Sosua Fisherman Sound Alarm About Pollution

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Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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From today's Sosua News:

[h=5]The board of the Association of Fishermen (la Asociaci?n de Pescadores) of Sos?a and Cabarete have sounded the alarm bell. They warn against the increasing pollution of the ocean by the outflow of contaminated water from the two rivers. The rivers Sos?a and Jacqueline are used by the adjacent villages as an open sewer.[/h] [h=5]Fishing port in Charamicos[/h]
[h=5]The promises of the government to construct a functioning sewage system has not started yet. Currently, fishermen still catch enough fish so that local people can still enjoy affordable fish. But the fishermen with their small boats, have to go out (often too far) on the ocean to catch the fish. Near the coast, caused by the pollution, the fish disappeared. Rapidly emerging storms are another problem for the fishermen and are very dangerous, when they are out on the sea is it difficult to find shelter in time. According to the board, the government must act quickly and take the appropriate measures to fight the Increasing pollution. If not, the population, in the near future, can not eat fish and the fishermen will lose their job.[/h]
 
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pollogringo

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Ken said:
According to the board, the government must act quickly and take the appropriate measures to fight the Increasing pollution. If not, the population, in the near future, can not eat fish and the fishermen will lose their job.
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Then' there's the matter of shiit in the water.
 
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Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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Ken said:
From today's Sosua News:

[h=5]The board of the Association of Fishermen (la Asociaci?n de Pescadores) of Sos?a and Cabarete have sounded the alarm bell. They warn against the increasing pollution of the ocean by the outflow of contaminated water from the two rivers. The rivers Sos?a and Jacqueline are used by the adjacent villages as an open sewer.[/h] [h=5]Fishing port in Charamicos[/h]
[h=5]The promises of the government to construct a functioning sewage system has not started yet. Currently, fishermen still catch enough fish so that local people can still enjoy affordable fish. But the fishermen with their small boats, have to go out (often too far) on the ocean to catch the fish. Near the coast, caused by the pollution, the fish disappeared. Rapidly emerging storms are another problem for the fishermen and are very dangerous, when they are out on the sea is it difficult to find shelter in time. According to the board, the government must act quickly and take the appropriate measures to fight the Increasing pollution. If not, the population, in the near future, can not eat fish and the fishermen will lose their job.[/h]
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Let's see how they handle this one. Maybe if they kick out a few more hookers and build another park.
On a more serious note, they'd better move on this fast. It's been going on for years. I try to eat the least possible fresh fish and for sure none of the oysters the sell on the beach.
 
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dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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yeah, it must be the government fault that people s**t into the river. something must be done about the pollution that is clearly caused by the government and totally not by people themselves. no, we are not to blame. now excuse me, i need to squat in the water, i feel my bowel movements coming.
 
Bronxboy

Bronxboy

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Jul 11, 2007
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Eddy said:
Why? Do girls on the pill sh*t less. ;) ;)
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7oAvha_QYXo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>...............................
 
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dom

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ban the use of spearguns, if one dude can empty an entire reef with one speargun in one day, dont be surprised if theres no fish left if on any nice day i see at least 30 to 50 ppl with spearguns in the pop sosua cab area anytime.

anywhere else in the caribbean its forbidden.
 
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PeterInBrat

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Spearguns may be banned in other countries, but over-fishing is a common problem with no easy solution. It's whatcha call a Tragedy of the Commons situation. As fish become harder to catch, the demand and price goes up, which leads to more incentive for them to be over-fished. This leads to a fisheries crash.

Fresh water fish farms can be very effective bio-filters. A mangrove swamp is another good bio-filter.

Conch and other mollusks are also important to the reef ecosystems. They clean the algae off of the reefs and the corals die without them.
 
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dom

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while the ban on spearguns may not be the solution, it is a start, at it must be started somewhere, im a fisherman, and i do spearfishing too, belive me i know the damage they can cause, and it is a huge damage
 
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davetuna

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Jun 19, 2012
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Cabarete, Dominican Republic
bad water, less fish, more plastic waste, more CO2....blah blah.......these are all SYMPTOMS of the real problem......


which is overpopulation of the planet. The Human explosion. as I said, stick 'em all on the pill at 14, will help solve many more Symptoms, not just poop in the water.

