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[clarki]

The thread about the ghost pump prompted me to articulate some thoughts that have been milling about in my head for a few years...what is the impact of the ghost shrimp, for bait, harvest? Ghost shrimp, like many other intertidal invertebrates, are an important link in the intertidal area food web. It's not unheard of that a collapse of one link in the food chain has disastrous and unexpected impacts on the rest. More than a century ago who would have thought the the Russian harvest of sea otters in the Charlottes would ultimately impact salmon stocks. The GVRD bans ghost shrimp harvesting in their parks (i.e. Centennial Beach) to protect the food source for shorebirds.

Certainly I'm not against bait as I sling gutz with the best of them. However, roe is harvested from fish that I eat, dew worms are farmed, even some prawns/shrimp are farmed. Ghost shrimp are one of the few local baits that I can think of that anglers harvest directly from the wild. And harvested for sport...many of the steelhead caught with ghost shrimp are released. Sure they are a killer bait, but with many other farmed natural baits and effective artificials, do we need to do it?

I don't know how many hundreds, or thousands, are harvested each year and the sport fishery has only been doing it for a handful of decades, so any impact may be negligible...or perhaps gradual. We might not notice a difference in the abundance of shorebirds, but the next generations might.

Don't mistake me for left-wing commie pinko alarmist tree hugger. I'm in no way being judgmental; just sharing my mullings and provoking discussion.

Cheers and Merry Christmas

[the carp]

i have been pumping bugs for some 40 odd years and although the numbers are not as strong as years ago, the biggest difference I have noticed is the size, I only take what I need and quite frankly enjoy the total experience, especially the fish and chips lunch at the moby dick.

[Rodney]

I'm one of those left-wing commie pinko alarmist tree huggers! Back on the days when I resided and fished in Australia, we used to pump ghost shrimps (known as bass yabbies down under), turn over rocks for sea worms, thread a whole live mackerel or squid on the hook for pelagic species, kill small fish and chop them up for bait, etc. Now, I find it extremely difficult for myself to do any of that. I don't have the heart to suck bugs out of their habitat, dangle them on the hook, screw up their osmoregulation while they drift down a stream. I also try to avoid drowning worms. Although such empathy has developed, I'm not going to condemn others from doing so, because every angler evolves differently.

Anyway, back to the original topic. Like all wild populations, it comes down to whether or not recruitment rate stays above harvest rate. The temporal comparison of population should only be determined by biologists, not harvesters. Too often harvesters are convinced that the targeted population has not changed over the years, based on the consistency of harvest. While the harvest amount may remain consistent, the time expended to harvest the same amount may have changed over the years, the harvesting locations may have changed, the ratio of size classes of the harvested specimen may have changed (as suggested by the carp). Without consistent sampling over time, it is hard to determine if our harvest has changed the ecosystem. By the time the changes are realized, it is often too late.

What should be concerned is that harvest pressure may have increased in recent years as more anglers discover the effectiveness of ghost shrimp, while daily quota has remained the same as many years ago. On a more positive note, most of the harvest is concentrated in a few months per year, but how positive that is depends on how fast the population recruits, which I am not familiar with.

There, my Christmas preach.

[Sam Salmon]

What should be concerned is that harvest pressure may have increased in recent years as more anglers discover the effectiveness of ghost shrimp, while daily quota has remained the same as many years ago.

Fewer and fewer fish mean angling efforts lessens-this is a trend we see everywhere.

The introduction of a daily limit helped kill the commercial market for Ghost Shrimp and populations should remain stable since I see very few people harvesting, to my mind a bigger threat is pollution.

[chris gadsden]

I agree with the carp as I always enjoyed the trip to pump them at White Rock especially when the children were young. (They could do the pumping too  ) As well I always like the smell of the ocean at low tide, a dinner out at one of the restaurants and the experience of being on the beach alone, in the dark during the winter when the low tides happened.


I know they are effective in catching steelhead and chinook but I have found when I started using prawns a few years they are just as good and of course they stay on better than ghost shrimp. Also if you get hungry during the fishing trip you can eat prawns, something I would not recommend with ghost shrimp but I know someone slipped a couple into a friends sandwich a while back.

How the harvest effects the food chain I donot know as I believe they spend their entire life down in their tunnels in the sand.

[Fish Assassin]

Using prawns impact on the prawn population.

[chris gadsden]

Using prawns impact on the prawn population.

I believe this are now farmed raised?

[kingpin]

the population in the area i pump has gone down dramatically from what it used to be....there are still a lot of people doing it and the problem being most i see are not taking 50, there taking a couple hundred each time and  even taking the tiny baby ones...im sure thats having an impact.

[the carp]

i agree kingpin some areas are more heavily pumped than others, and taking the little guys is a big nono in my book. They dont fish as well and they sure don't survive for long. My best harvesting was done in lynden washington at the sportshop, buying commercially pumped bugs from the everett area, thing is i don't know if daves shop carries them anymore.

[canso]

I only pump what’s needed for a couple days fishing.
I rarely use more then 12 a trip. if you are harvesting 50+ they will be dead before you can use them all.
dead sand shrimp are not worth the effort.

[troutbreath]

Ghost Shrimp work good until the guy you see catching fish on something else stops your pumping. The bite is on in White Rock every Wednesday and Sunday at Wings resturaunt when there wings are 39 cents. Give them a go matey.

[island boy]

read an article on fake ghost shrimp made by berkley. anyone ever tried these? the mag was from south of the boarder. they come sented and ready to go. i might pick up some and give it a try. any thoughts?

[Matt]

read an article on fake ghost shrimp made by berkley. anyone ever tried these? the mag was from south of the boarder. they come sented and ready to go. i might pick up some and give it a try. any thoughts?

We picked them up for the Stamp.  They looked and smelled great, but the fish weren't biting anything, so can't say they do or don't work.