Time to ban the Trawl ?

[sailbadthesinner]

No i deal with mobile phone masts
so my 'erections' are even more controversial.
the porn star thing is only on an amateur basis ;-)

...It was like that when i found it!

 

[iangrant]

Re: So how do we take it further?Ian.

The fella I went with is of the "old school" - he did care about the harbour - he feeds the seals - loves the life - "I don't bother the tax man and the tax man don't bother me" etc..
It's not fair that this type of character has had their megre living taken by the big boys from Europe emptying the sea!

Ian

 

[longjohnsilver]

Simple solution

Is to restrict the engine power and length of the boats. The more power they have the greater the damage done and the longer the boats then the further afield they will go, destroying someone elses patch.

As proof just look at the size of the French and spanish vessels, most are enormous and lots of them are over here!!

 

[billmacfarlane]

Has anyone read the book called Cod. It's all about the history surrounding the fishing for cos and how it changed the path of history ? Fascinating stuff.

 

[Aja]

Next one on the list. Currently reading 'Salt'. Excellent stuff!

Donald

 

[ParaHandy]

Yes....never say another rude word abt cod liver oil! The history of the destruction of Newfoundland Banks is desperate. Fascinating relationship between sugar trade and salted cod! You traded in sugar and the code kept you alive!

Let me know yr vacation plans 2003? Just so I know when to go off and get decent weather.......have fun

 

[mtb]

Out before dawn but

yet again not even a bite , two rods two handlines and only crabs , Fred caught those and did he give us some stick.

Left as soon as enough tide then pushed it all the way out to the Wash, tug loved it , got out well before dawn 3.20 am opp Freemans Channel and in to the deeps by about half a mile.
Set rods up all excited expecting fish , you know those things that used to ravage any thing that went into the water
BUT NOUT yet again

High note was a fantastic sunrise oh and yanks and brits on the ranges . We sat in the middle enjoying a fantastic display of flying.

Strange no trawlers sighted !!
Mick

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boats
I want a big steel ex trawler / tug v / cheap or swap for tug

 

[poter]

Yes but that\'s not all!

Agree with most of this thread & it is a conundrum which T. Blair is not going to solve, as one contributor said ‘out of sight out of mind’. This government 'cows' down to the EU and have no forward planning, hence the French still not taking our beef & look at the BSE cock-up, only now the new recommendations are that vaccination should be used not a general cull.... wow of course we didn't know that did we?
Even more worrying is the fact that not only are the fishing stocks in danger, but now also the larger predators such as sharks (not glamorous I admit but a superb animal, which is a product of millions of years of evolution) & Whales and Dolphins.
Dolphins are already at risk from trawler nets, and according to a recent survey, the Dolphin population around the coast of Britain has reduced dramatically over the last 5 years!! YES 5 YEARS.
And now of course just while all the controversy is raging on about fish stocks through out the world, the US government, the champions of the Kyoto agreement…. my arse… has come up with something even more deadly to the Mammals of the sea. Two nights ago Abc News reported that the Defence Dept was planning on wide deployment of the Low Frequency Sonar Detection System. This is an outrageous assault on marine life in our oceans.
The system uses sound with a decibel level that is equivalent to standing next to an F-14 jet fighter at take-off. Within a few hours after a test in the Caribbean a couple of years ago, dying whales and dolphins began beaching themselves, bleeding profusely from their ears.
The Navy says to avoid such "collateral damage", it will only be used at a distance of 12 miles from our shores. What they are really doing is avoiding the unpleasant publicity of beached sea mammals, letting them die and sink to the bottom far away from the public's eyes.
Once again the Bush administration is saying that there is no billion-dollar boondoggle that they will turn down when proposed by their friends in the defence industry, and justifying it by the so-called "War on Terrorism". Perhaps Donald Rumsfeld and his cronies would like to don scuba gear and dive during a test to experience the damage caused by this totally unnecessary system.

Of course T.Blair and spinners won’t complain, as they will no doubt have some input into the system.. like the f16’s

So the assault on the sea is not just bad fishing practice, but all self interest groups, including you and me … we have an oil fired boiler..

What the answer is, I have no idea but it certainly isn’t simple.

