Coastal Update
Hi everyone! Kirk here with the Sea Forager Fall update.
Red Tides
Yucky water
(Photo by Darwin BonGraham, The Oakside)
I've lived in the Bay Area for 30 years and I've never seen anything like this. Basically what's happening is a sort of perfect storm of conspiring problems. It's actually reducible to a very simple equation:
a = naturally occurring phytoplankton bloom (red tide)
b = abnormally high temperatures (global warming, maybe?)
c = too much nitrogen (from treated human excrement) in the water
d = dead fish everywhere (DFE)
So...
A + B + C = DFE
SF Chronicle Algae Bloom, Tara Duggan explains this equation in detail, with nice infographics too. It makes sense that the die offs seem to be highest in shallow areas (that's anecdotal, btw). But it seems obvious that in a wide shallow flat or a contained shallow area like Lake Merritt, you're gonna see a lot of dead fish. In the case of Lake Merritt, there's no place for the fish to go, no swimming down deep to get more oxygen.
The most striking photo I saw was not the one with dozens of dead sturgeon (talk about depressing, sturgeon live over a hundred years, and their populations are already a tad thin. Ugh.) but the photo of thousands of dead yellowfin gobies. Yellowfin are commonly called mudsuckers in SF angler parlance. They are an invasive species from Asia—having arrived here via ballast water in the hulls of tankers. In any case, if there were ever a hardy species honed by evolution to endure pretty much anything that nature can throw at it, it's the yellowfin goby. To see a photo showing many hundreds if not thousands of dead gobies is pretty mind blowing and it underscores just how severe this particular problem is.
Sign this Baykeeper petition if you'd like to do a little something about the problem.
Above Photo: Darwin Bond Graham
Salmon
Well... we were all jazzed for the Sept 1st commercial salmon opener and then it happened and... (sound of deflating balloon). Which is weird because we've been seeing so many (hundreds) of sport boats off of Montara and Devil's slide and Pacifica. Thing is, commercial boats aren't usually interested in fishing in the midst of so many sport boats. Makes trolling next to impossible. Also, sport fish tend to be smaller than the 28 inch commercial minimum. Also, you have to figure all this hot weather is pushing the salmon way down low where it's cooler (and they're harder to get). Stay tuned. The season is open all of September (the only full month of fishing allowed this year—great it's finally open when there are almost no fish around! #thanksDFW. Word is circulating that there may not even be a salmon season next year. I guess we'll have to wait to see how the jack count goes... oy veh.) I wrote this and then managed to find some salmon this week. Who knows maybe it picks up over the weekend. September is usually a great month. Time will tell.
Halibut
Warm weather isn't all doom and gloom. California halibut like it. They like it a lot. For those willing to brave the waters just outside the gate the ocean is literally teaming with local hali. Ian on the Greylight, told me he caught 700 pounds (hook and line) in one day (I got half of those). There are drag boats who don't typically catch that much. It's actually quite astonishing to me that there are so many halibut this year. I thought it would start to fade in September, as it usually does, but this may be the biggest month of the year. Go figya. Most of the fish are outside the bay but a few are still being caught on all the local piers.
Striped Bass
What can be said, this year has really sucked as far as stripers go. I mean, I haven't even seen one let alone caught one! Although if we're counting dead ones floating belly up in the bay, well yeah, I've seen quite a few. Ugh.
Surf Perch
The surf perch bite gets a C for 2022. I almost said D+ but it's actually starting to pick up a bit on my local beach so C it is! I'm wondering if the larger perch are all congregating somewhere on a long lost beach I've never fished. I'm really jonesing for the days when I routinely caught my limits of calicoes and barreds... are those days over? Or is it just another negative detail courtesy of the hottest and driest summer on record? I dunno. It isn't for a lack of sand crabs. I'm seeing zillions of the little buggers every time I'm out there. Last minute update: Ace perch man Champion de la Banana reports a hot bite in HMB (yeah that's a big area so I'm not burning the exact spot!) He caught 20 monster barreds and redtails on Monday 9/12. Plus two stripers! I will check it out tomorrow. Hopefully he didn't catch 'em all!
Small Fish
Well if you're into small schooling mid water species like anchovy and sardine you're in luck. This is the summer you've been waiting for! I stopped by Pier 7 on my way home from the wharf yesterday and it was really something to behold. I saw one angler fishing two sabikis end to end (the Sea Forager editorial machine does not condone breaking DFW laws) with a bucket about 2/3 full of mixed sardines and anchovies. The fish were all right at the surface. Dude would dip his sabiki in the water, jig it two or three times, and lift it out loaded with fish. I mean every hook. That's just nuts. Anyway, if you want to go legal, you can only use three hooks and it's gonna take you a lot longer to fill that bucket. The sardines were mediums, no large ones, but
the anchovies were toads... I mean big fatties! Yes the water was red with algae bloom. But I spoke to several people who told me it's been red for over a month and they have been eating anchovies every day.
Molluscs
Likewise... the usual throng of clammers doesn't seem to be particularly perturbed by the red tides. This is a bit odd. You would think someone would warn these people. Or maybe they don't care? Of all the things you might want to avoid during a massive algal bloom, clams would have to be number one, right? Mussels are, of course, off limits till the end of October due to the annual quarantine. Call this number for updates 800-553-4133.
Seaweeds
The area where I tend to see nori, just simply didn't produce at all this year. Which is odd. And slightly disturbing. Too much hot weather? I've been able to score a few big pieces of bullkelp tho. Yes, just floating in the waves. The secret with bullkelp is of course finding the stalks that aren't rubbery... or in the words of the great Peter Howorth: “If it bends like a rubber hose it'll probably taste like one.” Look for bullkelp on beaches after a storm or high winds. Make sure it doesn't look like it's been lying there for a week. Cut the stalk into rings and pickle them in your favorite pickling solution, no need to brine them first, they have plenty of salt as is.
That'll do it for this lovely Summer of 2022. Hopefully things cool down in the next few weeks. ALSO:
- NEW TOUR DATES!
I added new dates for my Fall/Winter coastal foraging classes in San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. - WE'RE HIRING! Join the team, and/or tell your fish-loving friends. Singing not required.
- BIRTHDAY GIFT: Sea Forager is 9! Share Sea Forager with your friends & neighbors and enjoy a free share ($28) when they sign up. Plus, they'll get a $10 web store bonus! Just have them write your name in the referral field. Existing CSF members only, through 9/30/22.
- PARTY WITH US! Celebrate Coastal Cleanup Day and the Migrating Oceans Mural Project with The Fishwives at Hop Dogma Brewery, Half Moon Bay 9/17, 4-6pm.
- NEW LOCATIONS: Reel in your seafood supper at Driftwood (SOMA, S.F.), Vin Vino Wine (Palo Alto), and Kensington (Berkeley Hills). And if there's someplace else you think we should be, drop us a line!
Alright, that's it. Hope to see you out there!
Kirk-out
(Anchovy pix by Sea Forager CSF members Anne Lopez, top, and Hope Henderson, bottom. Bull kelp drawing by Leighton Kelly.)