may impersonate females so they can fertilize eggs on the sly without attracting hostile attention from other males.

“The relative benefit of being male or female changes throughout their lives,” said Olaf Jensen of Rutgers’ department of marine and coastal science.

But until lately, no one has really known how often sea bass switch genders, or when that switch typically takes place.

And why should anyone but a marine biologist care?

Because without understanding what’s happening, state fishing bureaucrats have no firm idea on how to set catch limits for the fishing industry.

Read the full story at NJ.com

CINDY ZIPF: Potential harm to marine life lies beneath Rutgers’ sea level study

July 4, 2015 — NEW JERSEY — In direct response to Lincoln Hollister’s June 10 op-ed titled “As N.J. sea levels rise, politics trumps science,” how tragic for such a distinguished professor of geology to profess such bunk.

Let us all agree on one fact, geologists study non-living matter –rocks, soil, sand, minerals. Hence, they are not experts in the field of marine biology, and would not be the “go to” scientists to determine harm from a seismic ocean blasting study led by the Rutgers Geology Dept. Would you go to a plumber for heart surgery? So while it’s a free country and they are welcome to an opinion about the effect of the Rutgers study on marine life – 250-decibel blasts, every five seconds, 24 hours a day for 30 days, in a tiny (as the ocean goes) area of ocean off Barnegat Light – it is not a studied one, and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Read the full opinion piece at The Star Ledger 

 

 

Black Sea Bass Change Sex for Survival

July 6, 2015 — Rutgers marine researchers and New Jersey fishermen are piecing together the details of the strange, gender-bending sex lives of black sea bass – a study that could improve understanding of the bass population and help the beleaguered recreational fishing industry.

Scientists have long known black sea bass are “protogynous hermaphrodites,” a species in which fish that begin life as females can switch gender to male. But the details of how and why that happens are not completely understood.

Now, there’s thinking the change is triggered when the number of males in a local population declines.  Not enough guys? Some black sea bass ladies make the switch.

“It sounds crazy, right? But from an evolutionary perspective, it’s a perfect way to keep balance in a population,” said Olaf Jensen, an assistant professor with Rutgers’ Department of Marine and Coastal Science leading the project. “If it’s operating out in nature, maybe we don’t have to worry so much about fishing pressure removing the big males and skewing the sex ratio.”

This self-propelling sex change could help biologists and government fisheries managers to better assess the overall black sea bass stock, calculations that up to now have been forcing season closures and lost money for the shore’s party and charter boat fleet. Ignoring the influence of sex changes on population dynamics could lead to mistakes in estimating the stock size and how fishing seasons and catch limits should be set.

Read the full story from Rutgers University

 

Fishing groups ask court to halt Atlantic Ocean seismic testing

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. (AP) — July 1, 2015 — Five fishing groups are asking a federal court to stop a research program that blasts the ocean floor with sound waves, arguing it’s disturbing marine life off the coast of New Jersey.

The lawsuit filed Friday seeks a halt to the program being carried out by Rutgers University, the University of Texas and the National Science Foundation.

The project uses sound waves to study sediment on the ocean floor dating back 60 million years to see how sea level rise has changed the coastline, and better plan for storms like Superstorm Sandy.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at My9 New Jersey