radical plan for improving sea fish stocks

[john frum]

Here's one I've though about for ages. maybe it's come up before, if so, apologies.

 

Reefs = fish. Wrecks = fish.

 

Anyome who has watched the magnificent "Blue Planet" TV series must have been impressed by the images of a deserted stretch of ocean suddenly punctuated by teeming fish and invertebrate life wherever some floating or sunken debris (aka "pollution") occurs.

 

Now I've seen it suggested by serious scientific commentators that the impact of pollution caused by oil is in fact nothing like as severe as has been generally assumed, at least in the medium to long term. The sea and its organisms have a capacity to digest even major spills relatively quickly (and of course it goes without saying they're a Very Bad Thing, and to be deplored and avoided.)

 

Here's my suggestion. Build lots of artificial reefs by dumping old ships (currently being cut up in Bangladesh with ensuing massive amounts of mess) and motor vehicles (ditto everywhere) in suitable marine locations: now nobody's going to be trawling there for a while... Obviously it'd be a good idea to remove any oil etc that can be removed without difficulty, but don't worry too much about minor short term pollution as the overall benefits massively outweigh this. Calculations of cost/benefit come into most issues. Legislating for commercial fishing controls is fraught with problems and this "solution" would be too but maybe it's be worth lobbying for. I think there would be some scientific support for the cost/benefit calculation.

 

What do the members of this forum think?

[Ian Burrett]

They have been building clean artifical reefs in Japan and the states for years. Like everything else in conservation we are miles behind everyone

[Guest conger tamer]

I still dont understand why they dont fix tyres together and make reefs around the uk after all they keep moaning about how many there are and how hard they are to dispose of?

[john frum]

Someone else mentioned tyres to me. Don't they float?

[Guest conger tamer]

no

[Ian Burrett]

You have to chain them together, drill holes in them and fill them with concrete. The japs construct 6 ft. square hollow concrete blocks

 

I can't remember the details but a ship was sunk somewhere in the UK to create a reef

[Guest conger tamer]

whitsand bay but its not for fishing diving only

[Guest NickInTheNorth]

as far as I know if it's on the sea bed no one owns it so who is to say it's for diving only? And I may be wrong about that, feel free to tell me if I'm talking b0110cks, I often do.

 

Mind you finding it without divers on and therefore safe to fish would peobably be a bitdifficult.

[Guest conger tamer]

nick

the whole of whitsand bay is a no fish zone

[Guest conger tamer]

ps

its only in 60ft 400m off shore ex naval ship scyla

 

[ 02. July 2005, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: conger tamer ]