Pair Trawling in the Channel

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Hi Wurzel, I quote:

 

"As for being greedy you probably have not got a crew to pay, insurance, bank loans, fuel bills, and a hundred other bills that consistently drop through the letter box when you own a boat."

 

These things apply to all businesses not just boat owners, but it is stupid to destroy the very thing which supports the business.

[big_cod]

Jaffa old mate, the boys from north of the border fishing for whiting haddock etc get far more discards than the the guys do fishing for green,if i remember correctley quite a few years ago there was talk of increasing mess size guess who were tottally against this proposal, yes you guest it it was the guys who like to fish whiting and tid chats.

[Guest jay_con]

Wurzel,

 

Just go back in time to when this happened at the rough. What sort of a share went to the boat? how much were the crew paid?.

 

Instead of taking 2 thousand pound a week each and blowing it on booze and the key draw in the fishermans club, they could have left half the fish where it was, come home early and still got a good wage (higher than the average for the town). Justifying greed by passing it off as overheads just aint right.

[Jaffa]

No surprise there Big Cod.

 

Different boats working different grounds for different species. If your dependant on whiting and haddock and catch few cod, your hardly going to be keen on a mesh that lets out the bulk of the legal sized fish your after.

 

I thought those square meshed nets that the fishermen and Marine lab guys developed were the way to go. Looked like they were going to come into use in the late eighties too, but as far as I remember there was no means for the fishermen and DAFS to sort out a deal that made their use practical. Great pity if thats all the reason it never got off the ground

[wurzel]

@winter@ are you a communist? I bet crews wages don't average out any more than average, and if you work out the hourly rate it is probably way below average, Fishermen have to make hay while the sun shines. the only thing wrong is the size limit being much to small and the amount of dicards being dumped, but things are very slowly improveing on that front.

[Leon Roskilly]

wurzel:

@winter@ are you a communist?

ROFL

 

Oh my! Oh my! Ow! me sides 'urt.

 

TL - leon

[Jaffa]

 

Wonder what @winters@'s life expectency would have been had he met Joe Stalin?

[Guest jay_con]

Ill get me coat.

[Ian Burrett]

I still see there is a witch hunt against commercial fisherman on AN. I make no apology for repeating, the majority of commercial fisherman are honest hard working individuals struggling to make a living against the harsh elements but wouldn't change what they do, because they passionatley enjoy it. Many have generations of fishing behind them. As with all walks of life, most will work within the law and a few will break it. I ask you not to make sweeping generalisations and tar all fisherman with the same brush.

 

Rightly or wrongly, the pair trawlers are working within the law and have a right to go about their business without the interference of the often misguided Greenpeace. To endorse these Greenpeace activities; is endorsing anarchy.

 

I am strongly against any form of fishing that is not sustainable, either in terms of biomass or enviromentally, but our argument has to be with the rule makers that are allowing things to go on; against scientific advice.

 

Jaffa has come come up with stick because of some of his views, but i can empathsize with many of them. He has lived around fishing towns in the North of Scotland and realises the socio economic disaster that would happen if the fisherman were denied access to making a living from the sea.

 

To move forward, we are going to have to sit around DEFRA or SEERAD tables and negotiate packages that aren't 100% for either commercial fishermen or RSA's but compromising is perhaps the best hope.

 

By alienating commercial fisherman, I think we will face far more uphill battles than necessary, as they will autmatically put up a big NO, without even trying to understand the obvious benefits for both sides.

 

Many of the fisherman I have spoken to, are as pxxxed off, at the decision making of the rulemakers as we are; we should try and capitalise on this, and work together. An example of this is the Arran Coast trust ( www.arrancoast.co.uk )which has the full backing of local fisherman, they are against visiting clam dredgers coming in and destroying the sea bed.

 

Every time you hear of some commercial activity that is obviously detrimental to the sea, you should be thinking some suit wearing idiot in an office has allowed this to happen. Even if it is an illegal activity, the rule makers haven't been strong enough in punishing the offenders.

 

Many of you are angered and post your rantings on here, but every once in a while, gather that anger and use it, to write to MP's, DEFRA, newspapers etc. It will probably do far more good.

 

On an ironic note, If Dolphin are so blxxdy clever; Why do they go any where near the pair trawlers?

[Leon Roskilly]

French Inshore Fishermen protest at Bass Pair Trawl Landings

 

 

Rough Translation

 

Source of article http://www.sosbar.org : original source Telegramme (Morlaix) 14th of March.

 

"Two trawlers from St Nazaire landing 6 tonnes of bass in Brest on Thursday the 11th of March, were surprised to find a welcoming committee made up of tens of line fishermen waiting for them.

 

Small coastal fishermen voiced their concern about the practice of pelagic trawling and protested about the massive presence of boats coming from all over the Atlantic coast in the Channel.

 

All the same, in contrast to events in Boulogne Sur Mer on 3rd of March, the protest did not spill over and the two vessels were able to return to sea unhindered.

 

According to the limited information at our disposal, record bass landings are expected in 2005 following the 4,600 tonnes in 2004 and 4,326 tonnes in 2003.

 

It should be noted that these figures represent tonnage recorded at auction and it is feared they bear less and less reflection to the real extent of the catch.

 

In practice, direct landings, an authorised procedure enabling fish to pass from the boat's hold to the purchaser's lorry, tend to be on the increase."

 

Tight Lines - leon