shark for sale £1.60 -- £2.10 per kilo

[Leon Roskilly]

Here's how you can help

 

http://www.anglers-net.co.uk/sacn/latest/i...dex.php?view=29

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

Just a small point, it will take a absolute minimum of 9 years to replace 1 100lb Porgie and at that weight the Females aren’t sexually mature.

 

Brings a whole new perspective as to what damage has actually been done

 

[ 07. December 2003, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: Davy Holt ]

[JONNYX]

hi

thought this might be of interest, its an article published in in Cornwall Today back in 1997, written by a neighbour of mine.

 

 

BLUE TORPEDO BY HUGH WILSON

This story involves a 27ft. crabber Samantha Rose, an experienced fisherman, an inexperienced trainee- myself, and a remarkable creature, the blue shark. Martin Ellis is the owner of this craft, She was built in 1973 in Gweek boatyard from oak and iroko and stands up to the foulest of weather.

Martin has been fishing for eighteen years from Cadgwith, a close knit community nestling in a picturesque part of Cornwall on the Lizard Peninsula. He lives a simple life with his wife Sally and two children. Potting for crab and lobster is his profession, but they are not as prolific as in “the good old days” and as he says, “Your options have to be kept open.”

A normal day starts at 4 o’clock - yes, in the morning. A time when most people are still fast asleep, the vast majority working the 9-5 routine. A wonderful part of the day. Empty roads, crisp, cold morning air unpolluted by later activity. The meeting place, a rundown cellar full of freezers containing nauseatingly smelly bait for the pots, but as Martin says, “That’s what they like, boy.”

It probably also explains the large population of cats skulking around Cadgwith. “I caught one on the boat the other day and threw a bucket at it, the bugger shot about eight feet off the stern.” Martin laughed. “One of them bit a visitor and he had to go to hospital.”

It’s time to walk up the steps into the net loft where we discuss the day’s plans, don our bib and brace, (waterproofs to landlubbers) and proceed onto the beach, where fishermen help each other to roll the boats over logs which are laid out to lead into the water. When they are all floating it’s time to head out to sea.

First thing is a cup of tea full of sugar for energy, and in my case a good hit of nicotine. Then on go the gloves, check the bait, start the hauler and pick up the floating marker, then it’s all systems go. Martin hauls the pots on board, picks out the crabs and throws the pots to me, and I fill them with bait, usually gurnard or skate. The gurnard are extremely spiky and handled wrongly can cause a nasty prick. The skate, or what’s left of it as only the wings are used for consumption, is slimy and it can also have barbs on its back. I begin collecting the mounting pile of pots, stagger down the deck and stack them, then start all over again. Martin is constantly talking; jokes, philosophy, fish chat, gossip, so there is never a dull moment. Throwing the pots over the side can he fun - you have to remember what order they were stacked in. Mess it up, throw the wrong pot over, get your foot caught in the rope, and all hell breaks loose. Most of the time I get a quizzical look, or get laughed at, - I’ll try to be more alert. Then it’s on to the next string.

I am leading up to the main story. A very sad one, although at the time an epic adventure. So much organising, planning and killing.

“We’re going sharking,” announced Martin.

Images swam inside my head. Huge, hungry, mean, vicious scavengers which needed to be caught to rid the sea of their danger.

“We’re going to need bait.”

So that’s how it started; we shot a net off Kennack Sands on a wonderful moonlit night. The sea flat calm, rippled only by the vast shoals of pilchards, a breathtaking sight which made my heart race.

“Shoot the net boy,” Martin shouted. We fed it into the water, drifting back into the bay. “If that don’t catch ‘em I’ll be surprised.

Surprised we were as we hauled it in the following morning; there were only a few pilchards. Not discouraged we steamed towards Blackhead, good grounds for mackerel and caught a decent number. Back to Cadgwith, there to pick up the gear and provisions.

Up with the dans, tie the buffs into place, haul aboard two giant bins, one full of 3mm. line and shark hooks neatly arranged around the edge, the other overflowing with gallon containers painted bright day-glow orange. Check the engine, fuel, and of course, the giant hamper of food. Sally had packed eggs, bacon, bread, beans, porkpies, crisps, gallons of orange juice and numerous other goodies. Up with the gas bottle, cooker, kettle, frying pans, plates, knives, forks. Did we forget anything? No, so let’s go.

Our spirits soaring as high as the sea-gulls circling the boat, we steamed out of the cove. Flat as a millpond was the sea, full of life, hopefully of sharks. Land slowly drifted out of sight until we could only just make out the giant windmills on Goonhilly.

“Further still,” Martin smiled as he pointed to the water temperature gauge, “It’s not warm enough for ‘em yet.”

