Can commercial fishermen and sea anglers work together?

[glennk]

You will not ever get any form of apology from me. I owe you nothing pal.

Edited July 23, 2006 by glennk

[Guest challenge]

good.

Read what I said, one is I never mentioned you giving me an apology.

I have never asked anybody in my life to apologise. My philosophy has been to never give somebody the chance to apologise.

The other thing is my name is John mallette not pal.

Edited July 23, 2006 by challenge

[Ian Burrett]

One area RSA has in common with commercial fisherman is becoming evident in Scotland. A group of creel fisherman are getting their act together and lobbying the exec. for a golden mile becauses they believe the trawlers and dredgers are destroying their livelyhoods.

 

I am sure there are types of commercial fishing where we can work together for a common cause, but I can't ever see any compromise with RSA and inshore trawlers and dredgers.

 

The damage they cause is just unacceptable.

[glennk]

Whatever pal.

[Steve Coppolo]

Have read all through this thread again and come back to the original question, only this time I've come up with a slightly different answer.

 

Can commercial fishermen and sea anglers work together?

 

I have to now ask, work together for what?

 

Do we really want the same things? The more I read, the more I realise that we don't. Commercial fishermen and sea anglers are as far apart now as they ever were, if not more. Proposed conservation measures have really driven the wedge in there, and that in itself proves that we are miles apart when it comes to what we want from the fishery.

 

Can we work together? No we can't, and why should we?

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Getting the closures in the right places for the right reasons and restricting the right activities is the task ahead both for representatives of the RSA and catching sectors, and nothing would please those whose agenda is total closure wherever possible for no good reason than ecological dogma than to have the two sectors battling with each other, rather than working together towards reasonable outcomes for both or either side where that is appropriate.

 

For me the above statement sums it up very neatly, failure to work together will hand over the reins to other stake holders those backed by PETA and the like.

 

As I have previously stated RSAs and commercials do have different agenda but we both have one common aim to catch fish, the others don't give a monkeys about catching only stopping it.

Edited July 24, 2006 by Ken Davison South Wales

[glennk]

But do both of these groups who want to catch more fish also want each other to catch more fish ?

[Guest challenge]

I have spoken to a few commercial fishermen in Whitby over the last couple of days on this subject.

Now you have got to remember that they where only commenting on what happens in Whitby and not nationwide.

They asked me “who are they suppose to work with?” They said that besides removing tons of anglers fishing gear from there crab pots etc when do they come in contact with them?

2 out of the 8 fishermen I talked to know of this forum and said that they had read (occasionally) what has been said about commercial fishermen on this forum.

The rest said that they had not (3 because they did not have a computer) and 3 because they showed know interest.

The 2 that had read what had been said where disgusted at allegations that had been made but said” that it was understandable coming from people who where only capable of making allegations.” (There words not mine) there views of the charter boats in Whitby where that they where a bit of a joke. (I took it that they meant the charter boat that I work on as well.)

They did not seam interested in that they find angling boats and there representatives more or less insignificant when it comes to them earning a living from the sea.

One commercial fishermen did point out that commercials tend to watch each other, take note what there performances are like jugged by there colleagues. If somebody is doing better than you, find out what they are doing that you are knot.

If your fishing is in decline find ways of improving it.

They say that if angling is in decline then maybe they should see who is doing the better and find out what he is doing that they are not and try and compete, not sit in the pub’s and complain.

Personally in this part of the world I don’t think that there would be any point anglers and commercials forming committees or consultation groups. Why should they. What are the commercial fishermen who have worked all there lives at sea, going to say to a load of part time ex butchers backers and candle stick makers who take a few anglers off to sea for a few weeks of the year? Because that’s what we are.

When I was on the trawlers I must say that I found it quite amusing (when we got in on a Saturday morning) seeing these little boats going out at seven on a morning with there rods and happy smiling faces to sea to catch the same fish that we had spent 110 hours a week in all weathers trying to catch.

You can call commercial fishermen as much as you want, but I worked with them for many years (apart of there industry) and I found them to be the salt of the earth, people you could rely on, people that actually care about there environment and future.

People who have witnessed the hazards of the sea and show it the respect it deserves.

You ask any private boat if a commercial fisherman have ever let them down in time of need.

Show them the respect they deserve and earn respect from them and I am sure that they would be room for an open dialogue between booth sets of interested parties.

[Guest challenge]

Don't worry challenge. It isn't the biggest question anymore of recreational angling being represented but to get more people involved in representation.

 

From reading some of your comments I am as positive as you are not that recreational anglers got just the right people to represent them. You give the impression that you know all about commercial fishermen's, recreational anglers' and the charterboats' interests and furthermore are able to advise on behalf of all three of them. I wonder if you are member of any charterboat org? I wonder how satisfied you are with the charterboat representation? And how satisfied your org is with you?

The charter boat that I work on is not a member of any organisation. We (the members of the crew) don’t fell we have to be.

We go to sea more than anybody else does, take more anglers and catch more fish. We put it down to spending most of our working lives trying to catch fish.

You can either do it or you cannot. Regardless as to what organisation you are in.

No body puts as many hours in, in our pursuit of what anglers want.

We take thousands of anglers to sea every year, I talked to them all the time, I listen to them, it’s my job getting to know what they want. I can honestly say that I have yet to meet one who wants representing.

[seaside]

Have read all through this thread again and come back to the original question, only this time I've come up with a slightly different answer.

 

Can commercial fishermen and sea anglers work together?

 

I have to now ask, work together for what?

 

Do we really want the same things? The more I read, the more I realise that we don't. Commercial fishermen and sea anglers are as far apart now as they ever were, if not more. Proposed conservation measures have really driven the wedge in there, and that in itself proves that we are miles apart when it comes to what we want from the fishery.

 

Can we work together? No we can't, and why should we?

 

As I've said before, the term commercial is to broad. It seems to me that the greatest resistance is coming from those sectors that work inshore and are mobile, fish/nephrops trawlers, cockle dredgers etc. Statics, as Ian Burrett indicated, have similar issues with the mobile fleets.

 

My take, statics and RSA can work together, but inshore mobile fleets are wedded to methods, approaches and a mentality that does not allow any 'restriction' of their 'rights'.

 

A good example of this is the fact that the cockle dredgers and prawn trawlers off Arran are fighting setting aside a few square miles in order to make Lamlash Bay a Marine Protected Area and also to establish a No Take Zone to protect the local maerl beds. These guys are not willing to compromise, even though there are another 1000+ sq miles of the Inner Clyde in which to work. http://www.arrancoast.co.uk/ for more info.