fat cats

[Jaffa]

@SPRING@:

@SPRING@:

 

 

 

The UK fleet is now at a size were it is no threat to any stock, but still you all still baying for more blood, and will not be happy untill there are none left.

It is the catching potential of todays fleet and not the number of boats that greatly concerns us. Id be quite happy to have a lot of boats and fishermen like you around here. Im not so enthusiastic about the type of boats we currently have.

and how on earth did we get the fleet we have now? Answers on a postcard but all begin with E....

[Jaffa]

Bob on Stronsay:

Hello Wurzel, have you ever read the book called "Cod" I know our fleet isn't the size of the Canadians when they decimated their stocks (With a bit of help from us in the past) but it would have been if the Icelanders hadn't kicked us out so they could have a sustainable fishery.

 

I like eating fish (No fish and chip shop up here so I catch my own) and I understand so do lots of other folk so we need to fish but to disregard the scientists and just fish away is so short sighted it is unbelievable.

 

What is needed is a sensible policy that is policed properly and a total ban on all bottom trawling if not a total ban on all net fishing.

 

The price of fish would go up and it would become fashionable again so more jobs would be created.

 

Bob

The Canadians did not destroy their own fish stocks; their problem was a lot of the grand banks was in international waters.

 

The fact that the Icelanders kicked every other body out of their area is the whole point..

[Guest jay_con]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jaffa:

. [/qb]

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and how on earth did we get the fleet we have now? Answers on a postcard but all begin with E.... [/QB]

 

 

When the going gets tough blame Europe.

 

At least seals and global warming are off the agenda.

[Guest jay_con]

The Canadians did not destroy their own fish stocks; their problem was a lot of the grand banks was in international waters.

 

 

If this is the case how come they closed it now??????? Answers on a stamped address post card (again).

[Jaffa]

@SPRING@:

The Canadians did not destroy their own fish stocks; their problem was a lot of the grand banks was in international waters.

 

 

If this is the case how come they closed it now??????? Answers on a stamped address post card (again).

Even when the Canadians finally realised there was a problem and tried to close the Grand Banks, a 50 strong fleet from Spain and Portugal, together with the Russians (no idea how many) just kept on fishing the parts of the banks in international waters.

 

Those same Russian trawlers are now fishing Rockall, apparently using 40mm nets!

[Jaffa]

@SPRING@:

quote:

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Originally posted by Jaffa:

.

and how on earth did we get the fleet we have now? Answers on a postcard but all begin with E.... [/QB]

---

When the going gets tough blame Europe.

 

At least seals and global warming are off the agenda. [/QB]

 

Seals are a problem if you use fixed salmon nets; not many of them left so maybe no big deal. Global warming is real and the plankton HAS changed in the North Sea which means big changes in fish stocks.

 

Europe is at the root of our fishing crisis. I can name several countries where fishing is well managed because those countries have control over their own waters. Can you name me a single place where grounds, shared between several nations, are in good health?

 

Wurzel, I don't disagree that overall numbers of fish may be good but Spanner is surely right when he says the size/age range of the stocks is unhealthy. It does not seem that the commercial fishing organisations have taken this on board at all Possibly because they are too busy fighting nonsense.

[Jaffa]

Leon Roskilly:

Leon Roskilly:

The one showing our limits as they were when we still had Rockall ....

Which may soon be Benland!

 

http://telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml...7/ftfogle27.xml

 

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

Maybe he should have spoken to Tom McLean, or the Royal Marines, who have been there before; they would have told him you need two weeks of good weather across the Atlantic before the swell drops enough to get on the rock from a boat.

 

Heard Tom on Scottish Radio yesterday, talking about his stay on Rockall. The interviewer, having seen Ben's failure to land, asked him how he got off again: turned out he just dived off!! Bellyflopped too

 

They don't make them like that anymore, cept in Oz of course!

[Leon Roskilly]

Jaffa:

Europe is at the root of our fishing crisis. I can name several countries where fishing is well managed because those countries have control over their own waters.

But a reality check is needed!

 

those countries do have problems and tensions in managing their fisheries.

 

But what makes them different is that their economies are heavily dependent upon fish.

 

If they lose their fish, what fishing industry it supports goes, and the whole economy comes down.

 

And there are a number of other reasons why we cannot simply transpose those country's management regimes to ours, political, geographical, economic.

 

We need to decide what works best for us, not what works best in the Faroes etc, even though what works in the Faroes is sadly far better than anything that is realistically possible here.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Huge_Vitae]

What they are doing amounts to smuggling and tax evasion.

 

If you take your vehicle to France and 'smuggle' in goods to avoid excise you are liable to lose your vehicle as HMC&E are allowed to seize it as it becomes property of the Crown.

 

If you are a haulier and are found with 'red' diesel in your lorry, you are likely to lose it under the same proceedure.

 

I should imagine that vessel would fetch a good price at auction.

[Jaffa]

Reality check?! I agree that our situation is different from Faroe et al, but its you that keeps posting generalisations like

quote:

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And that's the problem.

 

When there's (say) 500,000 tonne of spawning biomass available, fishermen can sustainably catch what they need.

 

When there's only (say) 10,000 tonne available, the stock is in deep trouble, but still fishermen can catch what they need.

 

Scientific advice? Unreliable.

 

Fewer Fish? There's always been times of plenty and times of shortage.

 

Overfishing a problem? No, there are environmental changes taking place, fishermen just need to adjust, that's all.

 

And as scientists warn of the approaching danger, fishermen cannot afford to believe them. They have to believe that there will be fish tomorrow, or give up their way of life.

 

And environmentalists believe the scientists, and so the gap widens.

 

In every case that I've ever read about, all over the world, apart from a few individuals, fishermen have been united in claiming that there wasn't a problem. 'Plenty of fish'

 

Right up until there was (to all intents and purposes) no more fish.

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I am just highlighting the point that it is possible to have well run fisheries when you have control over your own resources and, as you say, it matters to your economy. How much are fisheries really ever going to matter to the EU overall? How much would they matter to Scotland if it had control of its waters?