The global warming issue had a big media presence this week due to the climate conference in Copenhagen that started December 6 and runs to December 18, 2009.

I will continue to write about the global warming issue because it does affect fish and fishermen. Just for the record as of last week Wikipedia related the definition of global warming that appears at the end of this article.

Media attention this week focused on President Barrack Obama’s anticipated attendance at the Copenhagen Conference. Other news included reports of stolen e-mails discrediting the integrity of global warming scientists and a Washington Post editorial by former Alaskan Governor and U.S. vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. Her editorial slammed the integrity of global warming “experts” saying they “deliberately destroyed records, manipulated data to 'hide the decline' in global temperature".

This claim by Palin was refuted later in the week by an Associated Press report that said the science of global warming was not faked and that e-mails stolen from climate scientists “show they (scientists) stonewalled skeptics and discussed hidden data. But the messages don’t support claims that the science of global warming was faked.” The AP reported that they conducted an exhaustive review, examining 1,037 emails and related, “… the exchanges do not undercut the vast body of evidence showing that the world is warming as a result of man-made green house gas emissions.”

So this is a lot of global warming discussion and the politics of the situation are further complicated by President Obama not being able to gather support for his position on the issue before his trip to Copenhagen. He cannot promise the world anything without the approval of Congress. The House passed measures to support the president’s position, however, Senate democrats are split on global warming policy and are divided into numerous factions based on geography and economic interest e.g. mid-west coal producing states want fewer carbon restrictions… east coast states suffering from flooding, beach erosion, etc…, want tougher restrictions. And, all republicans in the Senate are nearly united in opposition to the kind of legislation that would be needed to match the president’s objectives.

The evidence of global warming continues to mount. Those that do not believe that global warming is created by man, claim the warming trends are cyclical, that they are normal and not part of the earth’s response to green house gasses. However, mounting evidence points to warming air and earth.

Impact of global warming on fishing in Rhode Island

Some of the evidence is local and regional in nature and has a direct impact on Narragansett Bay, nearby coastal waters and fishing.

There is plenty of anecdotal information that Narragansett Bay is getting warmer. Throughout the past two centuries, hundreds of Rhode Islanders have recounted stories of a frozen Bay, frozen enough to travel by sleigh over ice from Fall River, to Bristol, to Newport. And, reports of frozen ferry boats stuck in ice that was 12 inches thick and stories of automobiles driving on Bay ice. We have not seen Bay ice this thick in a long time.

In fact the Bay is warming. According to a University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography data keep since 1959 Bay temperatures have increased about three (3) degrees Fahrenheit, said professor Jeremy Collie (as reported in a January 12, 2009 article in the East Bay Newspapers).

According to scientists, Narragansett Bay temperatures parallel the rise in New England’s winter air temperatures with an increase of about 4.5 degrees since 1970.

Professor Collie said that the increase in Bay temperature has created “big changes in the food web…” of the Bay. A delay in spring algae bloom that normally occurs in late winter and early spring has been delayed into the summer. Cold water fish like winter flounder are fewer in numbers and scientists are attributing this to the warming trend.

In an AP story that ran last month (11/12/09), a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) related that rising water temperatures are helping drive many of New England's fish populations farther from shore and into deeper water.

In this study NOAA biologists analyzed water temperature trends from North Carolina to the Canadian border off Maine from 1968 to 2007. They then looked at fish survey data collected each spring and assessed where the fish were caught and how abundant they were.

Some fish species experienced a lot of movement while other species exhibited little movement to the north, but rather they moved to deeper waters where temperatures are lower.

Small-boat fishermen in Rhode Island and Massachusetts used to catch most of their haddock, flounder, and cod in waters close to shore. Tom Dempsey of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association said the fish were close to shore 20 years ago. Nowadays, fishermen have to travel as far 100 miles offshore to find those same fish.

At the same time, he said, Massachusetts fishermen are catching more fish traditionally found in the Middle Atlantic — Atlantic croaker for example which is caught off Virginia and North Carolina.

So we have mounting evidence that the air and water (right here in Narragansett Bay) is warming. So now the question is… is it a natural cycle of the earth or is the warming being created by man. The entire Copenhagen conference believes it is being created by man and that countries should agree to limit their carbon output. Major disputes at the Copenhagen conference have developed between developing nations and leading industrial nations on an equitable carbon reduction plan for all. However, most nations do agree we should try to stop global warming.

I agree we should limit carbon output and slow or stop global warming.

If we had two earths to test this theory it would be get (as suggested by a recent NPR story). One earth where we limited carbon output and anther earth where we did not. We could find out who is right. But we only have one earth and I am not willing to risk it.

Global warming definition for Wikipedia as of 12/13/09

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) between the start and the end of the 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that most of the observed temperature increase since the middle of the 20th century was caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases resulting from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation. The IPCC also concludes that variations in natural phenomena such as solar radiation and volcanism produced most of the warming from pre-industrial times to 1950 and had a small cooling effect afterward. These basic conclusions have been endorsed by more than 40 scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries.

Where’s the bite

The bite for Rhode Island angler Harold Hemberger was in Jamaica last week. Harold took the plugs he uses to fish for striped bass on Rhode Island southern coastal beaches and used them on Negril Beach, Jamaica. Harold landed two bonefish and hooked a barracuda. Harold purchased a 22” Emmrod (www.emmrod.com) for the trip which is designed for travel , fits into a suitcase and can handle a fish up to 25 pounds.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing on Narragansett Bay for over 40 years. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. Your fishing stories, comments and questions are welcome… there’s more than one way to catch a fish so e-mail Captain Dave at ¬¬¬dmontifish@verizon.net.