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Capt. Mel Berman's Fishing Florida OnLine Magazine > Forums > Angler's Forum > Dolphin Population?
 
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bearohs
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Registered: 03/08/08
Posts: 1,215

    11/06/09 at 05:29 PMReply with quote#1

Ok So I read this a few minutes ago (http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_13729901?source=rss) and was wondering how protected the local dolphins are - and if they are protected, are they over protected?

I know they are cute, personally I know they are plentiful, but given the lack of predators (humans) what is keeping the population under control?



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fishhawk
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    11/06/09 at 09:00 PMReply with quote#2

Nothing keeps them "under control".


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DocStressor
Registered: 08/23/08
Posts: 52

    11/07/09 at 11:56 AMReply with quote#3

That is all true. Dolphins have no natural enemies except for large sharks, that really only prey on young or sick animals. Diseases and behavioral patterns similar to what was described above limited their numbers long before man was on the scene.


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andy
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    11/07/09 at 01:47 PMReply with quote#4

Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthernFisher

There  has to be something keeping them under control.  It might be food supply, it might be decease.

I can remember reading articles years ago while I was in school about some of the mechanisms that help control population.  One of the more common ones was social pressure or actions. Lemmings are an interesting case that shows one type of population self control.

Many animals will only let their groups become so large before it starts driving members away.  Animal territories are an example of this.

Another method was decease.  As the  population got too large the population became more subject to plague type die offs.

Keep in mind that other than humans and a few animals that store food (squirrels, ants, bees) most animals can only survive at the level that their body reserves allow them to make it through.  I believe that dolphins fall in the larger group.

Well that is JMHO based on that I learned in school and have seen on my own.  I might be wrong about this also.

"Well that is JMHO based on that I learned in school" Wonder what they are learning in school now days?? 

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Andrew Schoener
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    11/08/09 at 09:14 PMReply with quote#5

They are not cute when they steal the fish off your line or scare all the fish on the flat your are fishing. IMO I think they are way over protected. This is just another example of man trying to control nature. You protect a species then they get out of control, but because they are protected there are no real solutions in controlling the population.

TerryInFlorida
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    11/08/09 at 11:58 PMReply with quote#6

I don't know if there are that many dolphins like there used to be. I don't see as many. When I was young there could be 100's to a group out on the flats, you would see lots of dolphins. In pasco I just don't see them, I see maybe 5 in a pack and two here and there but nothing like there used to be? Kind of goes hand in hand with all the species of fish, just not as much sea life as there was 30 years ago.


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tongster
Registered: 01/08/08
Posts: 1,274

    11/09/09 at 07:11 AMReply with quote#7

Quote:
Originally Posted by TerryInFlorida

I don't know if there are that many dolphins like there used to be. I don't see as many. When I was young there could be 100's to a group out on the flats, you would see lots of dolphins. In pasco I just don't see them, I see maybe 5 in a pack and two here and there but nothing like there used to be? Kind of goes hand in hand with all the species of fish, just not as much sea life as there was 30 years ago.

I have been fishing longer than that thirty years. I think there are more quality fish today than back then. A lot has to do with the net ban. Back then if we caught a 14" trout we called it a gator trout. With the increased amount of fishing pressure over thirty years I think the fish populations have managed quite well. Then again I am not a "Doom and Gloomer" like a lot of others!


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It's about time they let us start filleting and releasing some snook!
DocStressor
Registered: 08/23/08
Posts: 52

    11/09/09 at 11:32 AMReply with quote#8

There is evidence for inter-species killing:

http://www.ktvu.com/news/21543657/detail.html

Flipper isn't all that nice nice despite the smile.

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SNOOKLUST
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    11/09/09 at 10:12 PMReply with quote#9

Dolphin on dolphin violence....how sad.

FloridaCrab
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Registered: 03/23/06
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    11/09/09 at 10:36 PMReply with quote#10

Quote:
Originally Posted by SNOOKLUST

Dolphin on dolphin violence....how sad.

Heck...we do that to ourselves.  Makes ya wonder who's smarter.  The dolphin are stealing our bait.

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chasingtales
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Registered: 03/30/08
Posts: 102

    11/09/09 at 10:58 PMReply with quote#11

when do the reach there quotas

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TheFishWhisperer
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Registered: 03/07/07
Posts: 511

    11/10/09 at 10:09 AMReply with quote#12

Japanese help the population control!

http://www.earthlings.com/earthlings/video-full.php

skip to 44 minutes in to the movie!
NOT for the PETA types!
Or small children.

For those of you who haven't seen this think twice before pressing play.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
May be life changing

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Hitekredneck
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Registered: 08/29/06
Posts: 295

    11/10/09 at 10:46 PMReply with quote#13

After fishin down near the Skyway a few times I started lookin for a place to purchase those seal bombs the guys use on Deadliest Catch...lol. I watched more than once a pack of adult dolphins teaching the young ones how to take your fish off the hook. And if you keep on fishing, they wont leave. The best thing to do is just move...Sooner or later we will be reading about someone who had a case of boaters rage and started poppin off a few rounds at them..


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groupershooter
Registered: 04/25/08
Posts: 1,826

    11/11/09 at 12:03 AMReply with quote#14

Quote:
Originally Posted by TerryInFlorida

I don't know if there are that many dolphins like there used to be. I don't see as many. When I was young there could be 100's to a group out on the flats, you would see lots of dolphins. In pasco I just don't see them, I see maybe 5 in a pack and two here and there but nothing like there used to be? Kind of goes hand in hand with all the species of fish, just not as much sea life as there was 30 years ago.


  First off bottle-nose dolphins don't run in packs of hundreds, more like 5-25.  Second it is scientific fact that (no matter who's numbers you use) the bio-mass of snook and redfish has steadily gone up since the 1970's.

  If we use your logic than we should not have any laws on any fish, which was the case in the late 70's early 80's, because then the fish obviously produced much faster?  Or you are stating that nothing works and human beings are just terrible for the environment?

  Before you make a statement realize the reprocussion it can have.  This is much like you calling fishhawk a rascist.  The fact is we don't have the fish we had 30 yrs ago because those fish died..........  but they did breed and have more little fish which had more little fish which led to our fishery today.  Which is a healthy fishery.

  Or of course we could bring ourselves back in time and open up the soap fish (oh crap that's snook and left to die on the side of the road), eat redfish by the dozen, and deliver juvenile jewfish on a daily basis to each other because when we did that we had a better fishery.  Which is it?  Now or then?

  Problem is, there's a medium.
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