are we losing the right to fish...

[sage]

just looking at the MCZ website and it looks like they are considering making a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) from whitley bay to alnmouth...

if it is voted in does it mean a complete ban on fishing from the shore, bait digging, crabbing, kayak fishing as well as boat fishing in the so called "zones"

i am not clued up enough on the political front enough to make a detailed assumption but it does look threatening... can anyone give any clear meaning to it all..

to me there are only two possible answers... either

"FISHING ALLOWED" or "NO FISHING ALLOWED"

check the link out
MCZ Interactive Map

what does every one think???

[louis268]

Very interesting..... But are we the problem in all this it's all well and good banning a sport that offers little return to us anglers but maybe this country should take a leaf out of norways book and stop the Spanish and Chinese heavily trawling our waters

[harry barker]

Very interesting..... But are we the problem in all this it's all well and good banning a sport that offers little return to us anglers but maybe this country should take a leaf out of norways book and stop the Spanish and Chinese heavily trawling our waters

You've got that dead right my friend.

[Scotty91]

Very interesting..... But are we the problem in all this it's all well and good banning a sport that offers little return to us anglers but maybe this country should take a leaf out of norways book and stop the Spanish and Chinese heavily trawling our waters

110% right ;D ;D

[Cod,cod,cod!]

I would love to see a Zone that big for there to be no Gill netting, Trawling etc..and destructive forms of fishing within so many miles of the shore. Instead of 7m of water FFS.

If they try and bring shore anglers into that equation as well there'll be hell on. Nobody would take any notice TBH.

[louis268]

I think we'd have a bloody good day on this on a day we find out trawlers are aloud to now keep what they catch instead of dumping fish they now tell us anglers are to blame hahaha another none angler on a board of bloody beurocrats I suspect a massive fight from our side cos that ground there implying to ban is bloody lovely fishing ground

[steven watt]

thats right there will be no fishing for us, but who will police it at 2am just say, no one

[The Plum]

they want to hope theyre joking cos il do a murder and thats no crap they wanna keep outa my face,times are bad enough without folk stopping me going out catching nowton a serious note they cant stop us angling from the shore thatl never happen, therl be someone found lying on the beach imitating a starfish if they interfere with my fishing id go to jail for it aswell i swear down i realy do,atb plum

[Blanked again]

This is a post on the website of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the guy campaigning to implement these zones which he quickly deleted, but not quickly enough.

Dear Mr. Fearnley-Whittingstall,
my name is Ruth Brown, you met me in February 2012 when you came to Bird Island, South Georgia, to film an episode of ‘Fish Fight’, and I appeared in this episode which aired on Thursday last week (21st Feb) on Channel 4. I am writing to protest about the unfair and unflattering light in which you portrayed me, and the glaring inaccuracies in information that you presented to viewers.

In your program you implied that the research I do is paid for by licence money received from the krill fishing industry, and that I am therefore unable to speak freely about my opinions of that industry. This is not true. I work for British Antarctic Survey, who do not receive any money from fisheries and are funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, a government body that funds independent scientific research. British Antarctic Survey fund and manage all work that is carried out on Bird Island, yet were not mentioned once in your program.

During your interview with me, I repeatedly told you that the data I collect on penguins and other seabird species is handed over to CCAMLR (the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources), an international consortium that manage all fishing activities in the Southern Ocean. CCAMLR use this data to inform their decisions about fishing practices and to ensure that Southern Ocean fisheries are sustainable. I find it remarkable that in a program dedicated to fisheries in the Southern Ocean, you did not once mention CCAMLR, the international body that governs fisheries in the Southern Ocean.

In your program you mentioned that penguin populations are declining, with the implication being that this is a result of competition with the krill fishery for their main prey food, krill. This is at best misleading. It is true that macaroni penguin populations at South Georgia are in decline, and I would direct your attention to a recent paper on the subject (Trathan et al 2012 ‘Ecological drivers of change at South Georgia’ Ecography 35 (11), 983-993), which discusses the possible causes of this decline. The authors conclude that the most likely reason for declining populations of macaroni penguins at South Georgia is an increase in the population of Antarctic fur seals, which also feed on krill. Indeed, fur seals have undergone a population explosion at South Georgia in recent years despite the presence of the krill fishery, a fact which was not mentioned in your program.

In your program you asked me how much krill an individual penguin consumes in a single meal. The amount of krill consumed by animals in this ecosystem is an important point. The estimated total amount of krill consumed by macaroni penguins in a year is around 1.6 million tonnes, and the estimated total amount of krill consumed by Antarctic fur seals in a year is around 6.8 million tonnes (Trathan et al 2012). In contrast, the average annual krill catch by the South Georgia fishery is 43,500 tonnes (Trathan et al 2012), and is therefore insignificant compared with the amount of krill consumed by the animals. These figures were not mentioned in your program.

Whilst you were on Bird Island, one of your production team (Lucy Meadows) told us that the krill boat on which you filmed experienced zero by-catch. In my opinion this is an astonishing and noteworthy fact, given the high levels of by-catch seen in other fisheries. However, this fact was not mentioned in your program.

