Mullet - where do they go in winter

[Bosun Higgs]

cant remember which French marina it was, but I can recall a French boat arriving and even before the crew had tied it off properly, papa was spearing mullet for dinner from the edge of the pontoons using a light speargun.

But then when dod you last see a duck swimming around a French marina as you usually will over here?

 

[dylanwinter]

I don't think I would eat one

cant remember which French marina it was, but I can recall a French boat arriving and even before the crew had tied it off properly, papa was spearing mullet for dinner from the edge of the pontoons using a light speargun.

But then when dod you last see a duck swimming around a French marina as you usually will over here?

I think that I would rather avoid them - having followed this thread

- just admire them for their grace of movement..and longevity

Mind you the only place we ever caught mackeral with a spinner was when passing sewage outfalls

By and large it comes out of tin on the slug - I have a big saucepan and boil two cans of something - sealed up - never had one explode.

saves on the wwashing up too


Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAJSWBFbWGI

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I think that I would rather avoid them - having followed this thread

- just admire them for their grace of movement..and longevity

Mind you the only place we ever caught mackeral with a spinner was when passing sewage outfalls

By and large it comes out of tin on the slug - I have a big saucepan and boil two cans of something - sealed up - never had one explode.

saves on the wwashing up too


Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAJSWBFbWGI

Dylan,

Next time you go to Waldringfield take a detour to that Fish Stall at Felixstowe Ferry near the toilets.

I happened to find myself there in the last few days .

Whilst munching some excellent cockles ( from King's Lynn - The Best I think) I spotted what looked like a Grey Mullet on their slab.

I asked the lady who said that it was indeed a Grey Mullet. She told me that they tasted very good. If only I had asked her where it came from.

 

[capnsensible]

Goto any Spanish Marina, full of them. That means the Spanish don't eatem. There be the clue....

 

[dylanwinter]

cockles - muscles - oysters

I hate to say this.... but having sailed around our coasts and smelt and seen the magnicence of our sewage outfalls I for one would never feel entirely comfortable eating any sort of estuary caught shellfish or fish.

I love our mud as much as the next man - I love the shapes it makes, I love to see the light glistening off it, I love watching the birds that are attracted to it.

I think the water authorities really do their best - but when you have towns as big as London, Colchester and Ipswich at the top of our estuaries....

its too many people, too many loos, food processing factories too many microbes- too many nutrients and trace elements for the estuaries to cope with. .

thats what I think anyway
.
Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tolJayme4jM

 

[Searush]

Dylan,
I may be wrong, but my brother is an ex-civil engineer & I remember him telling me some years ago that NOWHERE in England or Wales releases raw sewage ito the sea or rivers. It is ALL treated first. However, there may be occasional storm incidents that cause untreated sewage to escape, but it isn't a common occurence.

Sure many boats discharge raw sewage direct, but they are a tiny source in a huge bio system designed to deal with such waste - just as sheep, dog & cow poo etc is dealt with on land. This is why all our rivers are much cleaner & contain more biodiversity than they did 30 years ago when raw sewage was still discharged.

I eat cockles & mussels (famous filter feeders) from local waters (they are also farmed locally & much prized - as are oysters) I doubt that a UK Mullet would pose much threat to people who eat them.

 

[dylanwinter]

I know its not raw sewage

But my nose and my eyes tell me that it is anything but pure water - The trouble is that the biological systems in these estuaries are working pretty hard to keep pace with the amount of stuff we throw at them.

I am not that keen on the taste - so why take the risk

Juast as I would never want to eat a fugu fish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugu

Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZJqx-L-gw

Dylan,
I may be wrong, but my brother is an ex-civil engineer & I remember him telling me some years ago that NOWHERE in England or Wales releases raw sewage ito the sea or rivers. It is ALL treated first. However, there may be occasional storm incidents that cause untreated sewage to escape, but it isn't a common occurence.

Sure many boats discharge raw sewage direct, but they are a tiny source in a huge bio system designed to deal with such waste - just as sheep, dog & cow poo etc is dealt with on land. This is why all our rivers are much cleaner & contain more biodiversity than they did 30 years ago when raw sewage was still discharged.

