Marine Protected Areas.

[sam-cox]

MPAs should work well where they have very specific well researched scientific objectives

 

Who does the above as it aint DEFRA.

[Guest toplessfishing]

I dont understand any of this. We all as Englishmen have the god givern right to harvist what we like from the sea. Its part of natures rich larder.

[stavey]

I dont understand any of this. We all as Englishmen have the god givern right to harvist what we like from the sea. Its part of natures rich larder.

 

what happens when natures rich larder is no longer not so rich topless eh?

[Jaffa]

MPAs should work well where they have very specific well researched scientific objectives. Protecting sedentary populations (scallops spring to mind, spawning aggregations etc ) should be easily done and understandable.

 

The problem arises where they are put in place with little justification and no objectives. MPAs should not be 'no take', unless that matches up with the objectives. One reason is that you have to measure success, if there isn't an objective then it won't work.

 

To a point Julian, but surely is worth trying a few no take zones just to see what happens? Very unscientific but so is so much of the arguements against reserves.

 

On your specific examples, a couple of things spring to mind:

 

From my experience in scallop diving, scallops are not totally sedentary; an area "cleaned out" can be reoccupied within a year, and thats not through recruitment, but movement of adult scallops. Im guessing that just like you will always find a trout in the best feeding spot in a stream, you will always get scallops in certain places. I've never seen anything to suggest the scallop, as a species in the UK, is under threat.

 

FWIW my best ever couple of weeks as a scallop diver came from a voe (lake/loch) in Shetland that had a really narrow bottleneck of an entrance. The water used to rip through there. The entrance was two hard rock cliffs either side, then after that a 100ft deep central channel, with steeply rising sandy slopes to the surface. It was scallop heaven and it will be still

 

There were NO small scallops there that i saw; not one. Nor did i a year later.

 

I have a problem with the "damage" the dredges do in many areas but can also see that its way more complicated than my experience/views. A dredge towed across a shltered reef, with a complex and old mix of species; then im with you. Failing to recognise that they also tow in dynamic areas, where disturbance is normal; whats that about? There is nothing "scientific" or objective about that?

 

So does a well researched example of dredging damage in one place really give cause for an automatic ban somewhere else where it migt be totally irrelevant?

 

The problem arises where they are put in place with little justification and no objectives. MPAs should not be 'no take', unless that matches up with the objectives. One reason is that you have to measure success, if there isn't an objective then it won't work.

 

Whose objectives by the way?

[Leon Roskilly]

Then MPA agenda moves forward.

 

See:

 

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Conservation-and-Po...Sanctuary-.html

[Steve Coppolo]

Then MPA agenda moves forward.

 

See:

 

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Conservation-and-Po...Sanctuary-.html

 

If these MPA's are a government requirement, why are EN, etc, trying to find funding for them?

[Guest toplessfishing]

Few understand my views and the way I choose to lead my life.

How is it wrong for me to not only use a rod and line but also nets and long lines.

What is more the sustainable way to fish? My use of a few hundred yards of nets, and a few hundred hooks from the shore? Or a large factory boat sucking fish from the depths of our seas?

 

Who can tell me that I have no right to harvest the seas rich free super market?

 

I collect all varieties of shellfish free of charge and enjoy many evenings picking out winkles, or a feast of brown shrimp.

 

All bait for my long lines and fishing rods is dug or collected free off charge. My cat never has caned food he is fed on pout, small pout and the like free off charge.

 

I don’t pay for my veg as it’s all grown in my back garden free of charge.

 

See to me life is for living, and part of living is being close to nature. I would expect that I’m more of a conservationist that most anglers or proper fishermen.