Is cod in decline?

[darren]

But lets face it lads there not a great lot we can do about it but return the fish we catch but are we just returning the fish 4 them to catch and either waste or profit from plus us anglers spend alot of money time and effort to catch fish we cant put every one back!! I like cod.At lesst the fish we catch get used and not throne in to the sea dead

[willywetegg]

As you say Darren there is nothing you can do about it. Just keep doing what you do, that way you will sleep easy at night mate.

Jim.

[TC]

\"Is cod in decline?\"..........only 1 answer, isn\'t there?

I remember seeing a piece on the N.E. news (about 2 years ago).....they were interviewing a trawlerman about quota restrictions, net sizes and the like.
Despite the research and the figures, he refused to acknowledge that there was ANY decline in cod stocks and didn\'t see any need for any further imposition of restrictions..........talk about Ostriches burying their head in the sand

With THAT sort of attitude is it any wonder that stocks of cod are at crisis level. Personally, when I hear trawlermen bleating on about having to sell their boats, give up the business and the dire consequences for the local fishing community, I find it VERY difficult to have any sympathy for them. They have raked the sea for everything they could get for years, without ANY thought of the future fish population.
As has been previously said, the amount of \"wastage\" that is thrown back dead is sickening. Yes angling does have some \"wastage\", but when you\'re putting back 1 dead, undersized codling, it pales into insignificance to the amount of damage 1 trawler can do.

The time for them to be looking at their operating practices has long since past.......they have plundered the sea for all they could get and now they are reaping the consequesnces.

I don\'t think Billy\'s far wrong in his prediction that within a few years the only place you\'ll see a Cod is either in somewhere like the Sea Life Centres (or whatever they are called now), or in a museum.

Ofcourse, all of what I\'ve said above is only the way I feel.........I\'m quite happy to be \"put straight\" if I\'ve come to the wrong conclusion.

[Edited on 8/3/2005 by TC]

[TC]

Taking on board the views that the bigger fish should be released, on the grounds that THEY are the breeders.........should there be a MAXIMUM size limit imposed aswel as the minimun sizes we\'re all familiar with ??

[dazzer]

Well Said TC.

My Dad was a full time fisherman working out of Blyth with a coble using cod nets (trammels) and lobster pots and also the salmon drift nets obviously during the salmon season.
I used to go to sea with him when I was still at school and started to work on the boat when I first left school.

I have personally seen the decline in fish stocks in inshore waters over the years by working in the fishing industry.
In the late seventies/early eighties we were getting a lot of cod in the nets and also a lot of salmon/sea trout during the season, filling about 4 7stone boxes per day of cod.
By the time I actually left school & started work on the boat these numbers were down to about 2 boxes per day.
It got that bad with the cod that within a couple of year of me starting working out there we were lucky to get half a box per day.
The salmon/sea trout situation was the same, the numbers of fish caught was hardly worth putting to sea for, just managing to pay for the running of the boat and not much in the pocket.
The boat ended up getting decommissioned because the payment for decommissioning the boat at least guaranteed some money.

The price of cod when I worked at sea was only quarter of what it is now.
Cod is now dearer than what the salmon is.
We used to look forward to the salmon season cos thats when most of the money was made, not now though.
More boats are now handing their salmon licences in and not bothering.

To be totally honest I\'m pleased I don\'t work out there any more because obviously I still know a lot of the full time lads & know how bad it has got out there now.


Sorry for the long waffle lads...

Dazzer

[alan]

Its not waffle Darren,nice to hear both sides of the story m8

[ne-fishing]

I think I have started a Interesting topic here.

[willywetegg]

We have had this topic quite a few times mate. It is something that most of us feel very strongly about.

Jim.

[Davyred]

Totally agree TC. I haven\'t one ounce of sympathy for any trawlerman having to sell their boat. It boils my p*** when you see them moaning on about how restrictions will do this and that - if theyd thought about the consequences of what they were doing years ago, there\'d be no need for restrictions!

[alan]

Bit like the Coal industry,they thought it would never end

[GJ]

The other thing which needs consideration is the fact that there isn\'t the food in the sea that there used to be. Sandeels are one of the main components of the food chain in the sea and these are getting mopped up at a vast rate. They are then processed and fed to most farmed fish and also to farm aninals especially pigs (ever wondered why the white scum in the bottom of your frying pan smells of fish when you cook Danish bacon).

Over the last few years the RSPB have noted that birds that have sandeels as a major source of food at their time of breeding have had difficulty in feeding the chicks once hatched. The freshwater angling clubs up and down the country have huge problems with Cormorants moving in land and eating fresh water fish because they find it easier than catching fish in the sea.

A possible solution is to force Trawlers to land their undersized dead fish (counting towards their quota) which could then be prossesed and put into the fish farms etc. The ammount of the sandeel catch could then be reduced.

The government knows that it is possible to run commercial fishing in a sustainable way (Iceland can and are doing it) but because they would have to upturn a whole industry which would look bad politicaly they choose not to do it. Instead the commercial boats will keep taking until there is nothing left to take.

[bribones]

ive got to say here if i ever caught that double it wouldnt be going back due to the fact that itl be a once in a lifetime event in fact i may never get it i agree with most of whats been said Gj brings up an interesting point of using the undersized fish instead of disgarding them ,why not ? well for one reason it would open the floodgates for undersized fish to be deliberatly targeted as a income resource if the trawlers thought they would get paid for it,personaly i think inspectors should go out with the boats and impose a dock fee on any undersized fish caught ie 10 tones caught 2 tones undersized deduct the 2 tone from the 10 when it comes to paytime and use it to fund restocking or something,a long look needs to be taken at how the fish are caught ie bigger netting sizes or out of bounds breeding areas,to say one shore angler putting back a mature fish is going to have any impact is nonsense as the same fish will most likely be netted at a later date,TC lol most of us cant manage the minimum size never mind imposing a max limit,the problem isnt with shore/boat anglers ,most of us blank more often than not,cod in decline ,yes becouse these undersized fish that are thrown away to rot form part of the food chain talk about endless cycle,am i waffling now ?normaly do when i type too long

[Red5]

It\'s a mixture of many things but especially the commercial boats. The trawlers are tearing up the sea beds which in turn destroy whole ecosystems which not only cod feed on but all the other fish and organisms. See, unlike the rain forests where we can see the impact that logging has on our environment, the sea bed is covered by 100\'s of feet of water. Out of Sight out of mind.
The sandeel situation is caused mainly by Danish boats who use the fish for animal feed and fertiliser!Mad.
What can we do? Boycott fish products? Unless people do that en-masse it\'s unlikely to bother commercials. I personnaly think that anglers need to become more politicised and form a large pressure group to counter the sea fisheries industry. A start would be to ban all commercial fishing from european trawlers within 20 miles of our waters. UK boats like have been mentioned by GJ should be made to make use of ALL of their catch towards their quota instead of dumping what they can\'t or won\'t use overboard. Inshore netters should be restricted to coming no further than 5 miles inshore and banned from recognised breeding grounds for all fish.
Boat anglers should also be more responsible( I am as much at fault as anyone else in the past) and retain only the fish that they REALLY require for the pot(obviously that is not possible in all cases if the fish has come from depth).
Unforunately successive governments are happier seeing the smaller incomes coming from commercial boats than recreational angling. Ben Bradshaw just seems to walk around with that stupid false smile on his face than solving the problem.