Bradshawe dont say "sod the cod"

[glennk]

Within the recent fisheries debate in parliament when asked about global warming and cod Ben Bradshawe told the questioner to the forget "the sod the cod" philosophy.

 

He went on to say -

 

The 2005 year class—to use an argument that I shall deploy at the Fisheries Council—was a relatively good one. As cited on the front page of this week's Fishing News, the hon. Gentleman's own fishermen are reporting seeing a growing number of young codlings in the North sea. There remains strong evidence—at the moment, the balance is that the North sea still lies perfectly within the range of growth of cod populations—that there is potential for cod recovery.

[Guest challenge]

Within the recent fisheries debate in parliament when asked about global warming and cod Ben Bradshawe told the questioner to the forget "the sod the cod" philosophy.

 

He went on to say -

What is the sod the cod philosophy?

[glennk]

What is the sod the cod philosophy?

 

He was responding to this from Alex Salmond

 

to give serious consideration to the weight of evidence suggesting that cod species are moving north not because of over fishing but because of climatic change affecting their food supplies. If that is true, it undermines the basis of the cod recovery plan, and renders senseless the restrictions on the fishing of species such as nephrops or haddock.

 

And replied

 

In contrast to the impression that the hon. Gentleman gave in his question, I have managed to secure significant increases in the catches of haddock and nephrops in recent years. I hope to do so again next week, but he is right that there is a scientific debate about the impact of climate change on the marine environment. There is no doubt that warming has caused us to see species off the south-west coast that normally inhabit waters much further south. Other evidence suggests that cod have been moving north, but I caution him against concluding that we should therefore adopt what I call a "sod the cod" policy. The 2005 year class—to use an argument that I shall deploy at the Fisheries Council—was a relatively good one. As cited on the front page of this week's Fishing News, the hon. Gentleman's own fishermen are reporting seeing a growing number of young codlings in the North sea. There remains strong evidence—at the moment, the balance is that the North sea still lies perfectly within the range of growth of cod populations—that there is potential for cod recovery. Although it is absolutely right to study these issues carefully and to take climate change into account when we adopt our fisheries policy, I am not yet in a position to go down the road that the hon. Gentleman seems to be advocating.

Edited December 20, 2006 by glennk

[ColinW]

"Sod the cod" might refer to a statement made a few years ago by a leader of the Scottish Fishermen who said that they regarded the extinction of the cod as a "price worth paying" to protect their industry.

[Leon Roskilly]

"UK Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw called the Commission's recommendations for a 25% cut "drastic", adding that he did not believe any European states would support the proposal. "

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6194425.stm

 

Interesting too:

 

http://uk.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geumIm8IhFO...nclimate120.xml

[ColinW]

The paper referred to in the Telegraph article is interesting

http://www.springerlink.com/content/y251w3...68/fulltext.pdf

If you can't read it, of 133 cod released with special logging tags, 29% were recaptured over a period just under two years and all but two of those recaptured were within 15km of the release point. That suggests to me that, for some populations at least, establishing NTZ's wouldn't be as pointless as has been suggested.

[Leon Roskilly]

The paper referred to in the Telegraph article is interesting

http://www.springerlink.com/content/y251w3...68/fulltext.pdf

If you can't read it, of 133 cod released with special logging tags, 29% were recaptured over a period just under two years and all but two of those recaptured were within 15km of the release point. That suggests to me that, for some populations at least, establishing NTZ's wouldn't be as pointless as has been suggested.

 

 

Need to be careful in interpreting the findings.

 

It's true that sub-populations of cod always stay in the same range and, if conditions in that range deteriorate, whereas no individual cod will leave that range, their numbers in that range will fall due to (say) poor feeding, fry not surviving etc.

 

So the population within that range will, over time, reduce or even disappear.

 

Whereas on another range, a different sub-population will find conditions increasing, and their numbers will grow.

 

So, although no cod have moved (say because of conditions changing due to global warming, ie the cod's food chain distribution moving Northward), the overall distribution of cod will have moved North.

 

For all intents and purposes 'the cod have moved North', whereas more correctly and pedantically we should say that the 'distribution of cod has moved north' (not the individual cod themselves).

 

 

However what we've found is that cod populations to the south, where temperatures are higher, have not done as badly as those in the North Sea, and cod populations to the North have done much better than those in the North Sea.

 

Environmental conditions have changed in the North Sea due to warming, and plankton species etc have changed which hasn't helped cod to recover.

 

Some will argue that it's because of this that the North Sea cod have struggled, and therefore overfishing of the species is off the hook.

 

But the balance of scientific opinion seems to me to point to overfishing as the primary cause of the depletion of North Sea cod stocks, and the changed environmental factors asre simply not helping the population cope with recovery from overfishing.

[steve good]

What is the sod the cod philosophy?

 

Hi Challenge

 

QUOTA/ What is the sod the cod philosophy? The first thing that springs to mind is a half a tonne of cod fillets, sorry lol lol lol breaking ribs here.

 

Best laugh i have had for a while lol lol

 

best regards steve

[Jaffa]

"Sod the cod" might refer to a statement made a few years ago by a leader of the Scottish Fishermen who said that they regarded the extinction of the cod as a "price worth paying" to protect their industry.

 

"Sod the cod" was a phrase invented by Bradshaw; who then argued against his invention in the way only politicians can Pure spin.

 

No Scottish fishermens leader has ever said that they

regarded the extinction of the cod as a "price worth paying" to protect their industry.

that i have heard of. Perhaps i have missed something so show me where they said this?

 

Chris

[Guest challenge]

Hi Challenge

 

QUOTA/ What is the sod the cod philosophy? The first thing that springs to mind is a half a tonne of cod fillets, sorry lol lol lol breaking ribs here.

 

Best laugh i have had for a while lol lol

 

best regards steve

Very good.

We all undoubtedly aide the progress of psychology by sharpening its problems. Through our own dogmatic and unoriginal philosophy Steve.

Regards.