I eat cockles & mussels (famous filter feeders) from local waters (they are also farmed locally & much prized - as are oysters) I doubt that a UK Mullet would pose much threat to people who eat them.

 

[Searush]

The smell will indeed be decaying matter, but it will be dead vegetation & animal matter. The look of the water is suspended sediment, often carried down from the upper reaches of the rivers. The sediment is very fine & the layers as they fall tend to exclude oxygen from the lower levels which prevents some bacteria from completeing thier digestion of the decaying matter. Only anerobic bacteria can operate below the surface & I suspect that this leads to the smell.

The beaches of the Mersey are now clean & look lovely on the surface but the sand is so fine that just below the surface, the sand is black with anerobic bacteria. Not a health hazard, just unsightly if you are not expecting it.

I well remember the days of raw sewage disposal into the river some 40-50 years ago. It is quite different now - believe me "Mersey Goldfish", French letters & other recognisable detritous were commonly seen in the river & on the tide line. You will not see anything like that in UK rivers or on the beaches any more. Might find a few containers tho.

 

[dylanwinter]

all the more shellfish for you then

whatever you say -- I am not going to eat any - ever.

The smell will indeed be decaying matter, but it will be dead vegetation & animal matter. The look of the water is suspended sediment, often carried down from the upper reaches of the rivers. The sediment is very fine & the layers as they fall tend to exclude oxygen from the lower levels which prevents some bacteria from completeing thier digestion of the decaying matter. Only anerobic bacteria can operate below the surface & I suspect that this leads to the smell.

The beaches of the Mersey are now clean & look lovely on the surface but the sand is so fine that just below the surface, the sand is black with anerobic bacteria. Not a health hazard, just unsightly if you are not expecting it.

I well remember the days of raw sewage disposal into the river some 40-50 years ago. It is quite different now - believe me "Mersey Goldfish", French letters & other recognisable detritous were commonly seen in the river & on the tide line. You will not see anything like that in UK rivers or on the beaches any more. Might find a few containers tho.

 

[V1701]

They frequent Brighton Marina, often in groups of half a dozen or so, usually appear to have a group leader, biggest would be a couple of pounds. Maybe in winter they bury themselves in the very soft mud. Apparently they have an "earthy" taste...

 

[Lakesailor]

Dylan,
I may be wrong, but my brother is an ex-civil engineer & I remember him telling me some years ago that NOWHERE in England or Wales releases raw sewage ito the sea or rivers.

Yorkshire Water was always trying to get the River Humber designated as coastal so that they could pump untreated sewage into it.

They never managed and had to install major treatment facilities.

However it would seem at that time (maybe 15 years ago) that untreated sewage could be pumped into coastal waters.

Now there are no "Less Sensitive" Areas In England and Wales (and just 3 in the outer Hebrides and 2 in Ireland) so all the Normal areas require at least a Primary and Secondary treatment of sewage before discharge.

Primary Settlement of suspended solids Less Sensitive Areas discharges:
between 2,000 and 10,000pe to
estuaries; >10,000pe to coastal waters
Secondary Biological treatment Normal areas
(bacterial breakdown) Discharges:
(a) activated sludge process (aerated >2,000pe to fresh and estuarine
agitated liquor); waters >10,000pe to coastal waters
(b) filter beds (sewage trickled over coarse
aggregate coated with bacteria)

Source http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment...uality/sewage/uwwtd/documents/uwwtreport2.pdf

 

[mikefleetwood]

Unless SWW have now finished their "clean sweep" (or whatever it was called) project, there are probably still a few raw sewage outfalls in Cornwall. Lizard area only recieved treatment about 5 years ago - before that there were outfalls at Church cove (half mile off-shore) and Mullion (just piped over the cliff!). Portcurnow area was done a couple of years ago, and I think they are still arguing over a suitable site at Boscastle!

Having said all that, apart from the "scum" on the water at certain states of the tide, seen previously, the only aparrant effect is there doesn't seem to be as many fish now the Church Cove outfall is treated.