At one point the sea turned completely orange. After dipping the bucket in we realised they were fish eggs. Billions and billions of them, drifting somewhere. We steamed through this mesmerising mass for a few miles. It was good to know the water was clean and teeming with some sort of life.

“This’ll do. We’ll start here.” Martin announced.

Little did I realise the incredible length of line I was to throw over. First to go was a huge dan with a five gallon container tied to it and on the bottom a smelly bag of pilchards covered in some of the four gallons of oil that had been bought.

“If that don’t bring ‘em nothing will.” said Martin. I had to agree with him, the stuff stank.

Over went the rope followed at intervals by a hook baited with mackerel or pilchard, and after every two hooks a gallon container. Having thrown over three to four miles of line we stopped to cook a slap-up meal, and when we had finished we lay on the decks, took off our boots and basked in the sunshine for an hour.

“Got to give ‘em time to smell it,” Martin explained. “We can’t rush ‘em.”

Next the hard work. Slowly we steamed along the vast length of dans and containers. “There’s one,” reckoned Martin, “You can tell the way the container is standing upright in the water.”

As he drew closer I grabbed the gaff, reached into the water and held onto the rope. Frantic tugs, my heart was beating overtime with excitement. As I pulled up the line I could distinguish an object thrashing around, fighting for its life. What I saw was an incredibly beautiful creature of the sea.

“Pass the gaff,” Martin shouted, “It’s a monster.”

By this time the shark was frantic with fear and was frothing up the water. In went the gaff, it didn’t matter where as long as it was hooked. A giant heave and this wonderful creature was lying on the deck writhing in obvious pain and shock, blood bubbling from its gills as it jumped around in its death throes. I grabbed the mallet, knelt on the shark and dealt it a barrage of blows. I quite shocked myself at the severity of it - an animal instinct overtook me and I acted like a crazed Rottweiler. The writhing had stopped as it stared at me through glazed and bloody eyes; eyes that had once been alive. I gazed at the blue shark and realised what a graceful creature it had been, built for speed and agility. I saw why it is called blue; its sleek torpedo body and indescribable colour. I picked it up, straining at its surprising weight. Then it was on to the next unfortunate victim

The mountain of sharks grew; some with hooks still hanging from their lifeless mouths, others scarred from past fights. One even had a huge bite taken out of the top of his head in the obvious frenzy to eat. We steamed up and down, chasing our markers, still pulling out sharks and hoping that the now choppy seas weren’t going to get bigger. Finally, enough, and we laughed and joked as we pulled the gear back onto the boat.

With pound signs in our eyes we hoisted the sails, upped the revs and headed back to Cornwall triumphant. The sharks still had to be gutted, so we put on our wet weather gear and I went out, sharpened the knife and started slicing their bellies. Guts, blood and other matter carpeted the deck. My oilers were covered in blood, my hands were matted and red, the decks slippery, sharks sliding around me. Half done, half to go, I crawled into the warmth of the wheelhouse thankful for the steaming mug of tea that was passed to me. I rolled a cigarette, took the helm and watched Martin continue to gut the sharks. With relief we rounded the rocks to the welcoming lights of Cadgwith, the thought of a pint giving us extra strength to haul the boat onto the beach. In the two days that we spent at sea we worked for thirty-six hours.

As the lorry took off the next morning I felt quite proud of what we had achieved, and excited at the prospects of a good pay packet. It was not to be. Martin rang to tell me to come to his place as he had some bad news.

“The buggers only gave us fifty pence a stone.”

Eighty pounds for all that work, to split three ways. At first I felt cheated, then angry, which then gave way to guilt.

 

I had beaten to death these graceful blue sharks, kicked, punched and ripped out their insides. I had played God, something I look back on with mixed feelings. It had to be done. We were fishermen. We needed to survive.

But at the back of my mind a loathing of what I had been part of.

[SandTiger]

Thought this letter from The SharkTrust to Ben Bradshaw may be of interest:

 

12/17/2003 Porbeagles and the minister

Dear Minister,

 

EU FISHERIES QUOTAS FOR SHARKS AND RAYS

We are writing to you to request the UK’s support for improved European shark fisheries management and the introduction of truly precautionary quotas for fisheries in 2004. Specifically, we urge you to propose the following at this week’s Council of Ministers:

 

1. An 80% decrease in the TAC for spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias in the North Sea, to more closely reflect actual landings in the past few years and the recent stock assessment that has identified a decline to about 2-5% of baseline.

2. Support for the Commission’s proposal for a 40% decline in the TAC for skates and rays in the North Sea, which is realistic in view of catches in the past few years.

3. The introduction of a zero quota for the seriously depleted Northeast Atlantic stock of porbeagle sharks Lamna nasus in EU waters, for all European, Faroese and Norwegian vessels.

