Dogfish Eating Cod

[ALK11]

I don't understand why this is news. Take humans out of it and there is a balanced relationship between dogfish and cod (or whatever else they prey on). Add humans and now you have us taking out a large number of the dogfishes' prey, but not taking out any dogfish. Of course dogfish numbers are going to rise while cod numbers are going to decline. So only two things can be done. Stop catching so many cod or start catching more dogfish.

[striper63]

We caught a whole bunch of dogfish this year while fluking and bottom fishing for sea bass. Way too many.

[a-baum]

Originally Posted by ALK11

I don't understand why this is news. Take humans out of it and there is a balanced relationship between dogfish and cod (or whatever else they prey on). Add humans and now you have us taking out a large number of the dogfishes' prey, but not taking out any dogfish. Of course dogfish numbers are going to rise while cod numbers are going to decline. So only two things can be done. Stop catching so many cod or start catching more dogfish.

That doesn't really make a lot of sense. If we are overfishing their food source (tog, seabass, cod, etc) then their population should decrease, not increase.

This is probably just a cyclical thing and is more likely the result of an INCREASE of some particular food source, such as porgy or other smaller fish.