Sports

On relieving barotrauma problems in deepwater rockfish

Question: Whenever I pull up one of the rockfish species that is not legal to keep, its swim bladder is usually so full of air that even if I throw it back it will still die. What’s the point in throwing them back if they’re just going to die anyway?

I’ve heard that pulling the fish slowly up to the surface minimizes the pressure change damage and gives the fish the best chance of survival when thrown back. If the fish is too inflated, we poke it with a needle in its side to relieve the gas pressure and the fish always goes right down again. Is this the best way to get an over-inflated fish back down so it will survive to be caught another day?

—Russ J.

Eureka

Giants from the Western states and our local drivers converged at the Quincy fairgrounds for the Dwarf Car Regionals on Friday and Saturday night. One of those quiet giants is Quincy’s own Chase Nieman who became a David among the Goliaths. Chase is in his second season as a competitor in the Dwarf car series. He is an example of growth from child of a racing family to a quiet man making his mark in their sport.

The skies were filled with the dust of three classes of Dwarf cars and the screams of their engines.

Each day more grebe babies are being observed on their parents’ backs. We have received numerous updates from folks in our area who have developed an interest in these birds and their broods. The nesting colonies are still very active. Even though many young have already hatched and have left the colony with their folks, many more adults are sitting on eggs or building new nests. This makes monitoring these nest colonies a multi-dimensional challenge.

Michael Condon