 

[DJE]

I have some film of mullet at Waldringfield. The information I found out about them said that they only appear in the estuaries once water temperatures go above 10 degrees C

is this true

if it is.... where do they go in the winter.

And does anybody know if seals eat mullet? I've seen them in Portsmouth Harbour repeatedly diving under and amongst the pontoons and looking like they were feeding.

 

[capt_courageous]

HI
I have tried mullet and it was very like bass and could be passed off as such. The Fench and the Spanish certainly do eat them. I do not know where the 'muddy' idea comes from but I guess it is because mullet are seen in estuaries and do have a dark lining to their gut. People usually say 'They say they taste muddy' but have not actually tried one.
As an ex diver I know that fish, wrasse in particular, love sewage outfalls wherever they are. I also remember kids in the Hamble spearing mullet using dinner forks tied to bamboo canes - beats gameboy anytime.

 

[WF36]

All the marinas in the Algarve have shoals of grey mullet all year round, some quite large, perhaps because not many people eat them.

The ones in Lagos marina are about half the size of the ones on the River Orwell though!!

 

[Kilter]

I have tried mullet and it was very like bass and could be passed off as such. .... I also remember kids in the Hamble spearing mullet using dinner forks tied to bamboo canes

Maybe there's a line of hope for the Major after all!

 

[25931]

Dylan,
I may be wrong, but my brother is an ex-civil engineer & I remember him telling me some years ago that NOWHERE in England or Wales releases raw sewage ito the sea or rivers. It is ALL treated first. However, there may be occasional storm incidents that cause untreated sewage to escape, but it isn't a common occurence.

Sure many boats discharge raw sewage direct, but they are a tiny source in a huge bio system designed to deal with such waste - just as sheep, dog & cow poo etc is dealt with on land. This is why all our rivers are much cleaner & contain more biodiversity than they did 30 years ago when raw sewage was still discharged.

I eat cockles & mussels (famous filter feeders) from local waters (they are also farmed locally & much prized - as are oysters) I doubt that a UK Mullet would pose much threat to people who eat them.

I think that when sewage is macerated it is called "treated" by the authorities

 

[prv]

I also remember kids in the Hamble spearing mullet using dinner forks tied to bamboo canes

One of my mates tried it there with the breadknife taped to the boathook. Didn't get any fish, but did get a slightly odd look rushing round the pontoons jabbing a spear in the water while wearing a very obvious "Lifeguard" T-shirt (he worked at a swimming pool).

Pete

 

[nortonmotors]

Levington life

Small boy "Daddy, what are those fish doing under that boat ?"
Father "Mullet eating the weed, Son"

 

[dylanwinter]

treatment and french letters

I think that when sewage is macerated it is called "treated" by the authorities

agree - when I was working on a radio 4 programme called "Costing the Earth" they sent me to look at the new "treatment" works in scarborough. At the time scarborough used to send its sewage straight out into the sea.

The new facility was indoors - a place the size of a football field. There they had screens to remove everything bigger than a petti pois pea,

the rest was sent out to sea - so if you are swimming there and see - in front of you - a petti pois pea then best keep your mouth shut and breath through your nose for a few strokes.

But thats not the point of the story.

The plastic bags, more obdurate bits of ordure, paper and the inevitable contraceptives were raked out of the flow - compressed into bricks and taken away to another place for full treatment.

There was a bloke who sat in a cabin listening to radio 2 and watching a conveyor belt of detritus passing by. I noticed that there were quite a lot of contraceptives going past his window.

I asked him if there was any sort of pattern to their appearance on his belt.

"Funny that", he said "they do tend to come in bursts" - an excellent collective term for a number of contraceptives I thought.

He told me that they arrived on his conveyor belt a couple of hours after being flushed down the loos of Scarborough.

He used to get a large number come past between midnight and 1am - and a largish number at about eight or nine in the morning - either fresh from the morning or left over from the previous nights activities

"but you know - funny thing is - the largest burst comes through here at about 3 in the afternoon. Dunno about you," he said," "but I don't have access to my wife in the middle of the day.

I just can't work out what is going on in Scarborough".

Just a slice of life - hope its not too offensive.

Dylan