Protect yourself while catching fish

For millions of Americans, there is no place they would rather be than on the water enjoying the boating experience. Whether you are water skiing, fishing or just enjoying time with friends on a beautiful sunny day, being on the water is an extremely popular form of recreation. As with any outdoor activity, there are precautions that should be considered, and not all of them revolve around the safety equipment or the safe operation of your vessel. Everyone who spends a lot of time on the water shares a concern about exposure to the sun and, without taking the proper precautions, there is potential of falling victim to a number of health problems that can arise as a result.

The sun contains beneficial rays that enhance the body’s natural production of vitamin D, but it also bombards us with potentially harmful ultraviolet rays. The sun is a huge nuclear furnace, 840,000 miles in diameter, that the earth orbits at what would seem a safe distance of 90 million miles. However, the fusion reaction that powers the sun and provides life-giving light and warmth to our water planet also emits UVA and UVB rays that take a mere eight minutes to reach earth. In excess, these rays can be damaging to your skin and eyes.

How prevalent are sun-related health risks? According to the American Cancer Society, between 800,000 and 1 million new cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed in the United States alone this year, and more than 80 percent are directly related to sun exposure. That means that the overwhelming majority of skin cancer cases could have been prevented by taking simple precautions to reduce excessive exposure. And, as you will see, a good deal of sun-related skin damage is done at an early age, but shows up later in life, so children and teenagers should take these precautions very seriously.

Your Skin, Eyes and the Sun

The largest organ in your body isn’t your brain, your liver or stomach-it’s your skin. It is comprised of three layers, billions of cells, and accounts for about 16 percent of your total body weight. If you scratch your leg, you probably brushed off a hundred thousand skin cells, yet there are plenty in reserve as new skin cells are constantly generated by your body as old ones are lost. UVA and UVB radiation from the sun penetrates the outer layer of skin and can disrupt this natural cycle by damaging the cell producing collagen beneath. It can change cellular DNA, potentially causing it to mutate into cancer cells. It is estimated that just two severe sunburns before the age of 18 can dramatically increase a person’s chance of developing skin cancer later in life. There are three forms of skin cancer: basal and squamous cell carcinomas and melanoma, the most serious form. All three forms have been increasing over the last 50 years, which could be an indication of better screening practices as more people become aware of minor changes to their skin like the appearance of dry patches, moles or freckling. But prevention trumps treatment.

It’s not just your skin that can suffer negative effects of over-exposure to UV radiation. Studies have shown that sun exposure greatly increases the chance of developing cataracts in your eyes. More recent studies link summer sun exposure at an early age to an increased incidence of macular degeneration in adults. Much like skin cancer, eye damage can be averted by taking simple precautions, in this case wearing sunglasses that prevent UVA and UVB radiation from passing through the lenses and into your eyes. This precaution is important for everyone, but especially for children and teenagers. Undetected sun damage early in life leads to vision degeneration at later ages.

Advice from a Pro Fisherman

Mark Krowka is a legendary Florida Keys flats fishing guide who has spent thousands of days on the water with charters and in tournaments over the last 30 years. He lives and fishes in the southernmost latitudes of the United States where the sun is intense year round. He started his career at a time when little was known about sun exposure and its relationship to skin cancer, and has suffered the consequences.

“Through my childhood and my early years of fishing, before I became a professional, no one talked about sun exposure or skin cancer. So long days were spent in the sun unprotected,” said Krowka. “I can remember getting sun poisoning after a bad sunburn with the equivalent of first degree burns on my feet. I started fishing professionally in 1977, and that only increased my time on the flats where the sun is even more intense because it reflects off the water and hits you from above and below.

“Over the years, I have had about 30 squamous cell carcinomas burned off my body by doctors, but it was a basal cell carcinoma on my nose that really got my attention. I noticed just the tiniest bit of blood on my towel after showering and decided to have it checked out. It turned out that the tumor had grown down into my nose and it had to be removed, which required reconstructive surgery and a lot of pain. After that I changed the way I approached being in the sun.”

Mark started wearing long-sleeve, hooded tee shirts and used paper clips to cinch them tight above his glasses. He wore long hats and bandanas over his nose, long pants, socks and shoes.

“In a sun intensive place like the Keys, I wouldn’t trust just sun screen for as much as I am out there,” he advised.

