By Paul Homewood

 

 

h/t Ian Magness

Yet more woeful reporting from the Telegraph:

 

 

 

 

Contrary to the claims of “incredibly rare”, swordfish are a common sight in British waters.

Ian sent me this link, which contains numerous sightings and discoveries of dead swordfish. There are far too many to list, but this clip gives an idea:

 

 

 

http://glaucus.org.uk/Swordf.htm

This snippet gives a clue as to why sightings may now be more common:

 

They are often called a Broad-billed Swordfish, but there is only one species in the world.  They are found throughout the tropical and temperate waters of the world but appear to prefer sea temperatures of 18°C to 22°C, migrating to cooler waters to feed in the summer.  These oceanic fish chase herring and mackerel and are among the fastest fish reaching 90 km.h-1 (56 mph).  This is in part due to their being warm-blooded, which allows not only their muscles but also their brain and eyes to work more efficiently.

By 1998 the swordfish population of the North Atlantic was thought to have declined, due to overfishing, to only 35% of its original size.  Once mature a female can produce 30 million eggs each year, giving the stock the capability of rapid recovery.  However the females do not mature until they reach 70 kg, and the average size now landed is a mere 40 kg.  When the population was first commercially targeted in the early nineteenth century the average fish landed weighed over 200 kg.  Such a decline is a classic feature of overfishing.  Drastic fisheries control measures are now in force for swordfish in the North West Atlantic, but is disputed as to how effective these have been and it is claimed that the stock is still at only half the level of a sustainable population.

According to NOAA:

 

Today’s North Atlantic swordfish population is a great fishery rebuilding story. 

Twenty years ago, this predatory fish was in trouble. Their population had dropped to 65 percent of the target level. This means there weren’t enough North Atlantic swordfish in the water to maintain their population in the face of fishing by the many countries who share the resource.

Fast forward to 2009 and the international commission that manages species like swordfish declared the Northern Atlantic stock fully rebuilt. That announcement came a year ahead of the 2010 target date set in the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna’s (ICCAT) 10-year rebuilding plan.

.https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/surprising-story-swordfish-you-may-not-know

Trust the Telegraph to turn a good news story into another climate scare story!

via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

https://ift.tt/Gg5eAv4

October 9, 2022 at 05:26AM