Posted on 03/07/2006 9:08:48 AM PST by GreenFreeper
Someone posted that already. See post above yours.
Mine looks much more inviting though!
It's not an unreasonable assumption. Orange roughy live 800-1500 meters deep. The temperature is low that deep, contributing to a very slow metabolism. As a result, the fish may live 150 years, growing very slowly. They do not reach sexual maturity until 20-30 years old. Uncontrolled fishing of this species could easily result in its extinction because the population simply can not grow fast enough to keep up with demand. They are not unusual among deep sea fish in their slow reproduction rate. Examination of yield from other deep sea fish stocks show that their population size is decreasing as well.
It's stupid to charge forth full speed ahead fishing out the oceans as fast as we can when we can't even know that the yields are sustainable.
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