regional differences

[WALCOTT]

Thanks Leon for your reply, it just seams odd to me that we cover such a vast area in our season (taking anglers fishing in the north sea) and yet we come across so few (if any) commercial fishing boats.

I believe you could be correct with your assumptions that it could be (certainly in the area that you fish) none commercial fishermen that are causing a lot of the problems.

That is of course like you suggest there is a problem?

We are just about to sail again on a 70 hour trip could cover about 400 miles of the north sea this trip. Will keep a good look out and report back any commercial activity that we come across when we return.

Regards.

 

Good luck on your 70hr Challenge...down here in Norfolk when wrecking we very rarely see any commercial fishing boats,we see all the ferries/cargo ships going into Harwich or Felixstowe and the very fast passenger ferries that go out of them....I think one of them goes at about 40mph,what a sight to see such a large craft at that speed..cheers Graham Daniels

[glennk]

You probably know more about commercial fishing in this area than me Challenge and no doubt will wish to correct some of what I say. This is my take on the local situation.

 

We have small cobles owned by familes who have fished that way for generations. They net for Salmon and migratory trout, pot for lobster and edible crab and line for cod etc in the winter. I dare say some of them target other species eg soles (I here some boats did well for soles last week). We then have trawlers, not as many as there was by any means but im not sure of the true reductions in numbers. Increased technology has meant increased catching potential for the remaining boats so I personally donth think the effort is as reduced as it appears on the surface. Most of the remaining trawlers appear to work close to port although Im aware some now visit norwegain waters.

 

I have very few problems with the current situation here. The boats appear to be abiding by the law and thus giving the cod recovery plan every chance (shame enforcement didnt make them behave 10 years ago then we might not be in the mess we are in and boats could now be looking forward to increased quota and days at sea rather than cuts).

 

My main gripes are Pair trawling, illegal fishing and mass slaughter of juvenile codlings at herring spawn time. If these 3 activities were stopped locally I think I would never moan again.

 

I see no problem what soever from unlicensed netters etc. What few there are are kept well in check by the ea and there are so few of them the potential damage is miniscule.

 

I think that smaller boats as mentioned at the start of this post should be encouraged with more quota.

 

As for what goes on further to sea Im clueless. I assume there are large areas with no trawlers because either its not worth bothering there or because there is riper fruit to be found elsewhare.

Edited August 21, 2006 by glennk

[groyne bandit]

There seams to be massive regional differences witnessed by users of this forum.

Besides the obvious what and where we catch fish, there is also our experiences with commercial fishermen.

Bass fishermen seam to have a problem with netters (am I correct?) our Scottish friends don’t seam to get on with clammers (again am I correct) what I am trying to say is not all anglers have the same experiences (if any) with commercial fishermen.

Therefore I would like to know your views and experiences with commercial fishermen.

The boat I work on steamed somewhere in the region of 10000 miles last year with anglers. Clear of Danish industrial trawlers I think we saw about 5 or 6 commercial fishing boats.

It just seams to me as if it’s a massive ocean out there with very few people on it.

Regards.

well at least you use your boat to go out to sea ,,,,,,,,as a shore angler ime limited to 150yds max any were i go ,,,,,,,i get realy anoyed when i get to a spot & theres gill nets or boats operating close in , ive even seen charter boats within casting range (to a good bloke anyway),,,,,,i think that situation realy anoyes loads of us ,,,if it wernt for days like that then most of us would respect the boats , coz we have all got to live,,,,,pp lucky rich,

[Brian Carragher]

Commercial activity varies from area to area. Most estuaries have a small fleet of small boats (say from 18 to 30 feet in length) working the inner estuary. They could be potters, drift netters using standard 90mil gill nets for bass and mullet, or drifted trammel nets for bass, soles and rays, they could be tangle or ray nets used for rays, monk, anglerfish and large crab and lobster. Trawling is also has a lot of different methods of which I’m not that familiar, but they pair trawl sometimes inshore for eels, sprats and offshore for bass. A lot of the inshore trawling activities in the spring will be for soles. All of them have a curtain amount of buy catch, and all will have an effect on stocks if only at a local level.

 

 

All of the above may be a reflection of your area Sam but its my bet its not an accurate reflection of what happens around the Uk as a whole.

 

It won't be the same in the South West or around the shore line of Wales and it's certainly not indicative of any activity in this part of the world

[Jaffa]

Nor up in NE Scotland Brian.