In your program you suggested that populations of great whales in the Southern Ocean have fully recovered following the end of commercial exploitation. This statement is misleading. Whilst some species of whales have recovered to pre-exploitation levels, others have not, and a very modest amount of research on your part would have shown you this (see, for example, Lotze et al 2011 ‘Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems’ Trends in Ecology & Evolution 26 (11), 595-605).

In conclusion, the episode of ‘Fish Fight’ which covered fisheries on the Southern Ocean was poorly researched and misleading. Many important facts were left out, as they would clearly have compromised the pre-conceived journalistic slant of the program. You and your production company (KEO films) repeatedly ignored the research and opinions of scientists and conservationists who have spent decades studying the ecosystem around South Georgia, believing that you are better placed to comment on that ecosystem than they are.

I am an enthusiastic supporter of campaigns for sustainable fishing in general, and of the ‘Fish Fight’ campaign in particular. It therefore saddens me that you have chosen to tarnish this noble cause with what can only be described as a tawdry piece of hack journalism. I am ashamed that I was a part of it, albeit unwittingly.

Sincerely,
Dr. Ruth Brown.

[lambtonworm]

I would love to see a Zone that big for there to be no Gill netting, Trawling etc..and destructive forms of fishing within so many miles of the shore. Instead of 7m of water FFS.

If they try and bring shore anglers into that equation as well there'll be hell on. Nobody would take any notice TBH.

I think you would find we would have no choice but to take notice,the older ones among us can remember digging in budle bay when a bait digging ban came in to power after a few hefty fines nobody dug there anymore,it would be exactly the same they would make scapegoats of a few anglers and use it as a warning,im not saying its right but its what would happen,well known fishing marks would get targeted at prime angling times be it day or night.

[loopy]

OK guys keep calm and carry on, a few of us over the years Alan Carlton, Sam Harris and myself have attended all the workshops and meetings organised by Net Gain as Recreational Sea Anglers when they considered the Marine Conservation zones for our area. This has been a sticky on this forum for a couple of years but seems to have disappeared. There will be no MCZ for Coquet to St Marys (NG13) or a reference area up in Marshalls meadows for the foreseeable future. The only one recommended so far is the Aln Estury and is currently in public consolation until march 31st Marine Conservation Zones: Consultation on proposals for designation in 2013 « Consultations
I have responded to the consolation on behalf of my Club Amble, to protect the rights of its members and remind them of the reasons and criteria for it being set up in the first place. That it is set to maintain not recover(so its in good nick) therefore no need to regulate and it was agreed that bait collection and Angling had not been detrimental to the Aln Estuary and would continue. The other proposed MCZ Coquet to St Marys is only that and again was set to maintain not recover and in my opinion will take some years to be considered again. I will fight any attempts to over regulate on behalf of my club and hope I will have the backing of the Northern Fed and Angling trust and your good self s as we did back in 2008 with the licence situation and our public meeting with DEFRA in Newbiggin.

Please see our club web site for the MCZ history just scroll through
Amble Sea Angling Club

http://www.nesa.co.uk/forums/shore-fishing/32285-yesterdays-mcz-netgain-meeting-8.html

[keith 48]

I fail to see how sport fishermen have or even have had a determental effect on sea fish stocks. Think about this- if every single person who goes fishing suddenly turned up all together, cast out and successfully caught a single fish of any size besides being a remarkable occurance and probably withs odds akin to winning several consecutive lotteries, the amount of fish caught at that point would still be so insignificant compared to each active trawler.drifter or gill net dropping their nets just once and then retriving them.
the problem lies with the commercial over fishing generally by foriegn boats who disregard size limits, quotas and restricted waters. Its beeen going on for too long now and the damage has been done. to illustrate the point late last year I watched a small commercial boat trawl within 3/4mile of the beach at Cresswell/durridge area. Previous the fishing had been quite reasonable but afterwards and since crap! Marine Protection Zones- just more political b/s that the country can't afford, cant enforce and we'll be the only ones that have to abide by the rules..................Rant over!

[loopy]

Keith MCZ are nothing to do with fish stocks, they are designed to protect features and habitat. There are many types of conservation area's and it gets very confusing mainly generated from the European union. You have SPAs , SAC, EMS, MCZ just to mention a few and of course the Habitats directive that drives the potential regulators. The Marine Conservation Society and the RSPB along with wildlife trusts put great pressure on government to continually do more to conserve, habitat, birds, features. We need to be up to speed to fight our corner, they are all organised charities have mainly academic employees and are well funded by the public. As anglers what do we have?

[Fd01]

Go on Dr. Ruth Brown. I support the whole Fish Fight idea but i think Mr Fearnley Whittingstall has always glossed over the truth to make for more 'shocking viewing'.

[loopy]

Fd01, you will find this interesting on the Dr Ruth Brown Saga

https://m.facebook.com/hughsfishfight/posts/514272531957104?refid=17&ref=stream