A T-Top can also help keep skin away from the sun, at least during the runs in and out to fishing spots.
Today, covering up is a little easier with a host of new clothing products. For head protection there are buffs, a balaclava head covering of light material treated to block UVA and UVB rays that covers your head, face, ears and neck. There are gloves made of the same fabric to keep the backs of your hands protected. Tropical shirts and pants are available in breathable, sun-blocking fabrics.

For more casual sun worshippers, boaters and anglers or those who live and play in slightly more northern latitudes, there are all types of sunscreen products, but you should use one that has an adequate SPF-rating for the region. Make sure the bottle clearly states it reduces or blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Clothing remains the ultimate protection, and don’t forget good polarized sunglasses that blocks ultraviolet sunlight.

Boating and being in the sun go hand-in-hand, but you should know the facts about over-exposure and protect yourself accordingly. In this case, the old adage about an ounce of prevention has never been more true.

Capt. Mark Krowka is still at the top of his game with hundreds of tournament wins and records set by his clients and can be reached at [email protected] or by calling (305) 664-5437.

Biologists study fish caught electrofishing

Editor’s Note: The following is from The Florida Fish Busters Bulletin, a service of The Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission written monthly by Bob Wattendorf.

An electrifying way to study fish

Not everyone can step up to the bow of a boat, lean against the railing, step on a pedal and start netting fish as they float up to the surface. However, biologists use various styles of electrofishing boats or backpack shockers to collect fish for scientific analyses and to help manage the fishery.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) fishery biologists have college educations and special training to operate this equipment safely. For some professionals, it is one of the more enjoyable perquisites of the job. Just to be clear, it is illegal for any angler to fish with electricity. Only fishery biologists can use this method when conducting scientific sampling.

Electrofishing boats use a generator to create an electric current to shock fish in a way that temporarily stuns them. The current flows out in an electrical field between booms that hang off the front of the boat and the metal hull of the boat itself. The electric field does not kill the fish but can actually attract them toward the booms, before temporarily stunning those that swim within 6 to 8 feet. Biologists then scoop up the fish in knotless nets and place them in an aerated live well to recover.

The electricity’s effects on the fish are typically minimal. Several factors contribute to how long the fish remains stunned, including the size of the fish, the species, water temperature and conductivity, how close the fish is to the booms and how long the current is applied. In most cases, stunning occurs within a few seconds of the fish entering the electric field and lasts less than a couple minutes once the fish is removed from the electric field.

Biologists typically identify the fish by species, count and measure them, including their length and weight. Depending on the study, blood samples may be taken, stomach contents examined and tissue samples collected to determine mercury and pesticide levels, or the fish’s genetic makeup. Occasionally biologists transport some specimens to the lab or hatchery for further examination or for breeding purposes. Scientists may also harvest a few to examine their otoliths, or earbones, which, once cut and ground into thin slices, show growth rings that reveal their age.

In the field, biologists also collect data that can be used in conjunction with the fish data to evaluate the fishery and determine how best to manage the resource. For instance, they record water clarity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and temperature, along with other information about the type of plants, specific location and substrate (for example, mud, gravel or sand). This is useful to determine why certain fish may be present or absent and to compare samples from year to year or with different water bodies.

Electrofishing can be much less damaging than methods that entangle or trap fish, such as seines, gillnets, wire traps or trawls, which may injure or kill them. It is an urban myth that electrofishing harms the eggs of female fish. In fact, biologists use electrofishing to collect brood fish to take to hatcheries to use as parent fish.

Electrofishing is one of the main tools that Florida’s fish biologists use to determine how healthy the fish population is in a particular pond, lake, river or canal. They then use that information to try to ensure the fish and their habitats are taken care of and to make fishing more enjoyable. For instance, it can help determine if specific habitat restoration efforts, stocking programs or conservation measures were successful or if measures are needed to enhance angler enjoyment.

Information from electrofishing and other sampling methods, including angler creel surveys – where we talk to anglers to determine what they caught – provide much of the information that we use in writing our quarterly fishing sites and forecast reports. Those reports, along with interviews with fishing guides and annual predictions for anglers of top fishing destinations for bass, bream, striper and catfish, are available at MyFWC.com/Fishing; select “Freshwater Fishing” then “Sites & Forecasts.”

Students at the Florida Youth Conservation Network learning about electrofishing.
Fisheries biology is a fun possibility for a career, for those who like science, nature and the outdoors. As part of the FWC effort to create the Next Generation that cares and to help sustain fisheries resources for the public, the FWC has created the Florida Youth Conservation Center Network (FYCCN.org).

