An Alliance Between Anglers And Commercials?

[JB]

Hi Binatone, thanks for the welcome. Yes, sometimes we do fish the general area you talked about. As you would know, there are a lot of wrecks in that general vicinity. Given the right conditions, the fishing can be superb.

Although the day you talk about was not our best day's fishing, it could be rated as one of the many very good ones. But, as in your job, the results we get can be very variable. Weather conditions, water clarity, the skill of the anglers on board, and many other factors play a big part in the amount of fish caught. Consequently, great catches cannot be guaranteed - but we always try to give the best service we possibly can.

As you pointed out, all our fish is filleted and chilled, so our customers take home the best product possible. The anglers may catch £3,000 worth of fish on one trip and have poor fishing the next. But, if we look after them and try hard for them, they generally are philosophical about the job, good fishing or not. Most of the anglers that leave the Chieftain after a fishing trip leave her happy. That's the name of this particular game we are in - happy chaps will come and see us again and again. The success of our livelihood depends on this, for returning customers and 'word of mouth' new customers are the mainstay of our business.

Our anglers have often reported that other Whitby charter skippers have told them that you never see any fish come off the Chieftain. This is very true! Anglers do not leave our boat with strings of spoiling cod on display. However, if a passer-by looked closely, he would see many heavy 'cold boxes' landed. If he looked inside them, he would see stacks of cod fillets in perfect condition. Not as exciting a view as lots of large intact cod - but our anglers certainly appreciate the filleting services our crewmen offer. If it is any consolation to you, no fish our anglers catch is ever wasted through spoilage, as our aim is to get every fish properly filleted and placed in the chiller as soon as possible. And the parts of the fish that are not for human consumption get returned to the sea to feed the birds and creatures of the sea, instead of being dumped in a rubbish bin on land.

Strangely enough, the general decline of fishing has not affected me as much as most. So far I have managed to keep ahead of the game, although it's certainly not getting any easier. Personally, I much preferred the days of fifteen to twenty years ago, when I long-lined all winter and took a few anglers/friends/customers on fishing trips for the summer months. But life is not ideal and bills have to be paid. Which brings me to the point where I return to the original topic of this thread: Until we realise who is really at fault for the decline in fish catches, get our act together, and do something to change the present situation, inevitably things will either stay the same or get worse.

You say "Strange how you never seam to be giving us commercials a hard time? Is that because you where once one yourself or is it because you have no need to?"

I try not to give any working man, fisherman or otherwise, a hard time for doing their job well. I even hold no malice towards sandeel fishermen. However, I do hold a great deal of contempt for the people who are supposed to be "running the show", the people in power, the people who could make a difference if they could be bothered to do so. But that brings up another question: is it their fault for doing their job so badly, or our fault for letting them?

Good fishing to you.

JOHN BRENNAN.

[JB]

We are a great nation of complainers. It seems to be the national pastime. Yet we never seem to do anything about the things we complain about. The only time we seem to get organised and take positive action is in times of great adversity - like wars and such. So we must now decide: if we form an angling commercial alliance, do we want to do anything positive?

 

In my opinion, our politicians and civil servants are very happy with the situation as it stands. They are only interested in their own welfare and progress. While commercial fishing and recreational angling is in turmoil, it is good for them.

 

If someone approaches a politician and suggests a good plan for improvement, he will say, "That's a good plan, but it cannot be implemented because we have to consider all parties involved." And so it goes round and round, never getting anywhere. But what do the politicians care? They still get paid at the end of the month. The only thing that alters is that they keep getting pay rises while our livelihood or sport is disappearing.

 

I was impressed with this section of Leon's posting of the Transcript of interview between Helen Styles of 'Dirty Tackle' and Doug Kidd, Fisheries Minister of New Zealand 1992-1998.

 

"What advice would you give to UK anglers now who are fighting for their opportunity to have a go at their fish?"

 

"Get organised. Simple arithmetic impresses Ministers. They are called votes you see, and if people come along who can credibly claim to represent a large number of people, it is amazing how much attention Ministers will give them".

 

If we were able to forget our differences for the time being and form a strong alliance that represented all parties involved, maybe we would be taken notice of when we said, "We expect our politicians to start doing their jobs properly by looking after our interests. If this does not happen, we may all vote for the UKIP next time we are called upon to support our politicians."

 

JOHN BRENNAN

[big_cod]

Old man of the sea mate being reading your threads and oh dear I thought you were a experienced trawler skipper but i was wrong, on the case of discards you a totally wrong it seems, i am not a trawler skipper but on the other hand i speak to them daily and the discard rate has being emense the last 4 or 5 weeks with small codling going back over the side feeding on herring spawn and no it hasnt being weed in the cod end its being vast amounts of small codling this is from the skippers mouths so why you say seed whiting yes seed whiting are mixed in but there has being a hell of lot of small codling mixed in sadly to say ,but on the other hand these guys have a living to make but it is very sad in 2005 that this practice still goes on.

[big_cod]

Old man of the sea mate being reading your threads and oh dear I thought you were a experienced trawler skipper but i was wrong, on the case of discards you a totally wrong it seems, i am not a trawler skipper but on the other hand i speak to them daily and the discard rate has being emense the last 4 or 5 weeks with small codling going back over the side feeding on herring spawn and no it hasnt being weed in the cod end its being vast amounts of small codling this is from the skippers mouths so why you say seed whiting yes seed whiting are mixed in but there has being a hell of lot of small codling mixed in sadly to say ,but on the other hand these guys have a living to make but it is very sad in 2005 that this practice still goes on.

[Guest jay_con]

Shame they cant come up with some decent method to get the undersize fish out of the mesh. You would have thought with the advances in technology this would be possible.

[Ian Burrett]

Is he square mesh as effective as the publicity suggests? Does it have to be used by law?

[big_cod]

Ask old man of the sea what blinders are he should be able to explain.

[Ian Burrett]

John and Michelle

What do the anglers do with £3000 worth of prime filleted fish. I can't believe it is for their own use.

The majority of people wouldn't have the freezer room for such large ammounts and I can only believe they must be selling it or swapping it for ale.

[Guest jay_con]

big_cod:

Ask old man of the sea what blinders are he should be able to explain.

Blinder??? What you talking about Willis??

 

What is a blinder

[big_cod]

Touchy subject its taboo.