Overfishing of Cod predates trawlers

[Guest jay_con]

@winter@ why not turn your usually admirable cynical and inquisitve mind over to taking that article apart piece by piece and looking at the logic of it.

 

Some big holes in it IMHO.

 

Ill take that as a compliment.

[wurzel]

@winter@

Lifes to short to get to serious, any way I would happily sit beside any of you on a rock or boat put the world to rights have a tinny maybe catch a fish.

 

I know what you mean about scientists, I,ve always thought they tend to lean towards the purse strings, ICES are paid by the EU.

CEFAS do tend to be a bit more loyal to the UK.

one problem I think is that green peace, wwf, english nature, royal commition, Charles **~#* Clover and all the other environmentalists also anglers and most of the population seem to read and believe every thing ICES comes out with.

 

I can not remember what reserch vessel it was.

 

Jaffa

Cris I caught the first monk fish localy last year, only small and I let it go, I had a couple of larger ones while at Whitby, I had a large one in cod nets near the Vearne Bank in the Channel several years ago, While working around the Gower Peninsula S Wales we caught hundreds, these were nearly all very small, what sort white or black I don't know,I Never heard whether the local anglers caught them, It was obviously a nursery area for them, we never caught a large adult but the nets we used were small 100 mm mesh for bass and a large monk fish would more likley bounce off, I might add that they are a hardy fish and appeared to swimm away OK when released.

 

I caught one on me rod once, while conger fishing from Berry Head Devon, it wheighed 33 LB, ugly brute,

A true story, about a couple hours after I caught this fish some other anglers turned up on seeing it one said "bloody hell I reckon you could put your foot in that mouth",(the fishes mouth)So to prove a point I did, big mistake, monk fish of that size have large sharp teeth, on like hinges they lay flat and allow things in but lock up and don't allow them to come out again plus it came back to life and clamped down on to my foot easaly peircing through my welly, once every body had finished crying with laughter it took two of us to prise open its mouth enough to get my foot out.

 

Up until now I always refered them as angler fish, I thought monk fish was a totaly different fish, a bit like a violin shaped skate,

 

Leon

While doing some work on boad yesterday a local angler came over for a chat, he tells me that he'd had a good days cod fishing with a dozen good sized cod, so don't give up hope yet I havn't caught them all yet.

Give the BASS boys my regards, I thought about coming with you, but I think I would be as welcome as a turd in a swimming pool.

 

(Got a 5lb chub from our local river to day)

[Guest jay_con]

You dont seem such a bad sort to me. If Derek thinks your ok you cant be all that bad.

 

Re the monkfish. Im sure big cod told me he caught 1 about 15LB, do they grow to that size?

[Jaffa]

Peter, I've done some reading around on the Monkfish (Angler fish) and there does not seem to be much evidence that temperature is a factor in the distribution of the two species; both are found in the Med for instance and the different distributions there seem to relate to depth and the nature of the ground.

 

It also seems that the bulk of the mature fish are down the contiental slope and if they were left in peace this really could be a sustainable fishery. Just taking the young ones would be an ideal fishery, especily if gill netting was being used correctly.

 

Also came across some information on the Norwegian Gill net fishery for monk. They have rules that mean the nets have to be lifted every second day maximum. It seems we are always well behind the Norwegians.... Sounds like the kind of rule a fisherman would have come up with, like so much of what the Norwegians do.

 

Winter, it was intended as a compliment I like sceptics!

 

Biggest Monk I saw mentioned in the reports was 2 meters! but apparently thats extremely rare.

 

After all this reading I want to catch one now and see if I can the difference between the species ; have taken note and will keep my wellies clear of the mouth though!

 

I guess they put up a lousy "fight " though

[John S]

Sorry but this thread has reached the 6-page limit. I'll start another thread though

 

[ 13. March 2005, 11:48 AM: Message edited by: John S ]