Chesapeake Cownose rays situations

[Mosasauria]

http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3123
This is bad.

Tales of cownose rays ravaging oyster restoration sites, as well as some underwater grass revegetation projects, have become so common around the Bay that plans are in the works to turn the tables on them—by putting them on the table.

By creating a food market for rays—and therefore a fishery—some fishery managers hope to cull the ray population.

In Virginia, where the rays are most plentiful in the Bay, some consider them to be a more formidable obstacle to oyster restoration than the diseases that plague the shellfish. “In the next couple of years, it is our number one problem that we are trying to address for oyster restoration down here,” said Jim Wesson, who oversees oyster restoration efforts for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

Wesson said rays are not only an impediment to restoration, but also to aquaculture. New fast-growing strains of native oysters can be placed in the water and reach market size before succumbing to disease, but many oyster growers worry their investment will be wiped out by rays. “You could possibly have the private industry pour money into oyster restoration so it is not depending so much federal and state support,” he said

Anybody who knows anything about chondricthyians could tell that this is possibly the worst idea ever. Sharks and rays grow slowly, and reproduce late and infrequently.
Apparently, some people realized this:

But other scientists believe the solution being cooked up may be just as bad. If humans develop a taste for cownose rays, they say, it could result in taking too big of a bite out of the ray populations.

Dean Grubbs, program manager of the Shark Ecology Program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, called efforts to create a fishery “a really bad idea.”

Rays are slow-maturing fish: Females don’t reproduce until they are 7 or 8 years old, and males are typically 6 or 7. Further, females produce just one live pup per year. That, combined with the late maturity rate, is a recipe for overfishing, according to Grubbs and some of his colleagues.

But, of course, in the name of 'private industry' and oysters, the great hunt for Cownose Rays will continue with the green light.
This is actually a related article with a bit more backstory.
And, once again, sportfisherman and commercial fisherman are wanting to completely demolish the ray population.
Did they learn nothing from the sharks former sharks of Chesapeake Bay?!
Thoughts? Opinions?

[Lacadaemon]

I like oysters. Though they vary hugely in quality. Olde Salt's if you get them locally aren't bad.

I'd be willing to try Cownose ray, but I don't imagine it's actually very tasty. Still you never know.

[Mosasauria]

I like oysters. Though they vary hugely in quality. Olde Salt's if you get them locally aren't bad.

I'd be willing to try Cownose ray, but I don't imagine it's actually very tasty. Still you never know.

I have tasted ray before. It tastes like scallops.

[Teinohikira]

http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3123
This is bad.

Tales of cownose rays ravaging oyster restoration sites, as well as some underwater grass revegetation projects, have become so common around the Bay that plans are in the works to turn the tables on them—by putting them on the table.

By creating a food market for rays—and therefore a fishery—some fishery managers hope to cull the ray population.

In Virginia, where the rays are most plentiful in the Bay, some consider them to be a more formidable obstacle to oyster restoration than the diseases that plague the shellfish. “In the next couple of years, it is our number one problem that we are trying to address for oyster restoration down here,” said Jim Wesson, who oversees oyster restoration efforts for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

Wesson said rays are not only an impediment to restoration, but also to aquaculture. New fast-growing strains of native oysters can be placed in the water and reach market size before succumbing to disease, but many oyster growers worry their investment will be wiped out by rays. “You could possibly have the private industry pour money into oyster restoration so it is not depending so much federal and state support,” he said

Anybody who knows anything about chondricthyians could tell that this is possibly the worst idea ever. Sharks and rays grow slowly, and reproduce late and infrequently.
Apparently, some people realized this:

But other scientists believe the solution being cooked up may be just as bad. If humans develop a taste for cownose rays, they say, it could result in taking too big of a bite out of the ray populations.

Dean Grubbs, program manager of the Shark Ecology Program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, called efforts to create a fishery “a really bad idea.”

Rays are slow-maturing fish: Females don’t reproduce until they are 7 or 8 years old, and males are typically 6 or 7. Further, females produce just one live pup per year. That, combined with the late maturity rate, is a recipe for overfishing, according to Grubbs and some of his colleagues.

But, of course, in the name of 'private industry' and oysters, the great hunt for Cownose Rays will continue with the green light.
This is actually a related article with a bit more backstory.
And, once again, sportfisherman and commercial fisherman are wanting to completely demolish the ray population.
Did they learn nothing from the sharks former sharks of Chesapeake Bay?!
Thoughts? Opinions?

This is what we get when Charlie Sheen jumps into the water...it's sad.

[Norstal]

Doth they naught learneth of Steve Irwin's untimely death and how it was caused?

