Global warming and fish size.

[no-one in particular]

Mark, the energy used and carbon dioxide produced by vehicles are included in forecasts of climate change.

A petrol engine pumps about 3kgs of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when it burns one litre of petrol. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reduces the amount of heat energy which is radiated into space. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by about 40% since the start of the industrial revolution.

I understand the carbon dioxide thing but what about the heat, it's always carbon dioxide. Every-time we switch on a car engine we contribute to the heat in the world. every-time we switch on the central heating, leave the fridge running, burn rubber along the motorway, switch a light bulb on ect ect, it all adds to global warming, There are 5.5 billion more of us doing these things every day than 100 years ago. Whats the accumulative effect of that on the 0.8c rise in the earth temperature since 1880? If it is insignificant fine but no one has ever shown me it is, cant find any mention of it and I don't want to just assume it is insignificant like others and if it isn't insignificant we should know about it. If people are going to riot over global warming then at least we should all have all the facts, If raising taxes on diesel to reduce green house gas and create riots, I think we should know just how much those taxes will solve the problem and if greenhouse gases are the total answer.
Or put it this way, if we reduce green house gases to 1880 levels are we going to reduce the earth's temperatures to 1880 levels or is it still going to be a lot higher and would they still get higher as we accumulate more heat from our own sources. I don't know myself, does anyone/

 

[Mark Wintle]

I think you're getting too hung up on 'climate change' whereas there's yet to be a satisfactory explanation why a 23 or 24" chub from the 1960s or 70s might have weighed as little as 3lbs or a 32" barbel weighed 10lbs in the same era, lean and skinny fish back then but today chub and barbel rarely exceed those lengths yet would weigh around 6-7lbs and 15lbs+ respectively.

 

[no-one in particular]

I think you're getting too hung up on 'climate change' whereas there's yet to be a satisfactory explanation why a 23 or 24" chub from the 1960s or 70s might have weighed as little as 3lbs or a 32" barbel weighed 10lbs in the same era, lean and skinny fish back then but today chub and barbel rarely exceed those lengths yet would weigh around 6-7lbs and 15lbs+ respectively.

That's true, gone a bit off topic, believe it or not I was going to try and avoid climate change generally. I started the thread with fish sizes, would species have a sort of built in length maximum gain? And whether through longer summers, more and better feed etc just make them fatter, not longer. I don't know, just thinking aloud really. I know its not the same thing but we don't get taller just fatter when we eat more. I certainly feel some species have got bigger in weight, just a minds eye view of reading catch reports for years.

 

[S-Kippy]

I dont think global warming or anglers ability has got anything to do with it. Fish are generally very much bigger nowadays because of the vast quantities of hnv bait and pellets we are chucking at them....and we are not taking any for the pot either which , against a background of artificially high stocking levels, I am convinced was a major factor why certain records stood for decades before getting smashed out of sight every other week. Not very many fish lived to become very big individuals.

There may be other factors at work on rivers particularly ( for example crays,otters,cormorants) but they are still getting skip loads of hnv bait thrown at them week in week out. Is it any wonder they are putting on weight ? I think not.