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A friend of mine who hasnt joined the forum as yet (But is in the process of doing so) recently visited the forum as a guest, after reading some of the topics he has asked if I would post some information on his behalf untill he has time to become a member and visit the forum himself.
This chap is a charter skipper and is pretty clued up on what is happening in the commercial sector locally.
His post is as follows - \"After visiting your forum and reading some topics in which individuals blame anglers for the state of cod stocks I felt I would like to say a few words on this issue. I am astonished at how some people are blind to the facts as to what really goes on in the north sea by the commercial sector.Just last week one pair of trawlers working off the north east coast were catching 500-600 stone of small codling for each four hour session of trawling, the discard rate was apauling with over half been undersize, thats 250-300 stone of codling shovelled back over the side DEAD every four hours. This 250-300 stone of fish equates to 2-3000 codling, and this is just 1 pair team out of 8 or 9 which operate from our port alone.
Pair trawling is now being used by most trawlers in the north sea as the catch rate is far superior compared to that of a single boat. The difference between a single trawl and 2 boats pulling 1 net is 8-1 catch rate with massive discards. Ben bradshaw is aware of this as recently DEFRA did a survey with 1 man on a single trawl boat for a week and 1 man on a pair trawl boat for a week. The practice of pair trawling needs banning immediately in the name of conservation, so please all email mr Bradshaw about this issue .
I would like to make just one final comment. The man on here complaining about a gentleman taking home a 2 pound codling for his tea needs to get his head out of the sand and realise that angling has no effect whatsoever on cod stocks, anglers do not even come into the equation.
This chap is a charter skipper and is pretty clued up on what is happening in the commercial sector locally.
His post is as follows - \"After visiting your forum and reading some topics in which individuals blame anglers for the state of cod stocks I felt I would like to say a few words on this issue. I am astonished at how some people are blind to the facts as to what really goes on in the north sea by the commercial sector.Just last week one pair of trawlers working off the north east coast were catching 500-600 stone of small codling for each four hour session of trawling, the discard rate was apauling with over half been undersize, thats 250-300 stone of codling shovelled back over the side DEAD every four hours. This 250-300 stone of fish equates to 2-3000 codling, and this is just 1 pair team out of 8 or 9 which operate from our port alone.
Pair trawling is now being used by most trawlers in the north sea as the catch rate is far superior compared to that of a single boat. The difference between a single trawl and 2 boats pulling 1 net is 8-1 catch rate with massive discards. Ben bradshaw is aware of this as recently DEFRA did a survey with 1 man on a single trawl boat for a week and 1 man on a pair trawl boat for a week. The practice of pair trawling needs banning immediately in the name of conservation, so please all email mr Bradshaw about this issue .
I would like to make just one final comment. The man on here complaining about a gentleman taking home a 2 pound codling for his tea needs to get his head out of the sand and realise that angling has no effect whatsoever on cod stocks, anglers do not even come into the equation.
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