Big Lake revisited

[keakar]

Originally Posted by The Pink Banana

I'm sure I've missed this conversation at some point in time.... But here's my question.... why not just fill the whole lake with artificial reefs and give up on natural?

replacing nature is not a solution, its just putting a band aid on a broken leg. you cant treat BL or anyplace else like an aquarium that just needs something added to replace whats destroyed and that will fix it. artificial reefs take years to start to come close to the same life support systems of the natural reefs that are gone, its a lot more to it then just the fish you might see hanging around a new structure.

are they supposed to grow the fish in tanks to be sure they have the correct food supply to grow to trophy size and release them as needed too?

as you record the fish caught each day you can release one to replace it

now maybe, just maybe if you start releasing tons of baitfish every day it would replace the lost food chain that the bait fish need to flourish and naturally give specks all they can eat then it might reverse the decline in fish size but at what cost and will you agree to pay to continue to do this for the next 100 years?

outlaw oyster rakes and the problem goes away, they cant strip out oysters faster then they can grow and they cant strip whole areas bare because they are picking or tonging by hand so they will always miss a lot that will be left behind. the problem is the rakes are just too damned efficient just like the gill nets were and just like the gill nets they remove more then they leave behind until over time, nothing is left. it took years before the scale of destruction caused by gill nets was realized, before that they made the same timeless argument that there are too many to be effected in any real way by what the fishery is doing