Poter

 

[Guest]

This is a very depressing subject, and one that has no workable solution that I can see.

It's not just UK waters which are heading for a grand banks style collapse. I've lamented with trawler fishermen in the azores over the disappearing atlantic stocks, and have experienced first hand the decline of the fishing industry in Australia whilst working on longliners and prawn trawlers.

Fish are just getting smaller and smaller, scarcer and scarcer, fisherman work longer and harder and pay less regard to preservation laws than ever in order to make ends meet. This situation is not going to improve.

I think the most depressing experience was speaking to the BIG factory trawlers (complete with helidecks etc) in victoria, seychells. They fish for tuna, mainly for the insatiable japenese market. A lot of the boats were origionaly based in the pacific but relocated to the indian ocean after plumeting catches led to their operations becoming uneconomic.

I was told that the situation in the indian was rapidly following suit. Boats were having to stay out longer and longer to fill their (vast) holds. Yet again tuna were becoming smaller and scarcer. More boats chasing the same diminishing stock of fish with increasingly efficient and mechinised methods.

Where now? If the F*ing pacific and indian oceans are running out of sustainable stocks, and the atlantic is on it's last legs where do we go from here? The only solution is to impose a blanket ban on all commercial fishing worldwide which, given the fact that fish is the main protein source for billions is really not going to happen. Short sightedness and profit will always prevail over unpalatable common sense.

I'd give it 10 to 15 years max until the truly horrific grand banks situation replicates itself worldwide

The thought of one species becoming extinct due to exploitation is terrible enough. The fact of the matter is that we are facing the prospect of completely empty oceans. The thought almost defies imagination. If anyone could advise me of the term for ".....cide" on this scale I'd be grateful.

Sorry for ranting on but the situation really concerns me.

Incidently I still eat fish. I love it and my abstention will not make a jot of difference until there is a blanket ban.

Eat as much as you can. When it's gone it's gone.

Jim

 

[Guest]

Fishermen always blame someone else ........

....... it's come with the territory.

I mean can you hear a sane one saying "Oh yes - we emptied the sea, made a fortune, drank it away in that pub over there and thought it would last forever."

)))

Ian D

 

[Guest]

Meagre living !!!!!????????????????

"Crying all the way to the bank" would be more like it!!

How do you think these people managed to buy such huge ships - a cheap one came in at about £500,000!!!!!!

That's just the Owners. Up around Fraseburgh and Peterhead the fishermen themselves were known for their hard drinking and hard spending lifestyle. Fast cars, fast motorbikes and their wives tended to drive whopping great 4x4's just to drop the kiddies off at school.

Yes - it got meagre - but that was AFTER they had knackered the fisheries.

The UK Fishermen ALWAYS blame someone else for their woes. It's the Spanish, or the French, or the Government or the European Union but they conveniently forget that they removed all the herring themselves and had been kicked out of Icelandic waters for overfishing as far back as the 50's (impementation of the 12 mile limit) and 60's (implementation of the 50 mile limit).

As individuals most of them are great company. As conservationists they make Maggie Thatcher look like Mother Theresa.

Best regards )

Ian D

 

[Forbsie]

Unfair

Not all fisher folk are rich. My family were all in the fish business up until the 50's and we definitely were not rich. I'm sure I remember when I was a kid in Aberdeen, the Red Cross used to deliver food parcels to the fishermen's cottages in Queens Road and up the Den. The poverty and squallor was a sight to see in those days.

;o))

 

[halcyon]

Re: Fishermen always blame someone else ........

May be true, may not , but I was told last night that the British fishing fleet quota is 5% of the the catch from British waters. If so does not make a lot of differance what the British fishing fleet conserve !

Anyone now the truth ?.


Brian

 

[chippie]

It is not just a British problem, here in NZ our territorial waters are raped by fishing boats from other (usually Asian) countries who often form joint ventures with local companies to gain access to the fishing grounds.
The shopper in Tokyo can buy tuna and other species because the can pay a price that Kiwis cant or wont.
I have no time for large scale commercial fishing as I see the practicioners of it taking a resource that belongs to all.
Fishermen are like loggers, they will keep taking until it is all gone.