Earth Protect Blog

by Chris Medlin of The Topsail Island Fishing Guide

I know this topic may seem controversial and may receive criticism from some people, but as most of you know I am a fellow who speaks his mind. There are some strange things going on around here.

I am worried about our environment. I have seen changes over the years in the numbers of some fish and the variety of some fish that are here. I don’t care what the scientists say about the polar ice caps (well, I do; but let’s all ignore them for the time being). I am not an idealist; I drive a gas-powered vehicle (truck and boat) and I use lots of power to heat and cool my home, and I love meat.

However, we could stand to make some small changes just in case the scientists are right about climate change. One of the worst things that could happen is we would stop buying oil from countries that hate us and threaten our security. I don’t know if humans are the cause, but common sense medicine is good for more than one problem. My evidence is purely anecdotal, my opinion, and is derived from my observance of nature. In other words: “it ain’t scientific.”

There are species of fish here that I have never seen before and I have lived my life on the water just like my father and grandfather. Throughout the years fish patterns have changed but usually return to normal after a year or so. I have been diving and fishing quite a bit in the state of Florida, as well as here, and can recognize some fish that others cannot. In the past few years I have seen Bonefish (caught from Surf City Pier). My father cannot remember ever seeing a Bonefish caught off of our old Barnacle Bills Pier. I have identified three in the past two years with anecdotal stories of a few more. These fish are rarely caught north of Miami, let alone North Carolina. We are seeing way more Tarpon off of our beaches than I have ever seen before, as well as on the Soundside, which is extremely uncommon. Usually only big Tarpon can make the migration here but we have seen some baby Tarpon in the sounds and the creeks. The same applies to the recent schools of Jack Crevalle that have shown up in mass in our sounds. We have always had large Jacks out in the ocean but I cannot remember ever seeing schools of small Jacks inside, nor can my father. There were no African Pompano on the offshore wrecks prior to 1995 (or no accounts that I can find) and now they are a common catch. We have seen smooth pufferfish (or rabbitfish to some), which are a southern fish as well.

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