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Old December 16th, 2007, 03:14 AM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
riverman
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Default Sea Lice and Salmon

On Dec 16, 8:34 am, Tim Lysyk wrote:
This time it is a Canadian population of salmon that is threatened.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7142053.stm

Tim Lysyk


"Using a mathematical model of population growth rates, they show that
sea lice from industrial fish farms are reducing the numbers of wild
pink salmon - a Pacific salmon species - to the extent that the fish
could be locally extinct in eight years or less.

Dr Krkosek said the population growth rate was "severely depressed".

"It means that the probability of extinction is 100% and the only
question is how long it is going to take," he told BBC News. "

The 'probability of extinction' statement exposes that they are using
an exponential growth model, a la Malthus, while it is more likely a
logistic curve model. Logistic curves are self-correcting, although
all the mechanisms that decrease growth are not always known.

--riverman (off to create math Final exams, with his head in the
numbers)