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Capt. Monty Hawkins is owner/operator of the partyboat Morning Star, Ocean City, MD. He has 30 years of partyboat fishing experience in the mid-Atlantic and is self educated. Like squirrels in a wheat-field, you can't possibly have reef-fish in abundance without reef-habitat in abundance. The mussels, corals, oysters, crab, shrimp and fish of a mature artificial are no more artificial than cicada, ants, birds, raccoon, opossum and deer in a large farm tract left untilled for a decade. And; where animals are able to feed and shelter from predators they will spawn. My experience in these 30 years at sea tells me habitat is crucial in fisheries production; Tells me habitat more than waist deep is easily lost in the shuffle; And tells me habitat already lost for several generations may be permanently lost.. unless we look for what likely existed as evidenced by anecdotal catch in the early and mid-1900s, even as far back as the mid-1800s. And then restore it. I suspect that if NOAA will but grasp the importance of sea floor habitat, in conjunction with the incredible tool that is habitat fidelity, we can take some fisheries far beyond our restoration targets. And, because this focus on production has not yet occurred we stumble along with oscillating stocks, poor utilization, and the poorest of governance. Write your marine fisheries representative and ask why... produced by unscene for Capt. Monty |
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