Very Fishy

[Chris_Robb]

They are talking about banning fishing for cod at the moment. However they will still carry on trawling for other fish. Surely they must catch cod as well in the trawls - and then what do they do? Do they just throw the dead cod over the side, because they cannot land it?

There must be some method in the madness

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[Talbot]

The whole fishing policy is madness. You are quite right anything that is too small or the wrong species is heaved back overboard, but is often dead by then. It would be much better to establish areas that are totally forbidden for all forms of fishing to provide safe havens for the developing fish stocks. The fish would quickly learn and thus the species that are rapidly being depleted might just have a chance to survive. Australia does this, and you can dive in the no-fishing areas and see the vast numbers of fish that have learnt that that is the safe area, whereas the numbers in the fishing allowed bit are much smaller.

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[masterofnone]

Thank him upstairs, that the Icelanders won the cod war, or we'd have knackered all the fishing.
The Ednam house hotel in Kelso, keeps records of salmon caught for many years, showing a steady continual decline in catch.
At some stage everybody must understand that it's not a bottomless pit, we must give fish stocks time to recover before they are wiped out.

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[Sgeir]

I feel upset at all that fish being squandered on cats.

<hr width=100% size=1>I had a very nice link until Kim told us off about it. I'm not bitter mind.

 

[Chris_Robb]

Trouble is UK cannot do this on its own. France and Spain eat far more fish that we do. The whole idea of sucking up vast shoals and making them into fertiliser - Russian style also stinks.

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[masterofnone]

Fish is off the menu. Birds, rodents and frogs don't stand a chance. If she would eat slugs and snails it would save me the job of continually buying and planting assorted things in the garden, I thought about getting a hedgehog from the rescue centre but you can't de-flea them.

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[ShipsWoofy]

That is not strictly true. On all the boats I worked we were very fast to sort and throw back the little'ns still flapping. Most fishermen believe it or not are very aware of sustainability and try to minimise waste.

As to Cod fishing, which is done with mid water trawls rather then bottom trawling which is the more common type in this country due to the sandy bottom. The latter is very unlikely to catch any cod. Obviously any that are will probably go to friends and family of the crew. I have never worked purse sieners or pair trawling, both of which I think should be banned immediately.

I think we should ban big boats personally. The big trawlers costing millions have to catch ridiculous amounts to pay back the boat and fuel before the owner, skipper and crew get their cut. If our fleet was restricted to under 36ft and crews of three for example, much less fish would need to be caught in order to sustain a similar lifestyle for the men and many more fish would remain in the water.

Does this make sense.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>

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[Evadne]

Re: Very Slimey

My sister's cat used to eat snails. They are slimey and indigestable, you really don't want to see the results. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif Not as bad as when their cat taught their wacky dog to eat mice though. They live in Lincolnshire.

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[Chris_Robb]

Interesting reply. I agree about the huge factory ships and large trawlers- should be banned. Price of fish would then riise even more, sothat small vessels would make a good living wage, but of course the incentive for illegal fishing will rise

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[Peppermint]

Re: Having visited a trawler bridge

I came up with the theory that removing all of them fishfinders might help the restocking. The skipper said his dad would have cut a swathe through a school of fish but he couldn't folow it. These days they can see the school in glorious colour so they hoover up the whole thing.

I think the fishermen would go along with conservation practices if they made more sense. Slinging back dead & dying fish seems stupid but the real killer id just knowing that some other countries trawlers are going to carry on plundering away.

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[moodycruiser]

In actual fact, having been in deep sea trawlers and one cod war, it's often forgotten that there used to be a proliferation of giant cod in Icelandic waters until the locals had completely fished out the herring shoals and there was nothing for the cod to feed on.
It might also have helped to conserve stocks if half the world and his brother weren't fishing British waters at a time when the British fishing industry was being sold down the drain.

<hr width=100% size=1>Tony