Ian Burrett

It isn't just monkfish. Asda tesco and waitrose refused to sell rays and skate last summer unless they were fished from a sustainable source. Within a week meetings were hastily arranged between Sypermarkets, defra, WWF, sharktrust, fishermen and processors and a deal drawn up which is voluntary at the moment but hopefully will become law soon, this will impose a maximum landing limit. This is designed to protect the larger female breeding stock and will be the first time in Europe a MLL has been implemented as a conservation management tool. Proposals like fishermen having to land the complete ray or skate, so their can be no discrepancies in size are also being considered. The carcases can then be used for pot bait rather than being dumped as they are now. All supermarkets have agreed to stop selling sharks. Didn't they also refuse to sell North Sea Cod earlier last year

Hi Steve Sorry about the misunderstanding. The reason Defra are giving is, all the available staff are working on the white paper for the marine bill. The waiting is doing my head in. I was hoping if successful, the proposals would be in place by the time the main tope packs came this year but it doesn't look like its going to happen for this year

Fisheries 2027: towards a contract for the future of marine fisheries Defra today launched a public consultation on its long-term vision for marine fisheries. Please click on this link www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/fish-2027/index.htm www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/fish-2027/index.htm> to download a copy. This is the first example of an environmental contract in practice. The draft contract is intended to clarify our aims for the fisheries sector in 2027 and set out the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders. Copies of the consultation have been included in the Friday 2 February 2007 edition of industry newspaper Fishing News, and further copies have been sent to stakeholders. Copies will also be available at Marine Fisheries Agency port offices (see www.mfa.gov.uk <www.mfa.gov.uk> for addresses).

Hi Steve The first byelaw was the North eastern SFC and was implemented after some great work by SOS member Nigel Proctor. He helped bring in this as there is now an established recreational fishery for tope from Bridlington southwards. They are also in numbers off Whitby at certain times of the year. To suggest that the byelaws are imposed where the tope aren't isn't true. The byelaws are hopefully a temporary measure until defra have announced the results of the tope consultation. The tope are caught in huge numbers by the French and Channel Islanders. but I read of two being caught in Wales this week, so perhaps the tope will stay in UK waters for a longer period similar to the Bass. The consultation was brought in, as defra realised that if the Lowestoft threat failed others would follow. There is no doubt the tope will go the the same way as the spurdog, unless controls are put in place. The spurdog used to be found in packs five miles across, right round Britain and apart from a local pocket in Wales is rarely caught by RSA except in the deep Scottish lochs. Although listed as endangered in UK waters, the tope are severely endangered in other parts of the world as they they have become targeted for their fins. It is worth remembering that the tope is known as the soupfin shark in other parts of the world. As the far East gets richer, the demand for shark soup is growing and the number of sharks are decreasing. Although only my opinion the suggestion that defra would act to pacify RSA after the results of the BMP is ridiculous. The original idea for the tope consultation was as a result of discussions with the Sharktrust which has no direct link to angling. The consultation was purely a conservation issue, which anglers should benefit from. If the conspiracy theory is correct why hasn't defra announced the result of the consultation. I remember your frustration at the delay in the Bass results, we have been waiting over four months now for the tope results.

Hi Wurzel The French and the Spanish have an organised fishery for the porbeagle and tried last year to change the way fish have to be landed with the intention of allowing them to finn more porbeagles. Fortunately, this was stopped with the help of the Shark Alliance as the species is critically endangered on the IUCN list. Up till last December it was a free for all but the cfp has placed a TAC on the species. SOS are pushing as part of the Shark Alliance for a zero commercial catch until stocks recover. There are also Porgies in the North sea, even off Whitby, as SOS proved with their two summer promotional trips fishing aboard Malcolm Pitman's Sea Spray, where we tagged and released porgies and lost others on both trips Richard ward has also has some success.

There's a certain irony here as the cfp has just raised the TAC on monkfish by 10 per cent

The charter boat Industry receives no handouts from anyone. Unfortunatley

priceless.

A big well done for Steve Coppolo and Tom Pinborough for their hard work on this.

I will quite happily pay the same price for a license as the commercial fishermen paid for their license, when they were issued around 1990 Oh! I forget they were free I also expect £16000 a year paid into my bank account because that's what it costs the taxpayer per year to keep each individual commercial fisherman going. I also expect the law to be changed so I can go on the dole in winter as the local commercial fishermen do. I also expect a rebate on the cost of the courses that i need to keep my current chartering license. Unlike commercial fishermen we have to pay for ours. A grant would be nice also to increase my horsepower

Which means a million anglers don't

Hi Wurzel There just aren't that many Bass in SW Scotland. Those that know what they are doing will catch on a regular basis but will still have blanks. Last year the numbers were down on the previous year but a lot of larger fish were caught.

I am not sure what you are basing your figures on Wurzel. Bit I would suggest at least half of the anglers in the UK are quite happy returning all fish except bait fish It would be an even higher figure for folk that fish the West coast from Cornwall up to Oban, where the anglers tend to target specific species like tope, rays, smoothound, Wrasse, conger skate etc.. For species like the Bass there is probably only 1 in 5 anglers that actually catch one, so any guestimate of figures is impossible

I like this site for ST's www.uni-koeln.de/math-nat-fak/geomet/meteo/winfos/snoweuropa.gif

SOS had a good mention on the Thursday programme www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/sharkhunt/?focuswin

Hi BC It seems to have baffled the scientists too. The pipefish explosion is worrying the RSPB www.ceh.ac.uk/news/press/pipefish.asp

To confirm what Steve (seaside) has said. At meetings with the exec. we deliberately kept away from commercial species like the cod and Haddock but did say we would be looking for conservation on the elasmobranches, which have very little commercial interest in Scotland. The boats doing the main damage are from Lincolnshire. We emphasized that with good management their would be more fish for RSA and commercials alike. The Irish sea Cod and Haddock Stocks are now pitiful and as Steve has said on a previous post, this has caused the loss of many charter boats and subsequent tackle shops, bait diggers, hoteliers etc.

Monty Halls has kindly just agreed to become the Patron of SOS Monty can be seen tonight on channel 5 at 7.15 presenting a programme about the Humpback whales in a series called Great Ocean Adventures Monty is described as an Author, Adventurer, TV presenter, film maker and public speaker. Further details can be found at www.montyhalls.co.uk/index.html His criticism of poor management of the sharks worldwide is well documented and he will be a great asset to SOS

Having been checked for prostrate troubles I can confirm I don't fancy the idea one bit.

Having been checked for prostrate troubles I can confirm I don't fancy the idea one bit.

It's butt plugs you should be enquiring about

With talk of sharing beds, snatcher losing his cherry and Nick getting blown out, I am wondering what sort of event this is.

Hi Steve You have more faith than me if you think the science will have any influence on stock management decisions, from either the eu or Defra The science has suggested for four years that an immediate ban on cod fishing is necessary and SOS with the shark Alliance put forward a good scientific case for a zero catch on Porbeagles and Spurdog, which was backed by the FAO, ICES and CITES. All were ignored at last Decembers Eu meetings. CFP conservation is all about damage limitation to commercial jobs, with little thought to the needs of the fish stocks. Defras thinking is changing in regards to the elasmobranches but for any real effective conservation then the mindset of the eu has to change.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h317/IanBurrett/images.jpg

What do you men at my age. I'm still only 21 in my head; just no one told the body. At least I can't use the excuse of having to drive home any more.