fish stocks in north sea

[codstopper]

i hope the commercial fisherman get a total fish ban for the next few years, no good giving them only a cod ban, the will still trawl them and kill them in the nets, even to return to the water they will be dead.
they have only them selves to blame, i remember just a few years ago our coastline was inundated with small codling around the 1lb - 1.5lb range, they were the 3 - 4 lb for the following winter season, they were in such great numbers and shoals right up our coastline.
i remember fishing a beach mark in northumberland on a slight sea, and to our amazement they was a trawler about 400yds from the shore putting out nets, and later retreiving them. not just on one accasion did this happen on our coastline, numerous times.
the commercial fleet took all the small codling that year, not giving conservation a second thought, there boats were full of them, get as many as they could get was the only passing thought they had.
hence the following winter session no fish arrived until late, very scarce and not many in the 3lb mark and no smaller ones, new stock.
the boats wiped them all out.
they didnt mention that they had a bumper year when all the small fish were in, you never heard them saying yeah we made thousands of pounds each month, it was fantastic......
now the inevitable cod ban approaches, were getting all the hard up stories from them, their boats are to be scrapped, going to loose their boats, people losing their jobs......because there are no fish to keep them in work.
tough sh*t i say.
its their own fault, they took all the fish back then, instead of conservation they are now looking at a self imposed financial catastrophie, not just for them but to their families.

and yes it includes all us shore fisherman, that spend our money, irrespactive how we get it, but the money thats thrown into the sea every night during the winter, by thousands of shore fisherman, the new tackle they have to keep up with the trends, all the numerous other bits and pieces, and the hours spent standing on a freezing rock, during the night getting wet and cold, and have nothing to show for your hard commited work, and financial loss incurred it all down to the greedy trawlers taking all the fish.
i think they should all be made to put money into a fund and the authorities to start an offshore breeding program, wouldnt cost that much, they do it with salmon, trout why not the cod.
there is enough space out there for thousands of breeding secluded zones to restart the breeding of young cod and to ensure it is still with us for our kids and grandkids to fish the beaches and rocks from our coastline for years to come,
the project would not be hard to create, and everyone reaps the rerwards in only 1 season, north east coastline from say berwick to humber, could quite easily have a few hundred enclosed areas for captive breeding programs, and then release at set stages. it would create new jobs, and retain the fishing industry under new laws, and of course it would ensure our sport for the future for ever. look forward to your own personal views.
thanks for your time

[LeonRoskilly]

And if only that last successful spawning of North Sea Cod, had been allowed to reach maturity and spawn themselves, we\'d be knee deep in large cod by now!

Instead, they were taken when just around 50% reached the Minimum Landing Size, the rest being dumped back over the side, too small to be landed.


The latest news from the EU on Cod Recovery plans

http://europa.eu.int/comm/fisheries/news_corner/press/inf03_52_en.htm

Tight Lines - leon

[Charlton]

report word for word as it appears in Oct 31st Fishing News

Warmer Waters ARE affecting cod stocks

Scientists in Plymouth who specialise in monitoring palnkton in the North Sea have confirmed what fishermen have been saying for years-that global warming is preventing cod recovery, despite fishing restrictions.
They warn that the North Sea in undergoing \"ecological meltdown\" leading to a breakdown in the North Sea\'s eco system due to global warming.
The scientists of the Sir Alistair Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in Plymouth that has been monitoring plankton in the North Sea for more than 70 years sat that an unprecedented heating of the awaters has driven cold water plankton miles to the north. Smaller warm water palnkton has replaced them-and they are less nutritious.
They conclude that species like cod are at the Southern limit of their range, and that if the warming trend continues cod is likely to become extinct in the North Sea in the next few decades.
The warmer waters have also hit the recovery of wild salmon, which saw record low numbers returning to British rivers to spawn this year.
As the esa temperatures in the North Sea and other Irish and British waters become more like those off the Iberian Coast or further south, warm water species like red mullett, horse mackerel, pilchards, and squid are becoming increasingly common.
Overfishing has palyed a part in the decline of cod according to the scientists, but they have been surprised to see that stocks have not made their expected recovery after severe cuts in quotas. They warn that continued warming would have an adverse effect on all forms of marine life.
The Plymouth research showed that cod stocks might never return to the North Sea, according to Scottish Euro MP Struan Stevenson, who is president of the European Parliamnet\'s fisheries committee.
He claimed in the European Parliamnet last week that Scottish fishermen might be suffering because of the \"King Canute\" style strategy of the European Commission.
\"This latest report by Dr Chris Reid vindicates what fishermen have been saying all along. The cod have migrated northwards to where their larvae can feed because of global warming and there is little chance of them ever returning\" said Mr Stevenson.
\"This is why there is an abundance of large, mature cod around the Faroes, Iceland and Norway and few in the North Sea, the Irish Sea or the west of Scotland. The commission can impose all the cuts they like but they may never persuade the cod to return. They will simply destroy the fishing industry. THE END

Little bit of info

Shad which started to appear from a few piers, mainly Roker a few years ago, have increased in numbers and locations, from Hartlepool to Amble. This was of much interset to the Environment Agency.

Horse Mackerel are also increasing in numbers, although i can remeber catching a few many years ago.

Red Mullett started turning up in commercial catches about three years ago, sometimes a couple of boxes have been landed at North Shields

There is also now a reasonable squid fishery off the North East coast.

[BriH]

watched a boat today unload (alot of net )off the coast of marsden (south shields ) only about 400yds of the rock edges - great eh ,just what we need.

[Red5]

Did anyone see Horizon last week about the fact that global warming is going to cause the gulf stream to stop and so causing us to have an ice age? Apparently the seas as far south as Dover wil be frozen for 100 days of the year. Scary. Anyone know how to Ice fish?

[5150]

Caught the programme, had much the same effect as when, as a kid, I watched \"Threads\" (thing about a nuclear war).... very worrying stuff... contemplated it afterwards though and thought to myself - well other countries live perfectly normal lives in these kind of conditions, we\'ll have to either adapt or move...

I found it a bit odd mind, I can recall plenty of winters with a hell of a lot of snow that would stay for weeks on end and deep too... think the last really deep snowfall I can recall was in the mid-late 80\'s, fell on a friday night and was up past my knees on the saturday morning when i was doing my paper round (think i was about 15-16)... Since then we seem to have had fairly mild winters - surely things should be getting colder if that flow of warm water is slowing?

[peter.m]

Was just discussing the same thing last night about proper snow while fishing. It\'s at least 15 years since I can remember really heavy snow that lasted for days. Didn\'t even get the sledge out once last year on the days I was with my daughter.

On the point of Dover freezing over I\'ve fished down there twice in the last year and I think Nu-age nightclub has started already as I seem to recall the floor being a bit slidey; well at least I couldn\'t stand up after far too many ciders and the women looked like they were from far off place. :P