Brexit process

[Lurkalot]

i can see the sense in the ban but just how is such a thing actually enforced? Are there observers on board ( seems highly unlikely) or are catches recorded on camera? As it is I just don't see what stops fishermen dumping the less profitable portion of their catch.

[clv101]

I think some/all commercial fishing boats do have cameras and GPS for just such enforcement.

[UndercoverElephant]

Fishing will never be big enough economically to really matter, so why are we making so much fuss?

Because when the shit hits the fan, those fish will matter more than the "economics" you are referring to.

[clv101]

Fishing will never be big enough economically to really matter, so why are we making so much fuss?

Because when the shit hits the fan, those fish will matter more than the "economics" you are referring to.

That's a good argument for dramatically reducing fishing now as it's not that big a deal, such that fish stocks in the future, when they'll matter more, are in better shape.

[kenneal - lagger]

To allow recovery, it should be a limited quanty of smaller fish that are caught, NOT the large fish. The large ones are the breeding stock. If these are landed, and the smaller ones are thrown back, (usually dead anyway), there’s no realistic way for the fish to recover. Larger “no-fish zones� might help.

The logic is that the larger fish will have spawned but the smaller fish have not yet spawned. Taking smaller fish will not allow them to spawn and carry on the breed.

Wind farms produce de facto MPAs as all but line fishing is virtually impossible in them. The rock armoured bases also provide hiding places for small fish so windfarms are good for fishing.

[woodburner]

The logic is the larger fish are able to spawn. If you catch these you reduce the number of small fish avilable, and you allow the fish overall to grow to a larger size. If you catch the large fish and nt the small ones, can you not see you are putting pressure on the fish to become overall smaller?



One example though I was thinking more of the large fish caught for “sport� which are now much smaller than they used to be.

The moral, stop catching the large fish.

[cubes]

Fishing will never be big enough economically to really matter, so why are we making so much fuss?

Because when the shit hits the fan, those fish will matter more than the "economics" you are referring to.

When the shit hits the fan those fishing boats ain't going anywhere without fuel.

[vtsnowedin]

Fishing will never be big enough economically to really matter, so why are we making so much fuss?

Because when the shit hits the fan, those fish will matter more than the "economics" you are referring to.

When the shit hits the fan those fishing boats ain't going anywhere without fuel.

The fishing fleet of Massachusetts fished the grand banks for over a century with just sail. It would be tough going back to salt cod instead of fresh or frozen but that would be better then starving.

[careful_eugene]

The logic is the larger fish are able to spawn. If you catch these you reduce the number of small fish avilable, and you allow the fish overall to grow to a larger size. If you catch the large fish and nt the small ones, can you not see you are putting pressure on the fish to become overall smaller?



One example though I was thinking more of the large fish caught for “sport� which are now much smaller than they used to be.

The moral, stop catching the large fish.

Please excuse my ignorance but how do you catch small fish without catching larger fish?

[woodburner]

The logic is the larger fish are able to spawn. If you catch these you reduce the number of small fish avilable, and you allow the fish overall to grow to a larger size. If you catch the large fish and nt the small ones, can you not see you are putting pressure on the fish to become overall smaller?



One example though I was thinking more of the large fish caught for “sport� which are now much smaller than they used to be.

The moral, stop catching the large fish.

Please excuse my ignorance but how do you catch small fish without catching larger fish?

That’s the problem. But if you want no fish, or just small fish, catch the large fish. If you want to have large fish, you have to not catch them so they can grow. Nothing is easy. It’s because the easy approach is taken that the problem will be, no fish. Look at the Grand Banks, hardly any fish, North Sea herring, hardly any fish, North Sea Tuna, bugger all fish, and you used to be able to catch them from the shore with rod and line.

[kenneal - lagger]

All the fisheries scientists say that protecting the smaller fish increases the fishery and forming MCAs helps even more. And there is the problem of catching small fish without catching larger ones when they are all tens or hundreds of metres below sea level so you can't see what you're catching.

[vtsnowedin]

Big fish tend to survive the best in structure both natural or man made(reefs and ship wrecks) where the nets get fouled so the fisherman shy away from them. A few fifty pound plus cod can spawn a lot of eggs.

[woodburner]

All the fisheries scientists say that protecting the smaller fish increases the fishery and forming MCAs helps even more. And there is the problem of catching small fish without catching larger ones when they are all tens or hundreds of metres below sea level so you can't see what you're catching.

As if, in many cases, they cared. They want to catch as much as possible to get the money in.

Suggest you look again at the signature on your posts. You can’t eat money, and whose pock is paying for the “scientists�?

[kenneal - lagger]

All the fisheries scientists say that protecting the smaller fish increases the fishery and forming MCAs helps even more. And there is the problem of catching small fish without catching larger ones when they are all tens or hundreds of metres below sea level so you can't see what you're catching.

As if, in many cases, they cared. They want to catch as much as possible to get the money in.

Suggest you look again at the signature on your posts. You can’t eat money, and whose pock is paying for the “scientists�?

So what happens, woodburner, when all the big fish die, as everything does in the end, and you're left with a few small fish and none of an age that can lay eggs? And you haven't yet told us how you intend to catch only small fish and let the big ones go.

By the way I've edited all my posts from MCA to MPA, Marine Protected Area, which is the correct term.

If the government and their scientists were only concerned with maximising current catches they wouldn't be putting MPAs around the country and keeping fishermen out would they? They wouldn't bother with quotas either.

There has been an argument raging in the fisheries industry for several years over the quotas on certain fish where fishermen are catching increasing numbers of still protected fish and the scientists are saying keep the quotas on them while the fishing industry wants quotas increased. And you, woodburner, are saying that everyone wants to increase catches unsustainably.

I believe that the scientists generally get things right and they are driving policy both on fisheries and global warming. They want small fish protected and large fish, which is why there are quotas on the larger fish and a limit on the smallest net size to let smaller fish escape.

[BritDownUnder]

I once read a book titled "Cod".

One of the theories in this book there was that the cod nets caught only the large mature cod and left the smaller mature cod to swim free and spawn again and over time it altered the gene pool to make cod smaller and smaller.