I started deep sea fishing when I was in the Army in Panama. The GUlf of Panama was incredible but even then the “old guys” who had been around for a while said “it wasn’t what it used to be.” My son and I caught 50 yellow fin tuna in one day fishing for Wahoo. I have seen the entire Gulf of Panama fill with greenbacks when the Humboldt Current dropped the water temp. 25 degrees over night which happens every year in mid December.
I took my son on a trip to Galera which was a reach for us because it was so lightly fished. You should have seen the teeming life we saw. Whales breaching, porpoises jumping, the fish finder filled with schools of fish. Bait balls busting the surface all over the place. Even while I was there the long liners moved in (from Japan). They put out long lines that run for miles.
Then we moved to the Chesapeake which should be a fairly productive bay. It was a real eye opener to go from a lightly touched ecosystem to a raped and plundered one. Every time we came home from fishing in Panama I handed out bags of fillets to the block. Fishing in the Chesapeake Bay it is a challenge to catch an actual meal.
IMHO the world’s Oceans have been overfished for a long, long time and governments have done nothing but make the problem worse.
Overfished oceans are the pescatarian’s (aka vegetarians lite) fault. Save the fish, eat beef.
People need to eat more meat.
I agree. I surf fish, and it’s damn hard to catch anything worth eating. The boaters come in with their sonar and fish everything up, plus the commercial fishermen can keep Flounder only 12” long. They have to be 18” for us to keep them.