BLOG: Pelagics - pest or prize?

ABOUT six months ago I wrote a blog about fish that are considered both a pest and prize. It seemed the distinguishing factor was location. Take for instance the catfish. Here in Oz, the overwhelming attitude is one of pest not prize, but in Thailand and most of Asia they are revered as a nutritional food source. Same can be said for carp in Europe. Now let’s look at something a little closer to home.

Over the past few months Sydney waterways have been hit by a plague of pelagics gorging on the surface most mornings. Only last week I had a school to myself about the size of a football field inside Broken Bay. Fish were flying clear out of the boiling water, wheeling birds were diving and creating hysteria, it was a magical sight watching nature at its brutal best.

In amongst the melee was a mixture of fish including mack tuna, spotted mackerel, bonito, Aussie salmon and big tailor. I had the school to myself for about four hours and if it wasn’t for me losing all my metal slugs I would have hung around longer. It serves me right for catching these fish on bream gear, but it was fun sport fishing. In the end I begrudgingly left the school still working the surface. It felt like a cardinal sin to turn my back on that sort of action. It was literally a fish a cast.

This influx of pelagic numbers has been great news for sport fishermen who are getting to tangle with some hard pulling fish on relatively light line. The fish are highly accessible in small boats and are not fussy on the tooth. However this trend or cycle, call it what you will, but it may be too soon to tell if this is a repeatable cycle from year to year, got me pondering. Nature is a finely tuned balancing act and no element more so than the food chain. Is this influx of pelagic fish nature returning to previous levels of fish biomass or are we experiencing an imbalance in predatory fish numbers? Every fish that was hooked regurgitated a handful of whitebait and "eyes". Understandably, a massive school of ravenous predators like the ones Sydney has been experiencing wouldn’t take long to decimate local baitfish populations. These fish have been on the chew now for over two months with no end in sight.

This is where the cynics chime in. Calls for the culling of Aussie salmon have echoed across the industry for quite some time, especially as salmon have bounced back to healthy levels in the past few years. The commercial fleet are suggesting it is harder to catch baitfish now the salmon have bounced back and therefore should be fished for commercially to bring numbers back into alignment and give baitfish populations a chance to replenish. If you agree with this sentiment look at yourself in the mirror. You’re looking at a comedian. It’s a ridiculous argument with no basis in science whatsoever. If nature intended salmon numbers, or any pelagic species in fact, to exist near current levels there has to be baitfish to sustain these numbers. Seining schools of yakkas and slimies in their thousands by commercial longliners no doubt is having a greater detrimental impact on baitfish numbers. And let’s not forget the commercial harvest on whitebait that ends up on dinner plates around the country. Let’s not blame the influx of pelagic fish for the disappearance of their food source. Any imbalance that occurs is usually instigated by humans. However, the fact remains that these fish are now being referred to as a pest in some quarters and not a prize capture.

It’s an interesting predicament. If we have created an imbalance in fish numbers purely by our methods of harvesting of fish, do we try to correct what we have created or do we stand back and allow nature to fix up our meddling? It’s food for thought.

Do you consider these pelagic fish a pest or prize?