UK rejects EU Fish Conservation Measures

[Leon Roskilly]

see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4102635.stm

 

 

Tight Lines - leon

[John S]

Well, they'll have to stop fishing the North Sea eventually, BECAUSE THERE'LL BE NO BLOODY FISH LEFT! :mad:

[Zigs]

wot a load of ******** :mad: :mad: :mad:

[tack4]

ars&**%es

[Mikec]

Well done Mr Bradshaw. I've never seen so many codling as this winter. I've also never seen so many red mullet and John Dory. I think the latter could explain the concerns over the former.

[stavey]

i was wondering how long it would take for you to pop up and gloat mikec, so you obviously think the warming of the sea has something to do with the cods dissapearance or are you just contridicting yourself by saying youve never seen so many codling, i dont know? perhaps you could invite us down to have a look at these magnificent catches you are making in the southwest?

[Socksy Squirrel]

Best away lads and lasses,

 

I will not be posting anything approaching a detailed fishing report on here in the future.

Anyone intending to fish the CI can contact me directly.

Too many black shi*s down here lately

[Guest jay_con]

Not all bad news though. Mr Bradshawe does propose improvement on enforcement of the measures already in place, and joe boerg the commission certainly echoes these sentiments. I am hering things locally that suggest he may be serious about enforcement at last. We will have to wait and see. Anyone living in the west of scotland could perhaps suggest to DEFRA that they start enforcing quota's on the smaller boats, as coble owners from that area are saying DEFRA dont have a clue what the small boats are landing.

[Mikec]

I am sorry that you think I am gloating Stavey. That is certainly not my intention. I just think that we finally have a minister who despite having a very difficult portfolio is well briefed and doing a reasonable job. If they had implemented every recommendation it wouldn't make the slightest difference to my living. It is just that I think they are wrong.

 

I fish area v11d and as I 've said before stocks here are OK. I’ve just got back from Spain doing my bit for UK exports (I don’t suppose you’d approve but never mind) anyway I had my journals with me. This year in Sept Oct & Nov we had only 3 days of SW winds over force 4. This includes the period of equinox where in the last 12 years we have had gales from the SW in 8 of those years. SW is no longer the prevailing wind. This dramatic change must be having as an impact on the fishing.

[Leon Roskilly]

In 1998 the waters of the North Sea cod spawning grounds were very cold, and as cold water is needed for a successful spawning of North Sea cod, that spawning was one of the best for a very long time.

 

In fact, if those cod had been left to spawn just once, or even better as they do in the Iceland fishery, left to spawn twice, it's likely that there would now be plenty of large cod for everyone.

 

In fact Sea Angler magazine were running articles, as anglers started catching lots of small codling from the beaches, saying how wonderful the sport was going to be in the next few years, as those thousands of small codling quickly grew.

 

But what happened was that as soon as a proportion of those cod reached Minimum Landing size, way below the size that they spawn, the boats went in.

 

And they went in knowing that around 50% (in fact a little more than 50%) of the fish were still below MLS and would have to be dumped back over the side dead.

 

Never mind, there were some marketable fish to be caught, and bugger tomorrow!

 

Very few survived.

 

Perhaps nature, having seen how that gift of an exceptional spawning to restore the North Sea cod stocks was wasted, has decided that's it!

 

Still, the good news for the fishing boats is that now there's not so many cod around, the haddock have plenty to eat, the nephrops too, and of course there aren't too many cod to eat them either. (Although experience gives a grim warning of what happens when the boats start to fish down the food chain. Today's plenty is a disaster in the making).

 

Mike, there may be plenty of codling around at the moment, I hope that you are right.

 

But can you give us any hope that they will be left to mature and reproduce, or will they all soon be gone, as usually happens, now that we have the technology to hunt most of them down?

 

Tight Lines - leon