Catching Big Mama Fish Curbs Ocean Fertility
Marah J. Hardt
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November 6, 2014
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People are targeting larger fish in a school and are basically killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Why is that? Usually, the larger fish are the females and the bigger the fish, the more eggs it can lay. Since the fishermen are catching the big fish, they are slowly killing the population. Known as BOFFFFs (big, old, fat, fecund, female fish), these individuals contribute to the ecosystem more than just providing the future generation. Humanity should understand that fact in order to sustain the world's fisheries. These fish are egg-making factories. Larger and older female fish can produce more eggs than those half her size. These larger moms produce bigger eggs with a lot of energy stored in the yolk. This means that the larvae has a head start on growth and development. The older the fish the "wiser" it is. BOFFFFs often spawn a batch of eggs in different locations, earlier in the season. There's a "bet-hedging" advantage for BOFFFFs who produce higher numbers of batches over an extended period of time.
Catching bigger fish in a specific location can disproportionate the larger and older fish. Loss of BOFFFFs is bad news for the next spawning cycle because there are not many bigger fish to pass on their genes. If there are more smaller fish, then the population can get smaller over time. Genetic structure can be altered due to the strong selective pressure. It is like every year, aliens come and take all the taller people off the planet and only the shorter ones are left. When they reproduce, the genetics of the shorter people are passed down and humans will evolve to be shorter and shorter. This is exactly what is happening to the fish.
I never thought about what it means to take the bigger things. Every time I eat something, I want the bigger one. For example, when I go to a buffet, I take the bigger crabs, lobsters, or whatever. I never knew that I could be changing the genetic structure of certain fish. If this were to happen to humans, that would be very sad. If we don't want that to happen to humans, I'm pretty sure the fish doesn't want that to happen either.
Catching bigger fish in a specific location can disproportionate the larger and older fish. Loss of BOFFFFs is bad news for the next spawning cycle because there are not many bigger fish to pass on their genes. If there are more smaller fish, then the population can get smaller over time. Genetic structure can be altered due to the strong selective pressure. It is like every year, aliens come and take all the taller people off the planet and only the shorter ones are left. When they reproduce, the genetics of the shorter people are passed down and humans will evolve to be shorter and shorter. This is exactly what is happening to the fish.
I never thought about what it means to take the bigger things. Every time I eat something, I want the bigger one. For example, when I go to a buffet, I take the bigger crabs, lobsters, or whatever. I never knew that I could be changing the genetic structure of certain fish. If this were to happen to humans, that would be very sad. If we don't want that to happen to humans, I'm pretty sure the fish doesn't want that to happen either.