A major part of the FYCCN effort goes toward hosting fish camps each summer around the state. The goal of Fishing and Basic Boating Skills Camps is to create life-long anglers and stewards of aquatic and fisheries resources. Licensed anglers and hunters, who choose to donate for youth fishing and hunting education programs when they buy their licenses, help fund these camps. Over the past four years, these camps have expanded from two to 15 locations across the state with a potential to reach 900 children. Besides being fun and informative camps help teach kids angling and boating skills, and introduce them to conservation stewardship and the possibilities of a future career.

A recently produced video highlights for camp participants how scientists use electrofishing. It provides information about common freshwater fishes and angler recognition programs. To see the video yourself, check out “A shocking way to view fish” on the FWC video channel at YouTube.com (http://bit.ly/YT-shock).

from The Fishing Wire

Anglers, hikers, anybody who spends time outdoors from now until the snow flies again might want to give this a careful read; ticks are found just about everywhere there’s good fishing, and they can cause some serious problems.

By Jeff L. Makemson, Certified Wildlife Biologist, Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries

As the weather warms and you are spending more time outdoors, don’t forget to allow time for a tick check. While some songwriters and comedians make light of ticks, a tick bite should be taken seriously. Ticks are the leading carriers of diseases to humans in the United States, second only to mosquitoes worldwide.

Ticks are small spider-like animals that bite to fasten themselves onto the skin and feed on blood. Ticks hide in low brush to allow them to come in contact with a host. Once they catch a ride on a host they will live in the fur and feathers of many different species of animals. Most tick bites occur during early spring to late summer in areas with many wild animals and birds. The toxins, secretions and organisms transmitted through a tick’s saliva are the sources of the tick-borne diseases. Most ticks do not carry diseases and most tick bites do not cause serious health problems.

It is very important to remove a tick as soon as it is found. This helps decrease the likelihood of contracting diseases from the tick. Care should be used to remove the tick’s head to prevent an infection in the skin where the bite occurred.

The sooner ticks are removed, the less likely they are to transmit disease. Use fine-tipped tweezers to properly remove an attached tick. Grab the tick as close to its mouth as possible. The body of the tick will often be above the skin’s surface, but its head and mouth will likely be buried. Grabbing the tick by its belly can force infected fluids out of its mouth and into the skin. Pull the tick straight out until its mouth lets go of the skin. Put the removed tick in a dry jar or Ziploc bag and save it in the freezer for later identification if symptoms start and medical attention is needed. Wash the area where the tick was attached with warm, soapy water once the tick is removed. Apply an antibiotic ointment to the bite area to help prevent infection.

Many tick-borne diseases cause flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, nausea, vomiting and muscle aches. Symptoms may begin from one to three weeks after the tick bite. Sometimes a rash or sore appears along with the flu-like symptoms. Common tick-borne diseases include Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, ehrlichiosis, relapsing fever and babesiosis.

Lyme disease is an infection spread by the bite of ticks infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Symptoms include fatigue, headache, stiff neck, fever, muscle or joint pain, swelling, and sometimes an expanding red rash. If a rash develops, it may look like a target or bull’s-eye in some people. Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms are similar to many other conditions and tests do not always detect the bacteria. It is usually effectively treated with a short course of antibiotics. If not treated properly, it can lead to complications involving the heart, nervous system, joints and skin within weeks, months or even years later.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever, also called tick fever, spotted fever, or tick typhus, is a bacterial infection passed to humans by wood ticks and dog ticks. It can lead to life-threatening complications such as shock and kidney failure if not treated promptly. Initial symptoms usually start an average of seven days after the tick bite and include a sudden fever, headache, muscle and joint aches, distinct rash, nausea and vomiting. The rash typically is made up of many tiny, flat, purple or red spots. It usually starts on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, and then spreads to the arms, legs and the rest of the body.

Tularemia, also called deerfly fever or rabbit fever, is a disease that usually occurs in animals, but the disease can be transmitted to humans through an infected tick. Symptoms usually start within 21 days, but average one to 10 days, after the tick bite. Symptoms of tularemia include chills, sudden high fever, headache, an open crater-like sore at the site of the bite, swollen glands near the site of the bite, nausea and vomiting. Prescription medicine is used to treat tularemia.

Ehrlichiosis is an infectious disease that can be passed to humans by ticks. It causes fever, chills, headache, general ill feeling, nausea, vomiting and a purple or red rash. Symptoms usually start from one to 21 days (average of seven days) after the tick bite. Prescription medicine is used to treat ehrlichiosis.

