Bloody French! (S C A L L O P S)

Re: Bloody French!

FWIW, I'm with Sarabande and AWOL over this.

The rules governing French fishermen were brought in to ensure sustainable stocks. I can understand their anger if stocks are being depleted/ trashed by others.

Anyway, no problem after Brexit.
 
Scallop War...

No sign of Bob Geldof or Nigel Farage on the British boats - yet.;)
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45337091
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...nglish-channel-rights-bay-seine-a8512291.html
 
Re: Bloody French!

Sgeir said:
FWIW, I'm with Sarabande and AWOL over this.

The rules governing French fishermen were brought in to ensure sustainable stocks. I can understand their anger if stocks are being depleted/ trashed by others.

Anyway, no problem after Brexit.
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But is it a Fench rule or an EU one? If French, then surely only applies in their waters, even if it applies to non-French boat at all. The Brit boat was in international waters afaik. This is partly where the EU doesn't work and, as minor a scurmish as this is, it is exactly the sort of thing that feeds the Brexit movement. EU rules being ignored, and violence used, when it suits with no retribution from the EU does them no favours.
 
Re: Scallop War...

I believe fishing vessels are Motor Boats. Perhaps Deleted User, who I see is back from the beach, should ask the Mods to move it to the MoBo forum! Or maybe Brexit...;)
 
Re: Bloody French!

Sgeir said:
FWIW, I'm with Sarabande and AWOL over this.

The rules governing French fishermen were brought in to ensure sustainable stocks. I can understand their anger if stocks are being depleted/ trashed by others.

Anyway, no problem after Brexit.
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Whilst I agree with what you have said above, if there is an other Independence vote and it goes against the UK, do you think Scottish fishermen will stand idly by whilst others continue to fish 'Scottish'* waters?

* in parenthesis as I don't know who has what water.

Donald
 
Re: Bloody French!

awol said:
I can't help but admire the French for getting off their derrieres and taking action against a blatant stupidity that allows others to fish when they can't. If only the apathetic Brits would do the same!
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Three years or more ago, we had a similar situation in the Westcountry where local boats were not permitted to fish for, I think, about 3 months to conserve fish stock. I wrote to my local MP about it, but he never did respond:

"What a fiasco the fishing quota system is. George Eustace was on TV on 17th December talking about fishing quotas for North Sea fishermen, and cuts for the Westcountry fishermen, especially off the North Devon coast. The loss of fish stock around our coasts is due to over-fishing by our European neighbours, more than the British fishermen. At any one time there are fleets of French and Belgian trawlers all around our Westcountry coasts. On 9th January (I haven't looked more recently) I counted six or more Belgian trawlers fishing off the North Cornwall coast between Wadebridge and Bude. (I have an internet link to shipping movements which I monitor occasionally). Not one British fishing boat was in the area. The Appledore fishermen were confined to port due to the British restrictions!! And all the time they are not fishing, the Continentals are scooping it all up! "
 
Re: Bloody French!

Praxinoscope said:
The damage done to the seabed when scallop trawling is consideable leaving a virtual desert which takes years to recover.
This happens every year in the Irish Sea particuarly off Cardigan Bay, yet the Welsh Assembly seem to ignore the problem and have done nothing to deter it.
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The aquarium at Millport used to have (may still have) a video showing the same stretch of seabed in the First of Clyde before and after scallp dredging. Before: a remarkable forest of beautiful wildlife. Afterwards: nothing. Scallop dredging is the plundering and destruction of a common resource for private gain and it should be banned outright.

In a related and entertaining spat, Solway scallop dredgers who, like the rest of the British fishing industry, have been campaigning against foreigners in UK waters are now outraged to find the Manx government restricting their access to Manx waters. Aigh vie erriu to the Manx, bon chance to the French.
 
Re: Bloody French!

JumbleDuck said:
The aquarium at Millport used to have (may still have) a video showing the same stretch of seabed in the First of Clyde before and after scallp dredging. Before: a remarkable forest of beautiful wildlife. Afterwards: nothing. Scallop dredging is the plundering and destruction of a common resource for private gain and it should be banned outright.

In a related and entertaining spat, Solway scallop dredgers who, like the rest of the British fishing industry, have been campaigning against foreigners in UK waters are now outraged to find the Manx government restricting their access to Manx waters. Aigh vie erriu to the Manx, bon chance to the French.
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+1. In fact, I believe that ANY form of fishing that wrecks the sea bed should be banned outright. A desert supports very little life whether on land or in the sea.
 
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Re: Bloody French!

sarabande said:
And supposing our brave fisherman tried the same tactics against the Frenchies coming over and hoovering up all our benthic resources, what would you say ? Have you seen the state of the seabed after a beam trawler has passed over it a dozen times ? Has the word 'sustainability' entered your consciousness ?

Even in an ironic post, you have lost the overview of how everyone should be protecting and nurturing a very precious natural resource. Good on the French for trying to gain the shellfish another few weeks to mature, and protect a local industry.

Would that Brexit enables us to look after our own fishing zones properly for the future
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Very well said Sir,

Christ help our environment from next March
 
Re: Bloody French!

steve1963 said:
Very well said Sir,

Christ help our environment from next March
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Can you explain exactly what you mean by that? The current government position is that environmental protection will be enhanced once the UK has more control over its waters (and on land once we are free from the CAP).

Appreciate that promises don't always translate into action, but this knee jerk reaction that everything is going to be "worse" when we leave the EU is just nonsense.
 
Re: Bloody French!

The big boat that's seen ramming the little white boat - is that a cowardly Frenchie ramming one of our brave scallopers? Or, as I read the story, is it the Peterhead boat pushing the Frenchie out of the way? Given that there is video evidence of colregs being wilfully flouted, what - if any - action are the MCA (and French equivalent) likely to take?

I note the cries for 'the navy' to get out there and do something. I vaguely recall back in (I think) 1993, a similar dispute which culminated in a British fisheries protection vessel being boarded and 'arrested' by some French fishermen and the ensign being set aflame. One would hope that *if* fisheries protection decided to get involved again, that such a situation could be avoided. I'm not old enough to remember it, but I don't think the navy did much good in the Icelandic cod wars when all was said and done, so perhaps it is best left to the law courts to sort out. From the few fishermen I have talked to, hitting them in the pocket seems the most direct way of getting them to see a different point of view. Mind, I don't know much about the business - maybe it has gone the way of agribusiness, with few small operators anymore.

Finally I agree with the observations on scallop dredging. I used to dive and was horrified at the damage caused by scallop dredging (and I'm sure other forms of bottom dredging). I went through a phase of only eating scallops which I had been assured were 'diver caught', but considering that every pub/restaurant/fishmonger I asked assured me that their scallops were diver caught, I came to the conclusion that I was being told porkies. So now although I adore scallops, I only eat them if I *know* they have been caught by a diver.

Mind my view on fishing generally is the same. Its a barbaric industry, and if we treated land animals in the same way (drag them underwater and drown them, or crush them under the dying carcasses of their fellows, or worse stick a hook in their mouths and drag them around for a few hours before finally dragging them into the sea to be killed) then there would be uproar. I like fish, but I no longer eat it willingly.
 
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