No Take Zones - Good for Anglers?

[frankthebass]

NTZ,s and any other restrictions on our angling practises would only be tollerated if commercial fishing was greatly restricted.

Its got to be the golden mile and larger MLS,es, or even slot sizes.

[wurzel]

Hello Barry

 

Quote

Thanks for the welcome Wurzel. Two posts and you have shot me down in flames already. I state the varne bank as fished out commercially apart from many, many small immature cod that have not and do not get the chance to breed before being shovelled up. From a commercial point of view this fish at that size cannot have a great value. I therefore do not see any problem in making this area a NTZ. From a rsa point of veiw i do not 'get off' from catching this size of codling all day, again i consider it appropriate to make it a NTZ. If after a period of time there is no improvement, then revert back to the same old situation of every one takes all? If there is an improvement then the suggestion is to manage the area sustainably.

 

 

 

Not shot down in flames, I just try to point out the reality to these conservation theories, I agree that the coddling are caught at a too early age, mainly by the French stern trawlers, you would have probably noticed them if you have fished the Verne regularly, they are the large usually black and white trawlers, the same ones that have been harassing the potters off the Yorkshire coast recently.

With the cod recovery plan already in force I am not sure if they would be allowed to take a fraction of the cod that they have caught in the past, British boats would not, but the French, who knows! These days they seem content on catching tons of whiting.

 

I would welcome a big increase in the minimum landing size for cod, it is the only thing that might do some good, note I said, might.

 

The thing is those cod are not unique to the Verne, as I stated all the other offshore banks are populated with cod or more like codling, as they never seem to be over about 5 or 6 LB on the good years, I think once bigger they tend to stay deeper or move onto wrecks.

They also don't stay on the banks all year round, the banks I fish which are a bit further north, they show up around April and are gone by August, I have heard that the Verne fishes for a bit longer.

It must be nearly 10 years since there were any amount of cod on these banks, that was for a couple of years after several with out any, it depends on the year classes. There are a couple of banks that for one reason or another (to steep or rough) don't see much commercial fishing, if there are none on the others there are also none on these, I can only assume the same would apply to the Verne.

It is a good sign that you are catching small coddling, chances are you might get some good fishing in a couple of years, by making it a closed no take zone you would be denying your self of some good easily accessible summer cod fishing, with very little if any benefit to the overall stocks, after a few years those same fish will be of a size where they go some where else, so unless there is another good year class coming on, the Verne bank will be short of cod whether it's fished or not.

[barry luxton]

[quote name='wurzel' date='Oct 30 2006, 10:53 PM' post='688226'

 

 

 

Hello again wurzel,

 

Many thanks again for your comments. I'm not sure but there was something this year with regards to the french illegal fishing where the EU is fining the french goverment millions of pounds on going all the time the fleet is carring out illegal practises. If so i would imagine it is easier for their goverment to continually pay these fines than clash with their own fleet with the usuall consequences, blockades etc.

 

Please enlighten me on the present situation regarding the cod recovery plan. I agree that the mls for cod and also the majority of the fish caught should be radically overhauled upwards. I.E. 300mm for cod? practically the same for turbot. I have previousley stated elsewhere that this is classed as child molesting if it was in human terms.

 

From memory we used to catch a lot bigger and alot more cod from the varne, so they have gone somewhere. As you say the size of codling is too small to be caught, again i consider that they should be left alone, purley on the chance if they move somewhere and have a chance to grow we all benifit in the long term. This year in addition to a lot more codling on the varne, we have also seen the same on the surrounding wrecks so this can only be a good thing.

 

regards barry

[wurzel]

hello Barry

 

Quote

Please enlighten me on the present situation regarding the cod recovery plan. I agree that the mls for cod and also the majority of the fish caught should be radically overhauled upwards. I.E. 300mm for cod? practically the same for turbot. I have previousley stated elsewhere that this is classed as child molesting if it was in human terms.

 

 

They have done every thing except increase the MLS, cut quotas,cut the amount of days allowed at sea, increased cod end meshes to 120mm and gill net meshes to 140mm, gill nets of 140 mm catch very few cod of less than 4 or 5lb in weight.

None of these things has done much good, not in the south east any way.

2 chillier winters have produced a couple of better year class of codlings, still nothing like what we used to experience 20-30 or 40 years ago.

 

Barry you keep saying that these codling should be left alone, so, who is acually fishing for them, have you seen any body acually catching loads of small codling? The only people fishing for them here are anglers,I have not heard of any amount of coddlings being landed any where in the South East.

[barry luxton]

hello Barry

 

Quote

Please enlighten me on the present situation regarding the cod recovery plan. I agree that the mls for cod and also the majority of the fish caught should be radically overhauled upwards. I.E. 300mm for cod? practically the same for turbot. I have previousley stated elsewhere that this is classed as child molesting if it was in human terms.

They have done every thing except increase the MLS, cut quotas,cut the amount of days allowed at sea, increased cod end meshes to 120mm and gill net meshes to 140mm, gill nets of 140 mm catch very few cod of less than 4 or 5lb in weight.

None of these things has done much good, not in the south east any way.

2 chillier winters have produced a couple of better year class of codlings, still nothing like what we used to experience 20-30 or 40 years ago.

 

Barry you keep saying that these codling should be left alone, so, who is acually fishing for them, have you seen any body acually catching loads of small codling? The only people fishing for them here are anglers,I have not heard of any amount of coddlings being landed any where in the South East.

 

Hi Wurzel,

 

Fair point in the last paragath, i do not know what is happening to them if they are not being landed.

 

 

regards barry

[smooth-hound]

They are getting caught in drift nets in the Thames.

[frankthebass]

Yes they are but only as a very small by-catch by fishermen targeting soles and late bass.

 

The charter fleet will probably take more codling from 1.5lb to 3.5lb that the commercial fleet. Most boats took over 50 codling per trip last season!

[wurzel]

They are getting caught in drift nets in the Thames.

 

 

 

We certainly hammered them last week, all 5 of them.

[frankthebass]

Back when men were men and a cod was a fish of over 6lb cod fetched a ok price. Now they are nearly all small small codling they arnt worth tupence. But anglers seem to think its ok to bash anthing over 35cm straight over the head, then call anything over 3lb a decent cod.