[Sorratsin]

I seem to remember that all rays taste horrible due to them pissing through their skin.

No idea where I got that though.

[Mosasauria]

I seem to remember that all rays taste horrible due to them pissing through their skin.

No idea where I got that though.

Sharks, just like humans, have high urea content within the blood. Rays, being descended from sharks since the Permian, are no different.
As such, when they are killed, the blood diffuses into the body, and so does the urine and ammonia.

[The Corparation]

Putting them on the menu to cut the population will backfire horribly no matter what. Either they don;t selll or they sell to well and cause a drastic population decrease. Either way lose-lose situation if they try to sell it as food. Now as pets maybe

[Lacadaemon]

I have tasted ray before. It tastes like scallops.

I quite like skate wing. Presumably it's similar.

[Mosasauria]

Putting them on the menu to cut the population will backfire horribly no matter what. Either they don;t selll or they sell to well and cause a drastic population decrease. Either way lose-lose situation if they try to sell it as food. Now as pets maybe

If you're going pet stingray, do the Ocellate River Stingray.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potamotrygon_motoro

[Kreanoltha]

Did they learn nothing from the sharks former sharks of Chesapeake Bay?!
Thoughts? Opinions?

Why yes. We learned that through fishing we can get rid of pests like sharks.

[Natapoc]

Lets just leave wild animals alone. I don't want more extinctions, and ecosystem disruptions. Lets learn to say no to our greed when needed.

[Mosasauria]

Did they learn nothing from the sharks former sharks of Chesapeake Bay?!
Thoughts? Opinions?

Why yes. We learned that through fishing we can get rid of pests like sharks.

And then, we created more pests thorugh that because the cownose ray population exploded! Then we'll kill that, and the oyster and lobster populations will explode! Then we'll hunt them all, and the northeast coast of the US will become an underwater desert devoid of even the simplest plankton.

[Norstal]

Why yes. We learned that through fishing we can get rid of pests like sharks.

And then, we created more pests thorugh that because the cownose ray population exploded! Then we'll kill that, and the oyster and lobster populations will explode! Then we'll hunt them all, and the northeast coast of the US will become an underwater desert devoid of even the simplest plankton.

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Bart_the_Mother

It's funny because it's true...

[Kreanoltha]

Why yes. We learned that through fishing we can get rid of pests like sharks.

And then, we created more pests thorugh that because the cownose ray population exploded! Then we'll kill that, and the oyster and lobster populations will explode! Then we'll hunt them all, and the northeast coast of the US will become an underwater desert devoid of even the simplest plankton.

That's actually a good thing. Lobsters are natural scavengers, and a high oyster population will clean a good deal of the pollutants from the bay. It needs oysters much more than it needs pests like the cownose ray and sharks.

[Greed and Death]

Lets just leave wild animals alone. I don't want more extinctions, and ecosystem disruptions. Lets learn to say no to our greed when needed.

We are managing the oysters we have to manage what eats the oysters in order to succeed.

[Natapoc]

And then, we created more pests thorugh that because the cownose ray population exploded! Then we'll kill that, and the oyster and lobster populations will explode! Then we'll hunt them all, and the northeast coast of the US will become an underwater desert devoid of even the simplest plankton.

That's actually a good thing. Lobsters are natural scavengers, and a high oyster population will clean a good deal of the pollutants from the bay. It needs oysters much more than it needs pests like the cownose ray and sharks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_predator

[Mosasauria]

That's actually a good thing. Lobsters are natural scavengers, and a high oyster population will clean a good deal of the pollutants from the bay. It needs oysters much more than it needs pests like the cownose ray and sharks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_predator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_species
This could also apply quite nicely.

[Serrland]

I imagine that rays would taste similar to skates. Skates aren't that tasty, so I don't imagine it'd catch on as a major food, especially given the (generally) finicky American palate (ironic, given that hamburgers, hot dogs, and corn dogs are all pretty offensive to the tastebuds).

[Tekania]

There's a second ecological issue here however as well, the oysteries have been instrumental in reseeding the bay oyster population, and the oysters are a key element in the cleaning of bay water. So these rays are attempting to thwart the efforts of the bay cleanup. So I can see a logical reason to put a significant hit on the ray population over the long term.

This isn't really merely oysteries attempting to protect their investment, this is a key battle in holding our progress in our 20 year work to attempt to clean up the bay.

[Coccygia]

I like oysters. Though they vary hugely in quality. Olde Salt's if you get them locally aren't bad.

I'd be willing to try Cownose ray, but I don't imagine it's actually very tasty. Still you never know.

I have tasted ray before. It tastes like scallops.

Quite often, that's what scallops really are...