The background to and justification for this request are summarised below. 1. Spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias

This species was once regarded as one of the most abundant sharks in the world and supported large, commercially important fisheries. These fisheries were, however, unmanaged. The eminent UK fisheries scientist, the late Dr Mike Holden, warned that this fishery was unsustainable in the 1960s, but nothing was done to address this problem. Catches of spiny dogfish have, unsurprisingly, declined even further, most dramatically in the last 20-25 years. The 2002 Northeast Atlantic stock assessment for this species indicates that the stock is reduced to ~2-5% of baseline. There is a nominal, unprecautionary quota for the North Sea, ~80% of which is held by the UK. We understand from Defra data that just 18% of this quota was taken up by UK vessels in 2002, and 24% so far this year. This level of TAC represents no control at all. It cannot possibly permit stocks to recover to a point at which a more commercially valuable fishery, as seen in the past, would be possible. We therefore urge the UK to seek an 80% reduction in the North Sea TAC as an interim measure and to ensure that scientific advice is obtained on future quotas for all EU waters.

 

2. Skates and rays

These species used to support large, economically valuable fisheries around the UK and elsewhere in the EU. A lack of management and unsustainable fishing pressure have caused most species to decline seriously, some (such as the Common Skate Dipturus batis) to the point where they are at serious risk of extinction. Despite this, the remaining stocks are still of considerable economic importance in some regions of the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Management is urgently needed to enable stocks to rebuild and ensure that future fisheries are viable and economically valuable. The North Sea TAC for this group of species has, like that for spurdog, been unrealistically high, hugely in excess of total landings in the region. We therefore warmly welcome the Commission’s proposal for a 40% reduction in North Sea catch quotas for 2004. We urge you to support this proposal in the Council of Ministers debate this week.

 

3. Porbeagle sharks Lamna nasus

You will no doubt be aware of the considerable media attention and internet campaigning focused in recent weeks on the Cornish fisherman, Martin Ellis, who targeted and long-lined for porbeagle sharks Lamna nasus some 20 miles off the UK coast, reportedly landing some 200 sharks in several days. This has yet again highlighted the seriously depleted state of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean stock of this economically highly valuable yet biologically vulnerable and unmanaged species. This stock of porbeagle sharks has undergone a series of declining cycles of rapid ‘boom and bust’ target fishing since the 1930s (see annex). We now appear to be at the end of the most recent, smallest and perhaps even last such cycle. Europe’s unsustainable, unmanaged commercial fisheries have, in effect, been mining this stock. We are concerned that the recent UK catches, although minute in comparison with those in recent years by other EU vessels, could represent the final straw for the portion of the stock utilising this region. This situation is, from the perspective of shark conservation and sustainable management, an alarming one. Previously there was little evidence to suppose that UK commercial fishermen were targeting these sharks. Mr Ellis' brief bounty (perhaps £7,000) – achieved after several years of searching for this rare animal – must present an enormous temptation for other fishermen to make the small investment needed to convert their vessels for shark long-lining and follow his example for short-term gains. We hasten to state that we do not condemn Mr Ellis or other shark fishers for their actions, which are entirely understandable in view of the present appalling status of traditional target fish stocks and the hugely difficult economic conditions under which fishermen are now operating. We do, however, condemn the poor state of European fisheries management and the almost total neglect of shark and ray stocks, which are resulting in these unsustainable cycles of short term gains at the expense of long term sustainable management and sustainable income provisions for beleagured coastal communities. This porbeagle stock is not simply of high value to a small number of commercial fishermen; it is potentially of much greater value to UK coastal communities if utilised for recreational angling. Current studies are demonstrating that the net income to coastal communities from recreational angling can be very much higher than that from commercial fisheries, not only through receipts on shore, but also through the use of commercial fishing vessels for angling charters. In contrast to commercial fisheries for this particular species, recreational angling (particularly tag and release angling) is sustainable, can yield much greater economic benefits than landings of the same animals, and can yield some of the scientific data urgently needed if future fisheries are to be managed sustainably. This is only possible, of course, if sufficient porbeagle remain at sea for anglers to find.

 

At the moment the only management for porbeagle in EU waters is the unrealistic quota provided to Norwegian and Faroese vessels – unrealistic because these are significantly higher than the total porbeagle landings by these states. Our concern is that unless the porbeagle fishery is closed immediately, pending development of stock assessments and management recommendations by ICES, the recovery of this valuable stock to a point at which a sustainable fishery becomes possible will be retarded by decades. We therefore urge the United Kingdom Government to seek a Zero Quota for this species in European waters, both by community and other fleets, until management advice can be provided.

 

Thank you for your attention.