The quakes are one of many reasons we stopped commercial fishing south of lat 15 in the Pacific. We are selective harvesters - yes on tuna, cod and groundfish - pelagics were never our targets. I saw first-hand the loss of species while fishing from Golfito a number of years ago. After a series of quakes in the region, thousands of dead fish would be found floating inside the Golfo - killed by the sulfuric release.
A good friend Big AL sent me this link - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...quakes_all.php
Click on any quake and then proceed to the historical data. Here you will find all the quakes for that area.
In '92-95 we commercially fished the Galapagos, but there was no marine reserve. If there was one, there was no enforcement. The last season (2009) fished we were 250nm off the mainland btwn Salinas and Cabo Blanco. As I said earlier we don't target pelagics, but occasionally get them. Fish stocks - esp tunas - were down considerably from 1995. I started making notes from USGS link and keeping records since 2007 - stocks within 500nm of major quakes suffered the most. Anything closer - it was devastating - large zones of dead fish and sulfuric gases.
I note another 'quake' off Bio-Bio late last night, but early in the morning for us.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...10/285_-35.php
This coupled with the lack of O2, does present a wrinkle in the fishing. I have been in contact with a couple of boat captains in Costa Rica, who say the inshore fishing is fantastic, but nothing offshore is working.
http://ticotimes.com/costa-rica/dead...sed-to-capture
Just the opposite in Guatemala, where the fishing is off the charts!
So, I wonder how 'quakes' and underwater volcanoes are affecting the fishing in other parts of the Americas or the world for that matter?