All I hear are problems with this, problems with that, the rain forest, starving people etc etc, nobody wants to really talk about the overall cause of the problem which is too many people on the planet.
 
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dv8

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ship the kids to europe. aging population is a problem there. and there are toilets to s**t in.
 
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zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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" i do spearfishing too, belive me i know the damage they can cause, and it is a huge damage". Bollocks, utter nonsense. Spearfishing is in fact one of the least damaging and least effective ways of harvesting fish. Hook and line is much more effective and less selective. The fact that one sees people with spearguns means nothing. Fish have tails and if you poison the water with sewage and debris they swim off.

"anywhere else in the caribbean its forbidden." Wrong again. it is banned in some areas where the country depends on dive tourism and they also stop other methods of harvest. The DR does not depend on diving for much unless its muff diving.
"one dude can empty an entire reef with one speargun in one day" This is more nonsense. Fish are not dumb. When they see the other fish being speared they take off. In fact Groupers, which are a long lived species, only need to be shot at and missed one time to become very wary of spear carrying fishermen. Spear fishing is no threat to anything in the DR or elsewhere. Global warming, with the rise in sea temperatures is killing the corals, using the rivers that dump into the oceans as toilets raises the algae level and eventually smothers the coral, the lionfish which are relatively new are gobbling up all the small fish on the reef and they have no natural enemies. Spearing is simply not a threat. So, dont worry about all those macho guys walking around with spearguns unless you are swimming with them as they are more likely to spear you or each other than take a large quantity of fish. Not that the DR government will do anything but its easy to pass a ban and it looks like something is being done. Plus I am personally annoyed by misinformation. If you want to be concerned take a look at the amount of tropical fish and live rock that is shipped out of the DR every day. These collector businessmen are removing the living jewels of the coral reef for the international aquarium trade. There is a point for concern.
 
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PeterInBrat

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The Caribbean has also had almost the entire population of Spiny Sea Urchins, Diadema antillarum wiped out from a bacterial bloom in 1983 and they were one of the main grazers of reef algae.

And now there's Lion Fish, which suck up juvenile fish by the dozens..

And mangrove destruction, which act as nurseries for many reef fish and prevent nutrients from getting to the reefs, which is a bad thing.

Pollution is one piece of the puzzle, but there are many other factors out there. Even ag runoff, which is loaded with Nitrogen, creates algal blooms and then hypoxic dead zones.

When we start to see huge blooms of jellyfish, we're gong to be in some real trouble.
 
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davetuna

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zoomzx11 said:
" i do spearfishing too, belive me i know the damage they can cause, and it is a huge damage". Bollocks, utter nonsense. Spearfishing is in fact one of the least damaging and least effective ways of harvesting fish. Hook and line is much more effective and less selective. The fact that one sees people with spearguns means nothing. Fish have tails and if you poison the water with sewage and debris they swim off.

"anywhere else in the caribbean its forbidden." Wrong again. it is banned in some areas where the country depends on dive tourism and they also stop other methods of harvest. The DR does not depend on diving for much unless its muff diving.
"one dude can empty an entire reef with one speargun in one day" This is more nonsense. Fish are not dumb. When they see the other fish being speared they take off. In fact Groupers, which are a long lived species, only need to be shot at and missed one time to become very wary of spear carrying fishermen. Spear fishing is no threat to anything in the DR or elsewhere. Global warming, with the rise in sea temperatures is killing the corals, using the rivers that dump into the oceans as toilets raises the algae level and eventually smothers the coral, the lionfish which are relatively new are gobbling up all the small fish on the reef and they have no natural enemies. Spearing is simply not a threat. So, dont worry about all those macho guys walking around with spearguns unless you are swimming with them as they are more likely to spear you or each other than take a large quantity of fish. Not that the DR government will do anything but its easy to pass a ban and it looks like something is being done. Plus I am personally annoyed by misinformation. If you want to be concerned take a look at the amount of tropical fish and live rock that is shipped out of the DR every day. These collector businessmen are removing the living jewels of the coral reef for the international aquarium trade. There is a point for concern.
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I agree with most of what you say, however I would tend to disagree with the lion fish situation.