 

I'd be interested to hear your view on the pros and cons of this "Golden mile" and how you see it would impact on your area?

 

Chris

[Brian Carragher]

Hi Jaffa

 

Is it my views on a "golden mile" you're after or someone else's?

[sam-cox]

quote:

QUOTE(sam-cox @ Aug 21 2006, 12:02 PM)

Commercial activity varies from area to area. Most estuaries have a small fleet of small boats (say from 18 to 30 feet in length) working the inner estuary. They could be potters, drift netters using standard 90mil gill nets for bass and mullet, or drifted trammel nets for bass, soles and rays, they could be tangle or ray nets used for rays, monk, anglerfish and large crab and lobster. Trawling is also has a lot of different methods of which I’m not that familiar, but they pair trawl sometimes inshore for eels, sprats and offshore for bass. A lot of the inshore trawling activities in the spring will be for soles. All of them have a curtain amount of buy catch, and all will have an effect on stocks if only at a local level.

 

 

 

All of the above may be a reflection of your area Sam but its my bet its not an accurate reflection of what happens around the Uk as a whole.

 

It won't be the same in the South West or around the shore line of Wales and it's certainly not indicative of any activity in this part of the world

 

So please educate me Brian, I’m very interested in the diversity of methods used by commercial fishermen around the UK. What methods are employed in your area mate? both close to the shore, the golden mile if you like, and offshore by the larger boats.

 

 

 

 

I think you will find that as in angling commercial fishermen employ different tactics for different enviroments and conditions, so all that I have mention will be used at some point in some plases.

[Jaffa]

Hi Jaffa

 

Is it my views on a "golden mile" you're after or someone else's?

 

 

 

Im after an opinion on the issue from someone whose postings I have always found sound and well thought out. Thats all.

 

Chris.

[Guest challenge]

Hello.

Just returned from a 70 hour trip. Steamed 135 miles before we wet a line, spent a day in and around that area then dodged to the north east (distance from home by this time 148 miles) fished second day and set off for home about 7pm Wednesday arrived home midday today (Thursday) distance covered about 380 miles.

Fish caught 180 stone of cod 1 Pollock 8lb and one ling 3lb.

Commercial fishing boats sighted. One Belgium beamer two French trawlers and one Whitby trawler fishing four souls again in the sand at Whitby.

I did have a very interesting conversation with a Whitby trawler skipper. Who was in the area where we where fishing, but he was knot fishing he like many others where doing guard duty for oil company’s.

Glenk. Thanks for the link to the blog (Andrew store) by the way.

There is no comparison to the fishing industry today that there was when I was commercial fishing 16 years ago.

Not only are there not a quarter of the boats they spend very little time actually fishing for fish.

Two boats (who are only in Whitby at Christmas and a holiday in summer) spend all there time fishing for prawns. One boat is often fishing the Norwegian coast for haddocks and then again standby work.

The two or three others rotate their bit of fishing time around oil industry related work.

They have no choice, they are only allowed to fish at sea a few days a month.

The lad who I was talking to(Howard locker) a very good skipper and fisherman was saying to me that he dare not steam any great distance anymore because of the price of fuel, he daren’t experiment by steaming to the areas that we steam through to fish because of his restricted days at sea.

That’s why he said that you never see boats on the traditional areas (hot spots) any more, because there are very few boats left fishing and what there are left, tend to spend more time on inshore more economical beats.

When I was fishing commercially glenk, there was none of that, fuel was cheep, unlimited days at sea, grants available for new boats to be built. We did not have a problem catching fish we had more problem handling the fish once we had caught it.

You talk about the herring fishing glenk. If the sea is in such a bad state that it cannot survive because of a few small codlings being caught by very few boats for a very short time, then I think that the job is in a much worse state than I ever imagined.

You say that one of your main gripes is pair trawling glen, why is that?

Sam Cox.

We only fish wrecks because that’s what the biggest majority of our anglers want to do.

[Guest challenge]

Could it be that these areas are no longer worth fishing?

Good point Steve.

And how will we ever know? The only boats we are occasionally starting to see at the fishing ground hot spots are French and Belgium.

I don’t suppose they are there just because it was the place once to fish?

They are there because there is a miniscule British fishing fleet left to fish traditional grounds and so someone is filling that gap.

I can only assume Steve that they are catching a commercially viable amount of fish.

Or they could also be making a very good living.