Garrick - gone for ever?

[nicos]

I don't know how many of you get the ORI tagging news, but in the latest one they publish some of the results of the Garrick study recently done.

It seems that the Garrick population in down to 14% of unfished levels, which means that it has totally collapsed (I do not have the article with me, so it may be 15% or 13%, but somewhere in this ballpark).

They further state that we should not be fooled by current good Garrick run as this only indicates a strong year.

Suggestions made to try and recover the population are to up size, lower bag limit or introduce slot limits.

What I would like to know from the marine biologists out there, would it not be beter to totally restrict Garrick for 5 or 10 years to start with, and then introduce new limits? It is  fast growing fish, only reaching 10 years of age, so in my mind the population doubling time should be pretty short, and a total ban could help it to recover very quickly?

As for myself, I will no longer target garrick, and release each one I catch by mistake. I want my daughter to have the joy of fighting one of these gentlemen one day.

./n

 

[Klipdrift]

Nicos thats scary news, especially cos in my view Garrick aint that good an eating fish and most people I know release theirs for that reason. I've also never heard of commercials targeting them, they're just not a deep sea fish.

This is slightly off the topic, but farmers in the Kokstad, Matat area placed their own self imposed ban on shooting guinea fowl in that area, I think it was for 10 years and it improved the number of birds I believe despite locals still poaching etc.

Although it's a lot different to the garrick as the garrick's teritory is greater, and aspects are different but the point is that things wouldn't have improved if the farmers never did anything to protect the species. We as anglers can made a difference (even small) by following Nicos footsteps.

Thanks for sharing that info, I bet I wasn't the only one ignorant of those stats.

 

[tauruck]

Ask who eats Garrick and you'll find the culprits responsible.

In my limited time doing R&S I saw very few fish being released.

Even got into a one sided fight over it.

 

[KLIPVIS]

Maybe a closed season as for galjoen etc , maybe open for 3 months only.Heavier fines for those caught over fishing and taking undersize fish.We can still have the pleasure of catching and then releasing it.Chicken taste better !

 

[Patrick]

I reckon our Garrick are mainly suffering due to so many rivers along our coastline being silted up at the mouth, or being polluted. These rivers are breeding grounds for them. Without access to them, they dont spawn.

 

[SAfish]

Patrick, you took the words out of my mouth. Not enough is being done to keep our rivers and estuaries healthy. They can make the size limit 1000mm, I don't mind as I release all the Garrick I catch. Switch to circle hooks, it helps a lot when you want to release a fish and it causes less damage than a trebble hook.

 

[nicos]

In this thread:

http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=25457&forum_id=1

Mention is made of the Angolan garrick/leervis (Lichia amia) population, and speculation about if this is the same population as the South African garrick.

TOE 007 remembered that there was a Skiboat article about this a while ago.

I have since found the article, and also the response article by Dr. Warren Potts who did research on Garrick in Southern Angola, and then collected genetic samples of our South African fish to establish if this was a trans boundary population.

I contacted Dr. Potts, and here is a snippet from his response to me:

Unfortunately, to reward and thank the anglers for collecting samples for me I should have already published the results in the magazine, but unfortunately, I have been swamped this year. To briefly give you the answer, the leervis in South Africa and Angola are not the same population. In fact the genetic results suggest that they have been separated for over 2 million years.

This corresponds with the time that the cold Benguela Current was formed. The conclusion that we have come to...is that the leervis were initially distibuted all around the southern African coast at temperatures between about 16 and 25 degrees celcius. When the cold Benguela Current formed, it split the popultion and a proportion of it ended up in the warmer waters (16-23 degrees) of southern Angola.

What this means is that it is us that are wholey responsible for our own leervis population. Our actions are going to determine if these fish recover, or not. I know that as a conservation minded angler it seems that saving a fish is impossible when you consider the greed and lack of respect that many anglers have for the environment, but it is up to people like us to try and educate who we can and make a small difference. With enough of us, together, hopefully we can make a serious contribution and protect this beautiful fish.


2 million years - wow!

What he is saying makes me even more determined to find a way of protecting these beautiful fish. They are not good eating anyway, so why keep and kill them?!

I will be contacting ESA and the like and see if they would be willing to do a conservation spot on Garrick.

Cheers,

Nico

 

[Rogz]

i dont think its got a lot to do with gatch and release... the breeding ground estuaries for garrick are becoming increasingly degenerated and polluted, which is the most likely cause for the drop in garrick numbers...

 

[nicos]

Rogz wrote:

i dont think its got a lot to do with gatch and release... the breeding ground estuaries for garrick are becoming increasingly degenerated and polluted, which is the most likely cause for the drop in garrick numbers...

I think it is both. Garrick can be (and are)easily targeted. Come check the guys fishing for them during the sard run, if you see one out of every ten fish released you would be lucky!

Personally, I haven't seen a single one released in the last two years. The typical response is that they are only here for a few months, so what difference  does it make it we keep them all?

On top of that, they are really inquisitive and possibly one of the easiest game fish for spearfisherman to take. There is no chasing involved, just wait for it to swim up to you and pop it.

 

[TOE 007]

amazing nicos , try to get the artical of Johan Smal and Traill witthuhn , Uncle Witthunh throws a bit of a spanner in the works , still very intresting!

i have , and have seen a couple of leerie released i have never killed a leerie .

i havent actively been targeting them , for a while

 

[draadkar]

tauruck wrote:

Ask who eats Garrick and you'll find the culprits responsible.

In my limited time doing R&S I saw very few fish being released.

Even got into a one sided fight over it.

nicos thank you for all the great info. i am a leerie fanatic and only flyfish for them. i have been in many arguments in the cape with anglers that does not want to release undersize fish.

our catches have dropped dramatically over the last couple of years. after reading all the info i am really worried i must say. i hope they can protect such a beautifull fish.

Regards
Reinier

 

[KLIPVIS]

I also agree that it is the state of our rivers that cause the fish not to breed , I think garrick should be fast growers as most game fish.I think they still around only not at their ussual hang outs ie they are deeper.

We have seen a increase in baitfish in cape waters which is good as fish populations should increase , but this draws fish away from the shore into deeper water.Now I am talking struisbaai and north

I am no marine biologist so I might be talking k@k , but this is my view on it.

I dont believe a ban will increase numbers , but cleaing our rivers systems will defintely !

Please release those garrick in future

 

[AD97]

The rivers of the Eastern Cape are silting up fast. I can only speak for two rivers from personal experience- Bushmans and Kariega. The mouth of the Bushmans gets smaller every December the sand bag is HUGE and the one at Kariega(2 k's away) is even bigger. You could probably put an extension ladder across the mouth of the Kariega, if you see pictures of 30 years ago and now it is scary. Even pictures taken 10 or 5 years ago and you can see a difference. My dads best mate in East London fishes Hamburg, Tylomna(Cha-lumna- not sure on the spelling)and the Buffalo, he says the fishing is up to sh1t, compared to 20 years ago. It all the dams they build up river causing the silt, plus the firtilizers and other k@k they just dump in there- f#@k those people, I will kill them if I catch them.

We fish the Bushmans and have noticed a decline, okes used to catch lots of leeries, now if you hear of one it is special.

 

[draadkar]

very valid point, we have a problem up the westcoast in one of the dams we fish for bass. and the farming methods and illegal dam building has caused this dam to become shalower every year. now they are considering getting that machine in to remove the sand (barge or dregger???). They are also looking at taking action against the culprits. Their actions have caused major changes in the dams and it only makes sense that this is happening in some of our estuaries. We can only hope that this will become priority in the future. Otherwise the only place we will ever see a garrick is in tanks!!