fish- cod!!!

[smallblueplanet]

I must admit I've never understood the EU system that allows other EU countries to rape our coastal waters of its natural fish stocks while we reduce the size of our own fleet!

Absolutely those nice British fishermen should be able to 'rape' our coastal waters!!! Its just not fair.

I think I'm gonna back out of this thread, this is one area that really infuriates me. Why shouldn't fishermen take responsibilty for what they take from the seas?

Sorry Carlseawolf & Flum I was being sarcastic. Although I'm a veggie I'm all too aware what over-fishing is doing to our seas and the eco-systems that rely on them.

Check out the rspb's info on our marine and coastal issues. The article about 'Industrial fisheries' is stunningly appalling.

Marine policy

[PAULW]

Could there not be some sort of system that if fish are caught by accident instead of dumping them they are taken into account and the time the boats spend at sea is reduced, the fishermen would not lose out because they would have an income from the by-fish and the fish stocks would be given a chance if the boats are out fishing less

[Madasafish]

There is a simple answer.

Restrict fish catches to so many tonnes of fish caught.

Full stop.

Sod quotas, types of fish . Anything.

You catch your ten tonnes.. that's it..

And don't let fishermen confuse us all. They have sonar which identifies fish shoals. They can work out roughly the type of fish from where they are and how dense they are.

All the rest is bullshit designed to make the system complex and keep civil sevants and fishermen in jobs. Complex rules by type of fish...

You catch your limit : that's it. 10 tonnes of whiting, plaice , dabs or cod.

Suddenly you would find fishermen being far more careful where and when they fished. At present they don't care..

We've caught turbot but we want cod.. throw it away.

Note I said "caught". Not landed... I mean "caught".. ie. landed on board a boat. Full stop.

It might make fishing more selective and fish more plentiful.

[carlseawolf]

good point Paul W in norway that system is actually in place and the discards are taken ashore to be used as fishmeal and i think it's actually illigal to dump but they are also not a member of the EU. In britain fishing is a small buisness compaired to other indutaries but if you go to france or spain where they have big fleets of ships and alot of people employed in the industary and it has been know for polititions to be unseated by the people power so they have to get a good deal for there fishermen or face the conciquences when they get home.
in britian you just get ignored

[valmarg]

I just hope Grocer Ted Heath is swirling in his grave for selling our fishing industry down the swannee, in his 'don't care what it costs' to get us in the Common Market.

valmarg

[rustylady]

OK, I'm really old-fashioned. Whatever happened to the small boats that used to go out to sea, catch whatever they could and bring it back to shore and either use the catch themselves or sell it to people who were going to use it fresh for meals? The big commercial enterprises have totally screwed up fishing, farming and probably lots of other things. Why can't the bigger boats bring back everything and sell it on open market? What is the point of quotas (which I understood to be in place to protect certain species) if that species is still being caught (inadvertently) and just chucked back over the side. IT IS STILL BEING CAUGHT!!!! It might as well be brought back and used.

[Snadger]

From what I see, other EU countries must not be working under the same rules as our fleet, or they are just ignoring them?
I've been to Spanish and Italian ports where the fishermen seem to bring in all manner of small fish and it seems that anything that swims is fair game to be caught and eaten!

We probably play by the rules, but does everyone else?And if the rules specify chucking dead fish back, maybe the others are doing right by ignoring them!

[carlseawolf]

Morning all ,
before i start on the next questions i will tell your a true story of the power the continental fisherman have got over there officals.

In 1992 i work on a spanish trawler that came from LA CORUNA in NW SPAIN and worked west of ireland as many of there fleet do , and while working for this boat this story happened in spain.
On arriving back in spain after a trip we were greeted in the harbour by banners reading things like down with the goverment - police are corrupt and things to that nature and the harbour was full of boats.
It turned out the previous week that a female fish merchant had bought undersized fish of the local market ( which is no illegal ) and was driving back to here home town when she was stopped by the police , on seeing the fish in the van the policeman went to arrest the woman and an arguement soon followed and the woman ended up getting shot and died.
It turned out the policeman got let of as been self defence and the fishing community was up in arms. they demostrated out side the local police and goverment departments and finally said if he was not charged then no fish would be landed or imported to spain untill he was charged and sent to court for trial .
the outcome was the officer got sent down for a prison sentance and the local goverment offical didn't get re-elected as he had acted to slow in the matter.
so the reason we all have the same rules but they are taken liberally in continental countries is people power and the fact we are a farming nation where as fishing is the staple of spain because most of the farm land is in the north of the country so they rely on fishing to feed the country most of the time.
anyone remember the cook report in bilboa northern spain when he tried to film the landing of small fish , the local mob chucked his camera in the harbour and all the local divers where to scared to get it .
they bombed the local custom house because they wanted to much information on where the fleet had been , so no custom house no forms to fill in.
and roger cook made the program mainly on hearsay as he had hardly any film footage to use.
All fisheries officers are protected by law but if there is no law then there's no point trying to get youself killed inforcing it

[shirlthegirl43]

There is a possible problem with allowing the fish that has been caught 'accidentally' to be brought ashore - if this is allowed, then there is a chance that unscrupulous people may disregard what they are trying to catch and just bring everything in.

I think the idea of allowing each boat to catch a certain tonnage of whatever then stop is a promising solution. I also feel that in a lot more than just fishing, we are too worried about what will be thought if we do something wrong that we bend over backwards to comply with the rules while other countries ignore them.

Time for the people to revolt against all the stupid EU rules.