How Gill Nets Work.

[Ian Burrett]

The scandinavians used to use sandeel oil to run their power stations.

I am not sure if this practise still goes on, but must have put paid to tens of millions of sandeels. If you take out your basic foodchain then the consequences are predictable.

Things will never change as the majority of anglers would rather winge and moan, than actually do something positive about the situation.

[Guest 202]

Sam, I dont know who you are speaking on behalf of, but as the only full time chaps in the blackwater work out of Mersea,.....perhap its a part timer ??

 

[ 08. January 2005, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: 202 ]

[arthurcodsbody]

stavey:

just get rid of nets out to 3 miles from the shore full stop, that way we get a chance to catch fish, the fish get a chance spawn, and the commercials catch a better size of fish further out,simple innit.

here here why can't everyone have some common sense. A protected nursery around our coast will do far more to encourage spawning than changing net size etc. Coming from a fishing town (Grimsby) and now living in another one (Arbroath) i really do feel for fishing families but if we are all honest they havn't help themselves over the years.

[Guest 202]

perhaps I am mssing a point...how were they supposed to, they battled against every thing to get a living, not a fortune, a living, judge them along side a farmer that uses nitrates to get more out of the land, no differance to me

[Toerag]

Alan, how do wreck-netters net the wrecks? lay the nets right over the top, or 'box' the wreck in by laying round it? Rumour has it that the main Weymouth wreck-netting boat has given up on the round fish and is now after the turbot/monks/rays around the wrecks.

[Guest bennyTHEBASS]

Toerag, they put the net right over the hulk thus trashing a lot of nets. a very skilled procedure.

[arthurcodsbody]

202, 'how were they supposed to' what? help themselves.... commercial fishermen have spent the last 40 years raping the sea bed of everything they can get out of it, your right in the fact that they are the same as farmers ie, greedy lots of people have made lots of money from fish. Grimsby 30 years ago was a very rich town but as most when their on to a good thing, they think it'll never end, reminds me a bit of the internet bubble, but now the days of massive landings and big bucks are gone, why? because they havn't been thoughtfull enough to realise that the pixies dont just flood the sea with marine life every night, it needs time to recover from the damage of been taken for granted.

 

Anyway I'll get of my soapbox, it just annoys me when they go on about this, that and the other when they are the main cause of the mess their in.

[Alan Taylor]

Toerag:

Alan, how do wreck-netters net the wrecks? lay the nets right over the top,  

Usually strait over the top of the wreck up and down the tide run. There is normally a a "scoure" at each end of the wreck that has been washed out by the tide, feeding fish will stay there feeding until the tide changes and then will move to the other end at slack water, this is when the nets catch the most and one of the reasons that anglers don't catch so much at slack water.

Spawning fish will also use the slack to spawn in the wreck.

Cod are predators and will feed on small Pout etc that are also spawning in the wrecks so if you take the Cod out of the picture you have an increase in the numbers of Pouting (also predators)so any Cod eggs/fry that do get layed/hatch have a greater number of Pouting feeding on them. The food chain is put out of sync.

Wrecks can be very snaggy so sections or even complete nets can be lost on the wreck. Lost nets will continue fishing for years, the crabs will pull the net down into the wreck (and die)but small fish will still get caught up in what is now a much smaller mesh.

The sides and ends of wrecks will produce some very nice catches of Sole, Plaice and other flat fish with very little loss of gear.

Some wrecks break up during there demise so when you find the main hull of a wreck it is worth looking around the immediate area for smaller sections that may have broken away. These sections usually hold more fish as they are not worth netting as a rule, if a section shows up just hit the MOB button

 

Hope this helps with your angling.

 

Alan

[Toerag]

Cheers Alan, that should help me next time I see bobbers on a wreck. I know that all the wrecks I fish are in one or more pieces easily, I have sidescan somar images from the hydrographic office Is there any correlation between the 'size' of a wreck and the size & species of fish on it? I fish wrecks that vary between a pile of wreckage 5ft high, to an intact 7000ton+ steamer that is 80ft high. Do 'big' wrecks produce any better? I have heard that the big ones are impossible to net, yet I haven't really had much success on them. I find them hard to fish properly as it's not easy to keep my bait in the hot zone just in front of the wreck without snagging the top as I drift over it.

[Ian Burrett]

A situation arose in Luce Bay last year, where the local commercial inshore fisherman's livihood was being threatened by a huge boat from Cornwall.

 

The lads were fishing from 16-20 ft boats for Whelks (Bookies) with approx 60 -80 pots each, and making a fair sustainable wage. This boat arrived with over 1000 pots and worked in all weather, night and day.

 

This vessell took take more in a month than the 6 local lads took collectively in a year and with future visits could wipe out their living.

 

The point i am trying to get round too is, "It's all a matter of size." Inshore gill netting could perhaps????????? be ok and sustainable, if limited to 16-20 ft boats. Its when you get 70 ft boats capable of putting out thousands of yards of net that does the damage to the sea and local commercial interests.

 

Yet, it is still possible to obtain grants from Europe for super trawlers, that will destroy more inshore jobs as well as fish stocks.

 

A few rich large boat owners make a fortune out of the sea, but the reality is. many inshore fisherman work bloody hard to make a fair wage in the summer and a very limited one in winter. I am pally with a few of the local boys and they share our love of the sea and our views on conservation with a passion. Two off them have given up secure jobs in the city to work the sea and get just as pxxxxxd off with the large rapists of the sea, as you or I.

Believe me, the majority of commercial fisherman, have their own set of problems.

They often get attacked on mass, on this Forum, as the wicked enemy, but many are hardworking decent caring lads trying to put food on the table, the same as the rest off us.

 

As a conclusion my personal views are that, future fishing boats should be limited by size or horsepower to reduce the negative effects any one boat could cause.

 

Don't blame the commercial fisherman, blame the rulers that allow it.