I would ask the question. Why are lionfish kept in check in asia and other areas? Why are they running out of control here in the caribbean.

As for no natural predators, there are no big fish now. They have all been fished.

I see lionfish on every divesite except one in my job. What I have noticed is that where there are larger fish, especially queen triggers, there are noticable fewer if any Lionfish.

That is why I would like to see less commercial fishing, especially on reefs. You need more large fish on reefs to balance the system. Out at sea you not getting lionfish as they are a reef fish ie shallow water. (Up to 500ft)

We live in interesting times, but to say that global warming is causing more damage, or hurricanes cause more damage, is always the fishermans answer!! Never their fault. Humans are naturally defensive and aggresive also, in fact we dont see ourselves as priveledged to live on this planet, and to work with nature. Mostly humans see themselves as superior to other species, and it is our right to live on the planet.

Time will run out imo, once the conditions are not in our favor we will see a correction. It has happened many times in history and it will happen once again. This is why it would be a good idea to rethink our situation regarding the planet earth and the (negative for us) environmental conditions which we are helping to create. Not just fisherman, but each and every one of use who drive a vehicle, use plastic bags and eat meat.
All IMHO

dave
 
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PeterInBrat

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I did a semester of Coastal Resource Management in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Fishermen have their impact and are able to collapse populations on a local level for up to about ten years, but they don't do too much long term damage to the actual ecosystem unless they are doing things like blasting off chunks of the corals for the aquarium trade. Lobster pots can have long term impacts when they are lost and become "ghost traps." but they don't actually harm the reefs.

Most reef fish have a planktonic stage so even when a local adult population is wiped out, new fish will replace them provided there are areas for the larvae/fry to "settle." Again, this is where mangrove swamps are important, as well as turtle grass beds.

But most fishery management is focused on "sustainable harvests" and "slot limits" which treat the symptoms and not the real causes of population crashes. They are based on pelagic systems and the metrics are next to impossible to enforce. A fisherman isn't going to double check that a lobster or fish is at harvest size when they come across one. You can, however create refuge zones where no fishing is allowed at all. Because it is a finite area, and it's easier to enforce than trying to monitor what every little boat is up to.
 
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dom

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before talking crap about missinformation bla bla insulting people why dont you do some research yourself ?

dude i dive and fish between sosua and puerto plata all the time, the reefs are WHITE, DEATH, the biggest fish you see it 20 cm, are you kidding me ?!?!?! you say spearfishing is not a problem when i see these guys pull out 10 cm groupers and snappers all day long ??
how are the fish supposed to recover, if they dont even reach maturity ?

and at the end, why would you attack someone offering an idea or solution to fix the problem with so much hate, seriously are you retarded, when did you get your fat a$$ in the water the last time ?

spearfishing perceived to be more efficient (in terms of CPUE) and thus more destructive to fish populations than alternative gear types [8], [9]. Spearfishing also allows the targeting of keystone species such as herbivorous parrotfishes, which have critical ecosystem functions in maintaining reefs in a coral dominated state [5], [6]. For these reasons, the legitimacy and desirability of spearfishing have often been questioned.

Although bycatch, gear loss (hence, increased debris), and removal of fish biomass
as bait are higher with hook-and-line fishing

than with spearfishing, the effectiveness and

efficiency of spearfishing has resulted in
overharvest and restrictions on the fishery,
including a ban on spearfishing

http://flowergarden.noaa.gov/document_library/mgmtdocs/spearfishingresearch.pdf
 
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dom

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"If you want to be concerned take a look at the amount of tropical fish and live rock that is shipped out of the DR every day. These collector businessmen are removing the living jewels of the coral reef for the international aquarium trade. There is a point for concern. "

your a joke, show me any proof of your statement, i know dozens of fisherman, i dive, i fish, i have not even once heard of anyone collecting or selling marine species to export, loooooooooooooooooollll !??!?!

how many buisnessman can there be ?
if at all, wouldnt they go for preatty looking fish, a grouper snapper etc, i havent seen in any buisnessmans fishtank.
 
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