Thread: Pier repairs

https://www.fox10tv.com/2024/02/01/n...tate-park-pier

That's wonderfully optimistic. Sure hope it comes to pass.

Sharks and pelicans🤔

Yep. Sharks and pelicans are what we'd like to be rid of, but they're what the tourists want to see. Using that as a basis, maybe we could lobby for a second pier--one for the tourists and sharks, and one for those of us who are doing what we're supposed to.

Speaking of doing the right thing, I'll never forget one day in the long ago and far off times, when there was a good bite of largish Spanish. Things were intense at the rail as the fish were coming over regularly, and a nice tourist lady was blithely standing in the midst of flying Gotchas, fish and bubble rigs, and said "That looks like so much fun." I think it was Tater who turned his head and said, "Fun, hell. Lady, this is some serious sh!t."

So, we need a place for us serious fishermen (fisherpersons) where we can put each other in harm's way with no recriminations. It may not be serious, but it sure can be intense.

Buckroe Beach VA has 2 piers relatively close together (1/2 mile tops), as you describe -- seems to be no fishing on the sightseeing pier. Only issue is both are inside Chesapeake Bay (so sheltered) and are short by Gulf standards so costs would have been far less.

Are sea turtles incapable of recognizing that in-water construction work might best be avoided? That there have been scientific observations that turtles will blindly swim directly into such activity to their own demise? If so I am surprised that they didn’t become extinct eons ago. What about concerns for crabs, other bottom dwellers, dumb fish and sharks? Just curious.


Is the concern with the nesters or the young?

Turtles are greatly diminished from their historical numbers so losing one is a bigger loss to the population. To lay eggs they have to funnel to land where they run directly into the path of normal human activity. And yes among animals turtles clearly appear not very bright, but there are fossils of turtles from 230 million years ago so how they live seems to have worked.

Compare that to deer. Hunters harvest 6 million deer a year, and another 1.5-2 million are in traffic accidents. That's a much bigger population to be able to sustain those losses every year. (I also just learned that deer are the deadliest threat to humans, killing 440 of the 450 people killed in U.S. wildlife-human interactions in a year by being in so many car crashes, according to somebody's research.)

For a bit of good news about turtles, I have read that their numbers are believed to be rebounding quite dramatically due to conservation efforts, but it takes a long time for them to reach breeding age (20+ yrs IIRC) so the effect is only beginning to show up in nesting data (which is the main method of tracking the population).

Edit: Well, I got curious about the breeding age and found the following:

The estimated sexual maturity of sea turtles varies not only between species, but also between different populations of the same species.

Sexual maturity can range from 7 to 13 years for leatherback sea turtles, 11 to 16 years for both species of ridley turtles, 20 to 25 years for hawksbill sea turtles, 25 to 35 years for loggerhead sea turtles, and 26 to 40 years for green sea turtles. Because green sea turtles feed primarily on sea grasses and algae, they usually reach sexual maturity later than the other, more carnivorous sea turtles.

Edit2: BTW, I was once unpleasantly surprised by a loggerhead eating my LY and hooking itself. They will do that.

https://www.turtle-foundation.org/en/sea-turtles/sea-turtle-faq/#faq006

Originally Posted by frednic

For a bit of good news about turtles, I have read that their numbers are believed to be rebounding quite dramatically due to conservation efforts, but it takes a long time for them to reach breeding age (20+ yrs IIRC) so the effect is only beginning to show up in nesting data (which is the main method of tracking the population).

Edit: Well, I got curious about the breeding age and found the following:


Edit2: BTW, I was once unpleasantly surprised by a loggerhead eating my LY and hooking itself. They will do that.

https://www.turtle-foundation.org/en/sea-turtles/sea-turtle-faq/#faq006

Vegans should take heed. You want to have fun? Eat meat.

The turtle lady who lives in the beachside condo with a thousand bright lights will save the day🤣