Bob Jerunkel

Very kind offer norrie but it doesnt really apeal. Thanks anyway. Can you explain how the skat is lifted on to the boat. could the measurements not be made with the fish in the water? Must be kinder and easier surely.

Letting the weight of a 100lb plus skate hang by a metal hook through its wing seems unnesessery. Cant do the fish much good. Bit like those people who hold up big live bass by the gills. All that weight hanging on the gills cant be good. The formula to estimate the weight only gives an approximate weight anyway. Getting the measurements while the fish is still in the water would be close enough. In the water the fish dont weigh anything. Dont see many swordfish or marlin dragged into the boat nowdays. Let alone with a gaff. Must do some sort of muscle damage all that weight hanging on a hook. I saw one in sea angler a couiple of years ago that looked like it had been shot because the hole was so big.

Jaffa might find his avatar as funny as these people find stealing eh jaffa? They think its funny

The answer is you cant keep denying that there is or was no such thing as overfishing. You say theres no overfishing. Like spanner said, thats because it was all done years ago. It happened and is still happening in some places. If you keep denying it you will lose any credibilty you have on this forum.

mullet taste like dogs poop and are not worth much. Commercial fishermen catch them to satisfy their need to take everything just in case someone else does it first. If you could catch dogshit in gill nets and sell it for 50p a stone they would do it.

Theres a saying that theres alweays someone worse off. What thats sposed to mean i dont know. So you are better off than someone else maybe? Theres another saying that before you critisese someone walk a mile in his shoes. Then you be one mile away from him and you'll have his shoes!

Can you show me one single Do Do hunter? And how can you say tigers and rhinos are in danger when they shoot anyone who kills tigers and rhinos? Can you show me one single house right here and right now in the UK that employs black slaves taken from africa? And when was the last time you saw a christian thrown to the lions? In years to come the overfishing of our seas that was done years ago will be seen in the same way. If you been fishing for more than 20 years wuzel you have done your fair share of the damage.

You never see binatoon or michael jackson in the same room do you?

Your pathetic comparison between peodiatrician and a peodophile is dispicable. Your comparison between something as serious and nasty as peodophilia with something as trivial as commercial fishing is even worse. You are a complete knob.

[Comment removed - John S]

Good luck to them. Most of them have been doing it for years and earning a living. Proves its sustainable way of fishing. Proper commercial fishermen.

How big were they really?

Don't ask awkward questions Sam or this thread will be locked as well.

Well spotted. I thought the cod looked a bit out of proportion. Thats why I asked how big they were. Never seen a 9lb cod with it's mouth open like that before. Usually the small ones die like that. Look closely and you can see that the fish have been super imposed onto the beach. Very crafty M.P.

Nice one.

How big were those cod?

There have been requests for other forums in the past. A kayak one and a conservation one are two that spring to mind. Could we have a commercial fishing one too please? Then all the commercial fishermen could post to each other how many fish there are still left in the sea and how many tons they are still catching. They could also compare ways to rubbish scientific evidence, find ways to blame anglers for the decline in fish stocks and tell each other how brave and good at catching fish they are. To not give them their own forum would be discrimination against a minority group and we can't have that can we? Admin note: I will not lock a thread without explanation but I really don't want to bounce this one back to the top with a reply so just a quick note. I do not see this topic as going anywhere good and do see it as divisive so I'm locking it. Newt

O.K, bigger mesh and increased MLS. As you say 2 out of 3 ain't bad. It's a compromise I suppose. So why are the commercial fishermen making such a fuss about the BMP in the fishing news? Seems like they want 0 out of 3.

That's good enough. Just what I feared.

Do you know something we don't wuzel?

Bugger! When I had to give up my business during the recession no one offered me any money for my old van. Come to think of it I never got anything to stop working either and no one helped me to retrain. If I remember rightly I never got anything from the social until my meagre savings ran out. I must remember to start up as a commercial fisherman next time.

I dont have any doubt at all that if the BMP gets implemented over here europe will be lobbied next. Trouble is we have to start somewhere and we have to get our own house in order before trying to get others to follow suit. If the BMP does happen just imagine the pressure there will be on europe to follow suit. Especially if the commercial fishermen join forces with the anglers in lobbying for it. Plus if you are right about the government being swayed by a source of revenue I'm sure the europeans will want a slice too. Why aren't you prepared to fish outside a mile? It would make such a difference to anglers if there wasn't any netting within a mile and its not too much to ask. You see its just another case of commercial fishermen not wanting to give anything to anglers. Thats the attitude I was talking about that will make any sort of alliance impossible.

That's what I meant. What commercial fishermen want and what anglers want are two far apart for us to work together. A compromise might be worth pursuing but commercial fishermen would probably resist it. Would the following be acceptable to you? You stay outside 1 mile including estuaries. You can gill net and trawl but you must use bigger mesh. The MLS for all species is to be a size where they have spawned at least once. If this is too hard for you to concede then there will never be any alliance between commercial fishermen and anglers.