over-indiscriminate fishing?

Friday 21st March 2008 - came across a group of rod/line fishermen surveying their catch from the night before...







Note the size of the stingrays...rather small (about 20cm across) ...perhaps juveniles...(see pic above, the rays are at the top right)


The catch included another unusual ray...a spotted eagle ray! It is actually rarely seen in Singapore waters. This was also rather small (about 40 cm across) . (The largest specimens can grow up to a maximum wingspan of 3 m (10 ft) and a mass of 230 kg)!!!


If the local fishing scene does not realise that removing juvenile fish will impact reproduction and future generations...then we will see fewer and fewer fish in local waters. And then people will get bored with fishing seeing that they catch nothing....the demise of the fishing scene beckons.

Know your fish! If a small fish is caught, then please throw them back alive and well so that they can be a part of the replenishing team for future generations. Take a picture with your phone camera and release the small ones. Only take the much larger ones if you have to!

This will ensure that local fish stocks survive.

links on eagle rays :-
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/SERay/SERay.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_ray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_eagle_ray
http://www.elasmodiver.com/spotted_eagle_ray.htm

The rays get even... (an unfortunate incident)...
Eagle Ray kills woman!
http://cbs4.com/local/marathon.stingray.woman.2.681445.html


Another eagle ray incident :-
http://cbs4.com/pets/Sting.Ray.Attack.2.681910.html

A 'remora'ble escape & an eel 'death-by-baking' @ Tanjung Berlayar - 16Dec2007

Another wonderful day at Labrador Park and it's great new park extension.

The video speaks for itself. The Remora was caught by rod much like the sign on the railing.


The video was shot at the Tanjung Berlayar lookout pier opposite Keppel Club.
As the sign shows, this is a no-fishing zone. Or rather 'was' since no one was paying any attention to the sign. At least the old chap who caught the remora threw it back into the water.

Perhaps this whole section of Labrador Park should be 'a no-fishing-zone'. i.e the part from the lookout pier to the mangrove channel (Berlayar Creek)
A recent cleanup saw many fishing lines with hooks caught on rocks (not to mention many other foreign objects - most probably left behind during the construction of the park extension and pier.)

There was a new species of eel found today as well. This species lives on trees and resembles sun-dried seafood. ... someone had caught an eel and tied it to the tree with some fishing line.



What a senseless waste of a living organism! ....the fisherman could have just thrown it back into the water if he did not want the eel.

Perhaps NParks could come up with a list of Dos and Don'ts for fishermen to follow...and there could also be more frequent friendly ranger patrols to educate the fishermen on the finer points of conserving the entire ecosystem and all the animals which play a part in the food chain.

*some links on the Remora :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remora
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Remora_remora.html
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Remora.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/museumcataloging/remora.html
http://www.oceanlight.com/html/remora_sp.html