Relapsing fever is an infectious disease that can be passed to humans by ticks. It is most common in the western United States. Symptoms usually start three to 11 days (average of six days) after the tick bite. They may last for several days, go away, and then return several days later. Symptoms include sudden high fever, headache, rapid heart rate, muscle aches, abdominal pain, general feeling of illness, and a rash in up to 50 percent of cases. Prescription medicine is used to treat relapsing fever.

Babesiosis is a rare parasitic disease that can be passed to humans by deer ticks. It may not always cause symptoms. When present, symptoms usually start one to four weeks after the tick bite. Symptoms of babesiosis include a general feeling of illness, decreased appetite, tiredness, fever, chills, recurring sweats and muscle aches. Babesiosis is treated with antibiotic medicines.

When returning home after spending time in areas where ticks may live, always carefully check for ticks on the skin and scalp. A little time spent conducting a tick check may prevent days, weeks or months of illness.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama’s natural resources through five divisions: Marine Police, Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR visit www.outdooralabama.com.

I caught this bass at Lake Seminole

Recreational Fishing: Low Resource Impact, Major Economic Engine
from: The Fishing Wire
(Today’s feature comes to us from the American Sportfishing Association)

A report released today by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) makes a powerful case that from an economic perspective, recreational fishing is just as important as commercial fishing, despite a much lower overall impact on the resource. According to the report, anglers landed just two percent of the total saltwater landings compared to ninety-eight percent caught by the commercial fishing industry.

This first-of-its-kind analysis – Comparing NOAA’s Recreational and Commercial Fishing Economic Data, May 2013 – provides an apples-to-apples comparison of recreational and commercial marine fishing from an economic perspective using NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Services (NOAA Fisheries) 2011 economic data. The report was produced for ASA by Southwick Associates. The full report and executive summary are available on ASA’s website.

“It’s something we’ve suspected for some time, but NOAA’s own data clearly shows that recreational saltwater fishing needs to be held in the same regard as commercial fishing,” said ASA President and CEO Mike Nussman. “The current federal saltwater fisheries management system has historically focused the vast majority of its resources on the commercial sector, when recreational fishing is found to have just as significant an economic impact on jobs and the nation’s economy.”

Among the findings are:

• Anglers landed just two percent of the total saltwater finfish landings compared to ninety-eight percent caught by the commercial fishing industry.
• Saltwater landings by anglers contributed three times more to the national gross domestic product (GDP, or value-added) than commercial landings.
• The recreational sector added $152.24 in value-added, or GDP, for one pound of fish landed, compared to the commercial sector’s $1.57 for a single pound of fish.
• Within the jobs market, the recreational sector made up fifty-four percent of all jobs, both recreational and commercial. This amounts to 455,000 recreational jobs compared to 381,000 on the commercial side.
• For every 100,000 pounds landed there were 210 recreational fishing jobs but only 4.5 jobs in the commercial fishing industry.

Nussman further noted, “We’re not releasing this report in an effort to demean commercial fishing. Commercial fishing is very important to our nation’s economy! Our goal is to highlight the importance of recreational fishing to the nation. As our coastal populations continue to grow, along with saltwater recreational fishing, significant improvements must be made to shape the nation’s federal fisheries system in a way that recognizes and responds to the needs of the recreational fishing community.”

The Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), the primary law governing marine fisheries management in the U.S., was originally passed in 1976 and has been reauthorized several times since. While the MSA has made significant strides to eliminate non-domestic fishing in U.S. waters and end overfishing, many in the recreational fishing community have argued that the law is written primarily to manage commercial fishing and does not adequately acknowledge or respond to the needs of recreational fishing.

“For decades federal management of recreational fishing has been like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” said Nussman. “Perhaps the MSA was written to focus on the commercial sector because that’s where 98 percent of the overall harvest is taken. But when you consider that the economic impacts of the two sectors are similar, it makes a strong case for revamping the MSA to better meet the needs of the recreational fishing community.”

The MSA expires at the end of fiscal year 2013 (September 30, 2013), though many expect that a full reauthorization will take a year or longer to develop. On March 13, 2013, the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing focusing on the MSA reauthorization, and more hearings are expected this year and beyond.

Nussman concluded, “ASA and our partners in the recreational fishing community look forward to working with Congress to develop reasonable legislative solutions that will produce a federal fisheries management system that finally works for, not against, recreational fishing.”