I recently watched a presentation by a fisheries biologist regarding the fishing pressures and fish stock structure of a nearby trout stream. The essence of the presentation was that the current fishing regulations include a possession limit of 3 fish and a minimum size of 12 inches. The majority of fish in the stream are in the six to ten inch class. To improve the fishery structure [to what end?], the preference is to change the regulations to a maximum size of 12 inches and a possession limit of five fish.
trout stream? polluted? who’d know?
Photo by J. Harrington
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I’ve read about other fisheries where the biologists claim that an overabundance of smaller panfish precludes the ability of the habitat to produce fewer, bigger fish. I believe I understand the concepts involved but I have major doubts that the fisheries folks have clearly enough defined the problem they’re trying to solve to be confident their proposed solutions will work without generating unintended consequences in today’s world, a world in which “New research from Stockholm University found that the levels of PFAS in rainwater now exceed levels deemed safe by health and environment advisory agencies.”
For example, recent stories about PFAS/PFOS in fish indicate more and more of our environment has become contaminated. Other articles note just how ubiquitous those contaminants have become. For example, Minnesota’s Fish Consumption Advisory [FCA] goes on for 25 pages, mostly because of mercury contamination, but we’ve been sampling for mercury much longer and probably more extensively than for PFOS. According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency:
PFAS testing began in Minnesota’s lakes and streams in 2004, which has led to fish-consumption advisories due to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) levels in fish tissue. PFOS is just one of the almost 5,000 PFAS chemicals. Continued monitoring is needed; many Minnesota lakes and streams that are potentially contaminated by PFAS have not been tested.
Please note that the FCA is issued by the Health Department, the water quality is overseen by the MNPCA and fishing regualtions are set by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Presumably, many other states, and the federal government, have a plethora of agencies involved in the permitting of intermedia transfer of pollutants that ultimately end up in our bodies and cause health issues for which each of us must pay for treatment. This state of affairs is yet another reason citizens should be able to petition for the termination of corporate charters so remediation costs don’t just continue as a cost of business (See, e..g., fossil fuel industry.)
If you’re reading this and you live, work or play in Minnesota, you might want to let your state legislators know how you feel about a bill to ban nonessential use of PFAS. Here’s some background that includes a link for contacting your legislators.
There It Is
By Jayne Cortez
My friendthey don't careif you're an individualista leftist a rightista shithead or a snakeThey will try to exploit youabsorb you confine youdisconnect you isolate youor kill youAnd you will disappear into your own rageinto your own insanityinto your own povertyinto a word a phrase a slogan a cartoonand then ashesThe ruling class will tell you thatthere is no ruling classas they organize their liberal supporters intowhite supremacist lynch mobsorganize their children intoku klux klan gangsorganize their police intokiller copsorganize their propaganda intoa device to ossify us with angel dustpreoccupy us with western symbols inafrican hair stylesinoculate us with hateinstitutionalize us with ignorancehypnotize us with a monotonous sound designedto make us evade reality and stomp our lives awayAnd we are programmed to self-destructto fragmentto get buried under covert intelligence operations ofunintelligent committees impulsed toward deathAnd there it isThe enemies polishing their penises betweenoil wells at the pentagonthe bulldozers leaping into demolition dancesthe old folks dying of starvationthe informers wearing out shoes looking for crumbsthe life blood of the earth almost dead inthe greedy mouth of imperialismAnd my friendthey don't careif you're an individualista leftist a rightista shithead or a snakeThey will spray you witha virus of legionnaire's diseasefill your nostrils withthe swine flu of their arrogancestuff your body into a tampon oftoxic shock syndrometry to pump all the resources of the worldinto their own veinsand fly off into the wild blue yonder topollute another planetAnd if we don't fightif we don't resistif we don't organize and unify andget the power to control our own livesThen we will wearthe exaggerated look of captivitythe stylized look of submissionthe bizarre look of suicidethe dehumanized look of fearand the decomposed look of repressionforever and ever and everAnd there it is
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