Jaffa

If thats the Danes at full bore for sandeel then it might make the comedy awards. If thats your good self trying to say it was the Danes wot done it then good luck

Anyone remember the story about the NE crew being held at gunpoint by the RN about a year back? Was it nonsense or was their something to it?

Hi Clive, Why indeed did that boat dump 80% of her catch in full view of a Norwegian Coastguard vessel? Dunno about your experince but in mine the Norwegian coastguard don't muck about and will take take a wrongdoer directly to a Norwegian court at gunpoint if they thought their law had been broken. They do not muck about when it comes to fisheries. But they didnt do that in this case. Im not sure what was going on in that film. Any chance you can tease it out and figure it? Chris

Ta Wurzel, But i wish you had just said im a sad delusional idiot and nothing of the kind had happened.. Hopefully Leon will be along with a plaster soon.

Morning Clive. You used the example to "demonstrate an ethical issue" when you admit you don't actually know what was going on in that film?

Our Seas are only "living" when someone with a .org behind their name says they are?

The MP for Reading , which must be about as far away from the sea as is possible in the Uk, has pledged to fight for marine reserves that will not effect any of his voters but will have huge effects on the poor sods living off the sea.. Fantastic. You could not make it up. Is Reading some kind of Utopia? so much so that its MP has the time on his hands to spend " spreading the gospel"?

Wurzel I seem to remember reading that when quotas for the traditional Newfoundland fisheries were gradually opened back up again they were bought up by big American companies and the fishermen that gave up their right to fish to "save the stock" never got a look in . Clearly thats got to be me in a delusional dream state again. Any truth at all to that or was i having nightmares?

I've cut back your war and peace length response to your paragraph about the question originally asked. Hope you don't mind My understanding is that this boat would be breaking the law by carrying that fish in UK waters because they had no quota for it but would also break Norwegian law if they had dumped it where they were fishing. Have i got it wrong? I think i know what low and high grading are, but can't see what the Telegraphs Youtube "scoop" has to do with either?

****s. The worst thing any Sea angler could do IMHO is buy into this nonsense. Look at the way the winds blowing, tell the buggers sod all, blank every questionaire. They wish to box, classify and control but they are dinosaurs. Our hobby survived all the madness of the last 30 years. Nice that the control freaks manage to catch up several decades after the worst of it

Not sure if i should laugh or cry after reading that. brings back old memories of the madhouse So go on Clive, tell me what that video was about and why they were doing what they were doing?

Being a bit old, I found this very disturbing. No idea what this big "big picture" is. I guess my betters must know though.. not.

Whats "balanced" about a page long article that states the causes of the Eels decline are unknown, states this decline is happening the world over yet gives a line to the possibility it might be due to oceanograhic changes.. Rest of the article is essentially about putting the boot into the poor sods you can actually get a hold of to blame; lets have a riot and beat up a local commercial, lets have a lawyers love-in and create another ton of useless legislation to pander to the interests of the real endangered species ..

Hard to argue with that observation. Chris

Finding a "Marine expert Professor Callum Roberts, from University of York" in your bathtub. If you are really unlucky you will also witness the feeding frenzy of journalists as they to gather to feed "at the pipe" . I know its actually a very happy relationship; where the journalist does not really harm or annoy the glum Roberts, and the glum Roberts keeps them well fed, but it puts me off my tea, never mind risking money in some hare brained scheme like fishing.

You got kids? Never mind, this post is clearly just a windup.

A "top man"? I take it he really knows about fisheries then?

It should be an individual choice unless there is overwhelming evidence to suggest a stock is endangered. Despite all the money and hype from all the commercials, the supermarkets, and the greens, not a single species of seafish has become extinct in my lifetime. The term "endangered" has taken on a media life of its own. We are currently being bombarded by a dying print media, who can only sell by through fear, and politicians that cling to that because they are unsure where to go; so they go with whats easy and cheap (for the papers anyway - costs the rest of us a fortune). No more than a handful of our politicians have a clue about fisheries while loads of them have been educated in media, so thats what they react to. F**k em all - life might not be as planned by others, but those magic moments floating in the crystal clear kelp beds inshore, or seeing the last of a baitball from a 13ft kayak while a mile and and a half ashore is bloody good. Heaven for me is hearing a pod of bottlenoses dolphins through the hull of me yak while i watch them hunt. These peeps with all the conections but zero understanding of other peeps lives have no right whatsoever to dictate what is right and wrong. Chris

Hi Dave, Never fish for eels (at least by choice..) and never read much about them. Why do you consider them endangered? and whats your understanding of why that might be? Chris

Adventure and romance requires risk. Which of you people are risking anything? If you fish you are a fisher. End of story surely? Chris

Thanks for that Clive. Chris

Its fluff and will be blown to the four corners on todays gales Imho.

Hi Clive, quote name='cleeclive' date='Jan 4 2010, 10:09 PM' post='3073594'] , but abandoning quota will not stop discarding it will just lead to 'high grading', the dumping of low value species to capitalise on the highest value part of the catch. Any chance of an explanation on that point ? IME quotas cause high grading, at least in the white fish fleet.. so how will losing the quota system lead to high grading? Chris

Being stupid by calling fishing a sport and expecting they can get a purpose built arena with advertising by a well known burger/beer company maybe? Must be someone they can sue though? Forgive me negativity; just spent a day in Edinburgh wondering what on earth the expensive Parliment buliding was about while observing that Edinburgh apparently has no old people and its council has not discovered salt yet. Saw two people go down in the kind of falls that had me cringing and letting out a shout as i saw it happen in slow motion. Ach, lets blame the fishers for everything

Funnily enough i have heard about the beamer fleet in the channel. The rest of your post is opinion and the second world war cover story is getting tired. Facts would be nice Landing stats for the channel are there to look at In the big world of "nature" was WW2 on the minds of the phytoplankton? Were the millions of people starving in India during the war years doing so because of the war, due to drought, or due to a combination of the two? or something else? No offence Clive, but the problem with a lot of the "current debate" is that there is none; IMHO there is a quasi religous view about the world that just happens to fit the media and markets atm . Lol never mind me and plough on Chris