The Amusing Irony

[Jonny]

Go have a cold beer and chill out Solving the worlds problems gets easier the more beer you have LOL.

 

I'm ahead of you on that thought!

 

Did some work down on the shoreline, repairing stuff that a winter pressure crack and a big storm in May "rearranged", now sitting with my third beer and checking messages. It's still strange, when you take time to think about it, that we have this medium to communicate. It's already hard to remember when it wasn't around!

[Greencoachdog]

We fishermen complain about various species invading our favourite water systems and decimating the native populations.

 

Do we ever stop to think that man is the ultimate invasive species? Everywhere man has moved on this planet he has altered habitats and eradicated indigenous critters with cavalier disregard for the long term effects.

 

A small part of me can't help but chuckle at our righteous indignation when we see zebra mussels, pike, carp, crappie, gobies and all the others moving into our hallowed grounds. Some of them remain evil while others are ultimately accepted, sometimes with relish.

 

I'm not saying we're wrong to be unhappy about the changes, but we really need to keep it in perspective, and perhaps think about our own invasive tendencies. I for one sure hope the critters don't go into some kind of superevolution and gang up on us as invasive. We'd be in deep doodoo. We may only be the alpha critter temporarily. Think Planet of the Apes.

 

JF

 

 

Maybe you should Franch kiss a Lamprey!!!

[JohnF]

Maybe you should Franch kiss a Lamprey!!!

 

I heard they taste like grits.

 

JF

[Big Cliff]

A little like rattle snake but without all the noise. Really good smoked or after you have smoked LOL (not that I would know from experience!!!!!)

[DANIMAL]

Who is the final arbiter in deciding when we subordinate to the Grand Plan? Not to be too argumentative, and frankly I suspect we agree on this whole thing, but at what point does man accept subordination to the best interests of the critters. For example, is the protection and advancement of a really good sport fishery (muskies) as important as the natural order of evolution? And again, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I'm all for great sport fisheries.

 

JF

 

 

I believe that what humans are doing is the natural order of evolution. Its suvival of the fittest. We have just evolved so greatly that in order for any thing to survive including ourselves, we must controll and not just conquer.

[JohnF]

I believe that what humans are doing is the natural order of evolution. Its suvival of the fittest. We have just evolved so greatly that in order for any thing to survive including ourselves, we must controll and not just conquer.

 

Air pollution, destruction of the rain forests, nuclear waste dumps, ground water contamination, contaminated industrial wastelands, total or partial extinction of species, decimation of non-renewable resources, and so on - definitely we're at the apex for the moment, and we're surviving (sort of), but should those things really be a part of the natural order? We have come to a belated acknowledgement of the harm we're doing, and are taking steps, albeit inadequately, to fix the problems we've created, but all in all our imprint on our world has not exactly covered man in glory.

 

That being said I agree that man's impact is an absolutely intrinsic part of evolution. But as the apex critter we have to rein in our collective ego and greed and appreciate that we have an obligation to responsibly manage the resources, not just exploit them to our advantage. And a very small part of that responsible decision making has to be whether we have the ethical or moral right to redesign nature simply to provide better sport fisheries. Remember the law of physics "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That applies here. Unfortunately the equal and opposite reaction isn't always too easy to predict. Back to the bunnies in Australia.

 

Sorry if I'm belabouring this. I just find it an interesting exercise. I'm certainly no fan of Green Peace or P3TA. I think they started off with good intentions but have fallen victim to their own whackoness.

 

Oh, and one other comment - there are some who suggest that man has ceased to evolve and has actually begun the devolution process, kind of one step forward, two back.

 

I'll quit now,

 

JF

[Jonny]

If we could just reach a point closer to equilibrium rather than expansion things might be better. When I was a kid, the world population was 3 billion. Now I think it's over 6 billion. We in Canada are growing slowly but other areas of the world are not. We are attuned to management and conservation. Other areas of the world are not. The problems of the wider world will encroach more and more upon us, and there's little we can do about it.

 

I am satisfied that we are pretty good as far as the enviroment is concerned and we are very fortunate to live where we do.

[JohnF]

If we could just reach a point closer to equilibrium rather than expansion things might be better. When I was a kid, the world population was 3 billion. Now I think it's over 6 billion. We in Canada are growing slowly but other areas of the world are not. We are attuned to management and conservation. Other areas of the world are not. The problems of the wider world will encroach more and more upon us, and there's little we can do about it.

 

I am satisfied that we are pretty good as far as the enviroment is concerned and we are very fortunate to live where we do.

 

Amen to that.

 

JF

[Garry2Rs]

I apologies to those who are really north of #17, for referring to the Kawarthas as being "up north."

It was just a figure if speech.

I was aiming at those peculiar people from the City, who think we country folks want their city-litter.

 

Interesting irony with Zebra Mussels and Gobies...

Whenever Zebra Mussels arrived in the Great Lakes they had no natural enemies and found an abundant food supply in our dirty water.

They bred out of control and soon did harm by plugging water inlet pipes etc.

At the same time as a fringe benefit they did good by making the water LOOK cleaner...but did bad for some waters by allowing deeper weed growth, but did good for other waters by allowing more food carrying weed growth.

The mussels, who had now filtered our toxins out of the water, became, themselves, highly toxic.

 

Goby are considered an important prey fish in many waters.

When they arrived, in our waters, it was considered bad because they competed with native prey fish...

But the Goby eat the Zebra mussels, which was good. Since there were tons of Zebra Mussels, it was the Gobies turn to breed out of control...

They concentrated the poisons from the mussels further, so they themselves become very toxic.

When they are in turn eaten by Bass and Walleye, they pass the poison up stream.

 

The obvious result of an expanding supply of Goby was that SMBass and Walleye have experienced an explosion in size and population. Where there are Trout and Salmon, more fish, means more food for them too.

In the long run, more and bigger game fish further Sport fishing...

 

The net results, you ask?

Well as the Zebra population is reduced the Goby population will decrease as well.

The classic case of eating ones self out of house and home...grin.

Bass populations will fall back toward more normal levels as will the Walleye.

There will still be more and better fishing than we had before, because the Zebra Mussels found a new unutilized food source, and in turn through the Gobies, passed this new food source up to the game fish. Whether those fish are fit to eat doesn't concern me.

The lowly Zebra Mussels have increased the carrying capacity of the water!

As the idiom suggests, "It's an ill wind that blows no good."

Which means, that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems at the time, it always benefits someone! Hahaha.

[JohnF]

Interesting irony with Zebra Mussels and Gobies...

>>>>>> snippage<<<<<<<

Which means, that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems at the time, it always benefits someone! Hahaha.

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one whose thought processes run tangentially.

 

JF

[Spiel]

tangentially.

 

Lord I had to look that one up which of course made me giggle when I read this....

 

"Only superficially relevant"

That's emoticon for *grin* Garry.