No sh**e

[mark]

they like salmon a lot. quite common for them to rip into fish farm cages for a bit scran.. releasing thousands of alien fish in the process and further screwing up the local fish populations

[mark]

So tell me, how long do you think a recreational sea angler should hold back from fishing?

and...

How long should a commercial trawler stop fishing in comparison...?

To 'up' the stocks....

if you take fish from the sea you are partly responsible.

if you establish a system to allow predators of sea fish to flourish above their natural levels you are partly responsible

if you legislate such that any vessel from any nation state can take fish from british waters you are partly responsible

if you allow millions of tons of sand eels to be caught from the north sea to use as fish meal/fertilizer or power station fuel you are partly responsible

everyone has played their part to some degree or other

the EU & common fisheries policy being the single most guilty party

fisheries ministers are meeting in spain this week - spain have europes biggest fleet and get the biggest EU subsidies and take more fish from british waters than the british fleet do BTW, yet scotlands fisheries minister was refused permission to attend. the outcome looks likely that british boats will be forced to tie up for the next 150 days

spanish boats will not

[Red5]

if you establish a system to allow predators of sea fish to flourish above their natural levels you are partly responsible

Are you referring to cute furry seals there Mark or man kind?

For seals I don't so much have a problem with a cull, but think more research on their numbers and dietary requirements needs to be assessed. I would ask this because in theory if the population of seals is growing there must be food in the foodchain for them somewhere, whereas from an anglers or even a commercial fishermans point of view, catches are down. Even in the 1920's when numbers of grey seals only supposedly numbered 500, catches were already coming down according to the scientific data, so something doesn't add up.
Was there another Apex predator in our waters at the time which kept seal numbers down, if so where has it gone, or was it mankind that would have used the bones, blubber and skin for sustenance before we became 'civilised'.

if you legislate such that any vessel from any nation state can take fish from british waters you are partly responsible

if you allow millions of tons of sand eels to be caught from the north sea to use as fish meal/fertilizer or power station fuel you are partly responsible

everyone has played their part to some degree or other

the EU & common fisheries policy being the single most guilty party

fisheries ministers are meeting in spain this week - spain have europes biggest fleet and get the biggest EU subsidies and take more fish from british waters than the british fleet do BTW, yet scotlands fisheries minister was refused permission to attend. the outcome looks likely that british boats will be forced to tie up for the next 150 days

spanish boats will not

The Spanish also do a good job in fishing the waters off Africa as well, forcing many coastal communities to starve. Therefore the EU and other rich nations taxpayers have to send food aid to these often impoverished nations. So guess what, as a taxpayer you are paying twice. Once to the EU in the subsidies she provides to the commercial sector and again in the Aid budget that we contribute to every year

[oldessox]

So tell me, how long do you think a recreational sea angler should hold back from fishing?

and...

How long should a commercial trawler stop fishing in comparison...?

To 'up' the stocks....

I've no idea mate , but if it were possible to stop ALL fishing in the north sea for a year or two or 5 years ......... would you agree to it to to let the fish stocks recover?

Ray