In Reply to: Trip Report and Photos: Second Stage to Catalina, 09/03/05 posted by Elaine on September 11, 2005 at 19:13:36:

Elaine... one of the things I feel when I see fishing boats fishing near marine reserves (including the ones that illegally anchor just outside the dive park) is they are providing verification that marine reserves actually DO work!

Why else would these boats be fishing so close to the reserves if they didn't believe that there are more fish nearby? Spillover verified IMHO.

By the way... I've never actually heard of anyone catching one of the scythe butterflyfish on hook-and-line. Have you? Wonder if CDF&G has any restrictions on them.

I've found their skittishness changes depending on the day. Some days I barely see any, other days I can sit within a foot or so filming them and they don't seem to care too much. I also noted courtship behavior on a recent trip to the Empire Landing Quarry dive site.

Perhaps we should conduct some experiments. Have the Garibaldi play different kinds of music and see what attracts and what repels different species of fish. Armed with those data, we could then play certain kinds of music in designated marine reserves to keep the fish within them. Oh so devious. Now what foundation would grant me the tens of thousands of dollars to conduct that. Oh, I know... the same government agency that pays hundreds or thousands of dollars for a toilet seat. Yep, you guessed it... the Defense Dept. I could convince them that such a study would be beneficial in military activities. Yes, that's the ticket.