How Gill Nets Work.

[Guest stevie cop]

Hi Nigel, and a happy new year. Nice to see you posting on here. Please write what you think mate, it'll be an education for us all. I'll be around most nights if you want to give me a ring.

 

Mesh size? Not sure it would be a good thing for us. We want to catch bigger fish, but if the mesh size is increased, the gill nets will be taking excatly the fish that we would like to catch more of. Yes, the juvenile bass do need to be allowed to grow, and spawn a few times before being caught. But to allow this, mesh size in gill nets would have to be increased to something like 120mm. Not only is that unrealistic, but they would then be catching bass of 4 and 5 lb, instead of the 1 1/2 to 2 lb fish that they mostly catch now.

 

I don't know what the answer is. Short of banning all gill netting, I suppose limiting it to outside 6 miles, or just allowing it inside certain sectors might be the answer. At least that would allow some of the fish to get around them.

[Spur-Hound]

quote:

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Many anglers use trawled crabs for bait, theseare often trawled in bass and mullet nersury areas, ripping the sea bed up as they go.

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Hmm This is the most confusing argument i think ive ever heard from anyone!

 

For a start. I dont think many(if any at all) anglers actualy trawl crabs, Maybe its just me but ive never heard of this... Through bass and mullet nursery areas...Even if anglers did this. Ok so the bass would have go at crab. But most anglers now adays would put em back. And what mullet would ever touch a crab bait?? Especialy trawled???

 

The most amusing part of your post is when you say ripping the seabed up as they go. Lost for words on that. Errrrrrrmmmm HOW!!!??????? Please elaborate on that for me.

 

Unless im missing something. In which case i humbily appologise...

 

:confused: :confused: :confused: !!!

[A Norfolk Boy]

Good to have some opposing debate on here. We all have differing perspectives and experience and I suspect there is some truth in everthing that is said. I don't know where I stand on these issues because I know I do not enough on the subject. I'd like to think that truth will always win through though. In the meantime, I am taking it as part of my education.

[Ian Burrett]

Apart from a total commercial ban, (which will never happen)I don't think anyone really knows what it will take to replenish the sea, but it has to be immoral to allow fish landings of immature fish. How can any species regenerate with having tha chance to breed.

 

Our local gill netters used to leave female thornies and Turbot in the net during the breeding season so the males would surround it and get caught. These are the guys that now moan about the lack of fish. If they had caught the fish after the breeding season then at least the future generation would have had a chance.

Our local Spur dog shoals went from 5 miles across Pest value to nothing in 5 years. All were heavy females in pup, and would give birth to 9 or 10 live young on the boat. Would it have not made sense for the longliners to wait until after they had had their young? at least leaving an opportunity for regeneration.

In both cases they would have caught the same weight of fish, just a few months later and the offspring would have had a chance.

Some of the ideas to help save stocks are so basically simple.

Don't blame the commercial fisherman but the rule makers that allow these practises.

[dale]

fish ARE food.

that's the problem and always will be.

 

in Scotland & Wales if an angler stood at every constituancy in the elections as they are PR how many mp's would get elected by the list format?

 

that would give us a strong voice?

[GowerRay]

Nets of all shapes and sizes, methods employed etc at: http://www.marlab.ac.uk/FRS.Web/

It's a very informative document and best viewed in the format linked above, which is PDF. May take a while to load on Dial-up.

[Toerag]

Gillnets are good in their selectivity and lack of environmental destruction, however the problem lies with the fact that the mesh sizes allowed are too small. Samuel Cox is right that bigger fish don't often get caught up as their heads are too big to get caught in the meshes, but so is Davy, it's entirely possible for bigger fish to roll themselves up. The Alderney commecial fishermen have a lot of trouble with tope destroying nets when they try to eat the bass & pollack in them, so they chose ones made from mono strong enough to hold fish up to double figures, yet weak enough to let a tope break free. The mesh sizes used only snag fish between 3 and 8lb regularly, even though bigger and smaller fish are present in numbers.

 

Trammel nets - I thought these were constructed so that a fish would push the smaller meshes though the big mesh and trap itslef in a 'pocket'?

 

bennyTHEBASS - Turn your 'caps lock' off please!!!

[Guest 202]

Toerag, yep, and you are right, that is the whole principal of how they work,well, that is until the method was used for drifting, which has changed the game, and as for gillnets,a gill net can be hung/rigged in such a way that that it will either catch just about every fish that hits it, oh yes and that means the small schoolies, ....or for the the less competant they can be be slung together in such a fashion that yes, they catch fish, but not eficiantly, and realy its all about knowing the job, and that is what makes or breaks running an inshore boat, and as I have read in another chaps posting "ploughing up the sea bed" a book on one of my shelves, Calculations for fishing gear designs, blows that chestnut away, how much engine power does it take to tow a trawl??? and thats either one, or twin, or triple rig,your average inshore boat, does not do any great harm to the sea bed, light contact is required, not the stuff that deepsea boats tow, I applaud the conservation efforts that I read about on the web sites, for me its thoroughly interesting reading, all the veiws, some where its either based on what has been gleaned off govt web sites and passed on as factual, and what will as any good accountant tell you? you can make figures say what you want, out of the total allowable catch, {TAC} around the UK,what do you think belongs the UK commercial fishermen?? out of 100%...have a guess, try less than 15% And no I am not going to try and quote the exact % because if its a few % the wrong side I will will probably be told off! I am not trying to make a point, only to say that it is a far bigger picture than than your average chap can picture, how many anglers who have a boat watch these sites and use the info to chuck a few gill nets in to help subsidise the running costs, & make up a bit of extra money? there is going to be exploitation in all walks of life, and whether it be anglers, commercial, it will happen, I get a real buzz out of picking up info off these pages on angling, its something that is informative[you can tell chaff from wheat]but there you go,...happy to talk, Oh, and listen,

[Guest stevie cop]

Would you say that many commercial fishermen would be would be hurt by a ban on gill nets within 1 mile of the shore? Or would that be one too many nails in the coffin? By Commercial fishermen, I mean legitimate, licensed, full time fishermen. Not part time and hobby fishermen.

 

Which leads me to my next question. What percentage of commercial boats around the UK are full time?

[Guest 202]

Evening Steve, the answer is......NO, as I have said to you its likes of them that slaughter the creeks in the summer with a few gill nets and what they do not sell to chinese restaurants, the take home and its barby Q schooly with every thing, yes a bit of ring netting is done at times when its a bit grim in summer, but it has to be grim,what few bona fide [ I pay tax on commercial fishing earnings] fishermen are left I am sure would like all options left open right up to the beach, but the reality is... it would never be taken up, its only only people topping up their back pockets for cash that seem to be recognised and then get put in the catagory of "FISHERMEN" as for % of boats...mmmmmmm untill they change the register, oh, and they will, all your P/T hobby people are on that with REGISTERED fishing boats, which as I say figures can say any thing,they do not persue a living at it and there by should not be in that catagory, but it will change cos when they have to pay a yearly fee to rent a licence then they will have to think "can I catcth enough black fish to justify this" me thinks...not, oof the top of my head not sure localy it is small pro rata,