My eyes are starved for green.
Various species of carp, pike, wels catfish and zander are the most common catches in this video.The Danube Delta is approximately 2200 square-miles (580,000ha) and is one of the largest, contiguous wetlands in Europe. There are approximately 7 nesting-pairs (plus nestlings) per square mile of common cormorants and another two nesting-pairs of pygmy cormorants as well as hundreds of pelicans and herons.
In total, the birds eat an estimated 7 million kg of fish per year and have driven aqua-culture operations out of business. Romanians eat about 8kg of fish per capita per year. 7 million kg of fish is enough fish to supply a million Romanians and it is in their own backyard.
The photosynthesis rates and overall fertility of the Danube Delta has increased since the 1940s due to fertilizer and waste-water adding phosphorus and nitrogen to the water. Commercial fishing is hampered by low wholesale prices and issues with reliable transportation.
This video is notable for three generations of women living under one roof and they get along fabulously. The one man in the household spends a lot of his time fishing.Also notable for the older people having exceptionally good teeth.
Bonus academic paper
FISHERY AND PISCIVOROUS BIRDS FORCED TO SUSTAIN TOGETHER IN DANUBE DELTA, ROMANIA
Bonus waltz
And, as long as we are talking about the Danube....a waltz by Strauss The Blue Danube
Link sounds good but we don't have permission to read it.
ReplyDeleteDoes this work any better? https://www.researchgate.net/profile/J-Kiss/publication/262493495_FISHERY_AND_PISCIVOROUS_BIRDS_FORCED_TO_SUSTAIN_TOGETHER_IN_DANUBE_DELTA_ROMANIA_REVIEW/links/53eaf9d70cf28f342f44f046/FISHERY-AND-PISCIVOROUS-BIRDS-FORCED-TO-SUSTAIN-TOGETHER-IN-DANUBE-DELTA-ROMANIA-REVIEW.pdf?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19
Deleteyes, thanks
DeleteWhen I was in Asia I saw and visited many a farmer's fishpond. They use the muck from the pond as a side dressing for heavy feeding crops. Those areas with heavy fish eating bird issues used bamboo stakes and netting as they bird wasn't good eating and the family needed the fish and shrimp.
ReplyDeleteJoe, have you ever seen the central pond and shallow seasonal pond system? Very interesting as I first heard about in in Farmers of 40 centuries written in 1911 by F. H. King and that inspired my interest.
I never studied but I kind of nibbled around the edges.
DeleteI recently viewed this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqmW-LEa6Oo where the fish pond seems to be community property. I am very curious about how they manage the output. It LOOKS like the family has the right to harvest a certain number of fish at specified time-periods. You can see them carefully picking through the fish they netted to be sure they got the six biggest ones in the net.
I think ponds have potential as community property. They are one more trap to catch nutrients before they run downhill to the next community. They are a lot of investment and capital for a single family. They are also management intensive if you want them to be productive.
As we've discussed about the "Commons" a fishpond can be an asset IF properly managed.
DeleteWater quality is critical, just a rainbow sheen of spilled oil from an idiot dumping his old oil there can ruin it for a year or more. People overfishing AKA Stealing other's fish (BOTH now and for the near future) is a problem as it takes time for the surviving fish to breed back up a healthy population.
In the successful Asian farm ponds, I saw two maybe 3-4 families worked the pond and had the fish for their own operations. It was a farming operation not a community resource and they were QUITE FIRM about that.
Pigs and fish ponds are quite productive as long as the pigs are kept from the ponds. Duck houses well inside the pond were quite worthwhile as it kept the ferrets and human thieves honest.
The pond shown in the video is stocked with 2" fingerling carp. I think they plant a mix of Ctenopharyngodon idella and Hypophthalmichthys species. My understanding is those species cannot reproduce in still water so they will not over-populate a pond with natural reproduction.
DeleteThe species listed above are now naturalized in the Mississippi basin but not in the Great Lakes (yet).
Most of the species I listed in the Danube catch stay alive out of water a long time. An animal with a beating heart does not need refrigeration to keep the meat from going bad.
The sides of the fish are heavily scored to cut the floating pin-bones. Carp and pike are bony fish.
I remember your comments earlier about "weedy and common are good". Mulberries and Black Locust IIRC.
DeleteStocking fish isn't a large part of Asian fishponds as they want their stock to reproduce. They DO stock (and harvest for market) but prefer pond fish that make do well there.
Carp are bony but they do well with far less support than fancy trout and such. Fish residues make decent fish stock (bouillabaisse) or if you're tired of fish the chickens, pigs and as side dressings your garden will love them.
I would spend a lot of my time fishing, too!
ReplyDeleteThe Cajuns of Eastern Europe! I approve.
ReplyDelete