' Is report of improved Cod Stock true? '

[barry luxton]

Just checked the latest landings at Grimsby, Fraserbourgh and Peterhead, herring ain't on any of thier lists. What port did they land them.

 

Gonna have a look at the archives now for comparrison.

 

Did catch about 20 last thursday down devon, don't suppose they count. Or could we call it a bit of black

[wurzel]

Just checked the latest landings at Grimsby, Fraserbourgh and Peterhead, herring ain't on any of thier lists. What port did they land them.

 

Gonna have a look at the archives now for comparrison.

 

Did catch about 20 last thursday down devon, don't suppose they count. Or could we call it a bit of black

 

The herring season is over Barry.

Herring landings at Peterhead for Jan- March 10. were 19,530 tonnes valued at 4,076.239 mostly for fish meal.

There is very little demand for herring on the home market, if more than a few box's were landed on Lowestoft market they would remain un sold and dumped those you managed to sell would only fetch 50p per Kg, it's not worth buying the nets.

 

I have no doubt that the herring fleet of old would have caught large amounts of herring if it was still in place today but these days two or three modern pelagic ships can catch what a thousand boats caught fifty years ago, it don't mean the herring aren't there any more.

Herring like other stocks have fluctuated hugely through out history, they do better in warm periods and rapidly crash during colder times as happened during the sixties and no doubt if we get more winters like the last one will start to decline again.

 

 

Deeno

 

You say stocks are not what they used to be , no doubt that is the case for some stocks in some areas perhaps you could be more pacific and we could discuss the merits of your claims species by species .

[Steve Coppolo]

Just checked the latest landings at Grimsby, Fraserbourgh and Peterhead, herring ain't on any of thier lists. What port did they land them.

 

Gonna have a look at the archives now for comparrison.

 

Did catch about 20 last thursday down devon, don't suppose they count. Or could we call it a bit of black

 

 

No one fishes for them any more, Barry, so I'm not surprised that they don't feature much in the landing records of those ports.

[Elton]

Not read this thread, but just received the following link by email, if it helps:

 

http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.p...alth_-_WWF.html

[big_cod]

Not read this thread, but just received the following link by email, if it helps:

 

http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.p...alth_-_WWF.html

50% increase but an increase from what a 25th of what it was 25 years ago laughable.

 

paul.

[Sharkbyte]

I see that 'Harry Potter' (Callum Roberts) has crawled out of the woodwork to play down the positive press.

 

 

Hi Big Cod

 

Would you say that the Cod fishing is rubbish up there?

 

I know that if our smoothounds, thornbacks, cod, sole were running at only 8%, I wouldn't bother.

 

 

Hence the reason I tend not to target bass locally anymore. Generally, I reckon the bass fishing is total pants, and hanging it out for a fluke ain't my thing.......so I fish for all the other stuff.

 

 

 

I'm always keeping an eye out for that special bass mark though, hoping that one day I might find some worth catching.

[big_cod]

I see that 'Harry Potter' (Callum Roberts) has crawled out of the woodwork to play down the positive press.

 

 

Hi Big Cod

 

Would you say that the Cod fishing is rubbish up there?

 

I know that if our smoothounds, thornbacks, cod, sole were running at only 8%, I wouldn't bother.

 

 

Hence the reason I tend not to target bass locally anymore. Generally, I reckon the bass fishing is total pants, and hanging it out for a fluke ain't my thing.......so I fish for all the other stuff.

 

 

 

I'm always keeping an eye out for that special bass mark though, hoping that one day I might find some worth catching.

 

No what i am saying sharkbyte is what is the true picture is we still have a good cod fisherie here but we had a fantastic one before i have to agree with callum roberts even though on other issues i dont but he is 100% correct 52% increase just where do they get there figures from its crap ask most of the shore anglers who fished last winter down the east coast if there is a 52% increase in cod they will look at you if you have just arrived from mars there is a lot of juvenile cod this year due to the harsh winter of 2008-2009 but as mr callum says dont count your chickens yet i would say you will get a more true picture by the end of the 2010.

 

paul.

[glennk]

You always have to be careful when talking about increases. There are a lot of small undersize fish on the ground this year. We are picking up a lot of undersize cod from the kayak. Back in 1997 you had the same scenario but on a much bigger scale. It only took the east coast trawling fleet 2 years to wipe that good year class off the floor of the north sea. Even with less boats today, the technology means any successfull year class could be gone in the same amount of time.

[wurzel]

You always have to be careful when talking about increases. There are a lot of small undersize fish on the ground this year. We are picking up a lot of undersize cod from the kayak. Back in 1997 you had the same scenario but on a much bigger scale. It only took the east coast trawling fleet 2 years to wipe that good year class off the floor of the north sea. Even with less boats today, the technology means any successfull year class could be gone in the same amount of time.

 

Hello Glenn

 

With that technology they don't seem to have made much impression on the last couple of good year classes.

[ColinW]

Boats with competent skippers can always find fish - until the last ones disappear. Being able to find enough fish to make a living is NOT the same as having a healthy stock level, like they had for hundreds of years.

I've said before that the only true test of cod stock recovery is when shore anglers start catching like the "good old days", which I am not prepared to accept were a freak situation!

The North and Irish seas should be amongst the most fertile waters in the world, shallow, temperate and fed with nutrients by rivers flowing off land on all sides and by the Gulf Stream.