What has happened?

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Basically, its the SeaWorld of the Caribbean Islands...Pretty damn impressive!!!

http://www.atlantis.com/marinehabitat.aspx

Lately on the island of Spanish Wells, there is concern over a particular type of fish that is not native to the area round St. Georges Cay known as the Lion fish. These are killing some of the fish that are part of the main source of income for the island, their fishing industry. As the Lion Fish do not have any predators in the area, they are unstoppable. They have actually become the cause of some tension among Spanish Wells and other Bahamian islands and resorts, such as the Atlantis resort, which was considered possibly responsible for the release of Lion fish eggs into the ocean, which then were carried on current towards Spanish Wells and other areas around Eleuthera. No one has officially been named responsible for the appearance of the killer fish, however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Wells

Thanks Ace.
Holwachagot

[fat2na.com]

If you want to go in that direction, even though I'm not sure how the possible infestation of lionfish, should it happen, would have an effect on highly migratory pelagics-----anyway, if you want to talk about infestations of a fish that are causing devastation to everything including the main food sources of tuna, billfish, etc.

DOGFISH!

[WahooKing]

If you want to go in that direction, even though I'm not sure how the possible infestation of lionfish, should it happen, would have an effect on highly migratory pelagics-----

The "lionfish infestation" was running off topic...back on topic...for what its worth...the overall landing this season of YF and Billfish are down in the Bahamas and the eastern side of the stream...low overall numbers in the 2008 Bahamas Billfish Championship series.

[capt. jakeg]

We have had an exceptional year on the billfish here in Virginia beach. We had a very good run of schoolie bluefins from mid june into early july. We just havent had ANY yellowfins or bigeyes. I know that oregon inlet has had a very slow summer on the tunas and so has ocean city, I even understand that it is because the water is just too warm. What I dont get is the lack of bait and the lack of grass.

As far as what was said earlier about the gulf stream stopping is impossible. The gulf stream doesnt operate because of the temperatures outside, it operates because of the coreolis effect from the earth spinning. The only way to stop the gulf stream is to stop the earth from spinning. Global warming does have the effect that ice is melting into the labrabor current at an above average rate, causing the labrador to be cooler than normal. I have no idea what the effect would be if there were no ice at all to melt, but I can assure you that the gulf stream would still be there.

[jbrob]

We have had an exceptional year on the billfish here in Virginia beach. We had a very good run of schoolie bluefins from mid june into early july. We just havent had ANY yellowfins or bigeyes. I know that oregon inlet has had a very slow summer on the tunas and so has ocean city, I even understand that it is because the water is just too warm. What I dont get is the lack of bait and the lack of grass.

As far as what was said earlier about the gulf stream stopping is impossible. The gulf stream doesnt operate because of the temperatures outside, it operates because of the coreolis effect from the earth spinning. The only way to stop the gulf stream is to stop the earth from spinning. Global warming does have the effect that ice is melting into the labrabor current at an above average rate, causing the labrador to be cooler than normal. I have no idea what the effect would be if there were no ice at all to melt, but I can assure you that the gulf stream would still be there.

There is a temperature component to the Gulf Stream and it is dependent on other deep water currents including the bottom. As more and more fresh water melts into the sea the upswelling from the deep will slow down due to specific gravity changes. There is a scenario that the Gulf Stream will stop if the amount of fresh water increases over a certain amount.

[iguana1]

This study (http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/nocs/news...y_news&idx=303) has the Gulf Stream's volume down by 30% already.

Historically, in geologic time, there have been periods where it has shut down altogether.