Trawlermen

Hi Folks,

Did anyone see Trawler men on BBC 1 tonight? One massive trawler targeted Mackerel and caught 500 tonnes in one trawl. What chance do the fish have these days? It was sickening.

Cheers,
Trev

Saw a bit of an episode the other day, believe they were haddock fishing. They lost a net to rough ground, trawled the same area a second time and ripped the nets again with only coalfish left in it, which they said would be dumped back in. :roll: It seemed as if the programme was certainly gearing towards sympathy for them at the lack of fish. Undoubtedly its a hell of a tough job though.

unfourtnatly i cant say what i really think as i would most likeley be banned for it.

i will just say it is saddening to see that those sort of people, who should be pro consevation as the fish are their future as well as yours and mine, have that sort of attiude

I don't really blame the actual trawler men, I blame the management of the fisheries i.e. The European politicians. I read a book called 'The end of the line' and it gave a great insight into how corrupt it all is and gave an insight into how bad the fish stocks are. Well worth a read.

Cheers,
Trev

My apologies if this ends up being a very long post!

I worked on trawlers in West Cork and Dublin over a number of years and have been a keen rod angler since I was a sprog so I can come at this from both viewpoints.

1. I saw the Trawlermen programme. All but the mackerel boat mentioned above came across as amateurish and haphazard, snagging gear and randomly fishing in areas without much thought.
2. The dumping of dead fish is devastating on trawlermen. For many it represents a lot of money put into the water. However believe it or not many trawlermen are conservationists and do realise the prcariousness of fish stocks and realise what these dead fish represent from that viewpoint.
3. There are unscrupulous trawlermen and these must be weeded out and very heavily penalised.
4. The reason there is a fishing industry is down to demand for fish. Beyond the fishmongers, a lot of the mackerel caught in that haul may be used by anglers from a bag of Ammo bait.
5. The regulation of the fishing industry is a joke. There is next to zero policing (I was inspected only once in my time at sea). The EU quota systems take no account of by catch which is genuinely by catch. If a boat is fishing for, say, plaice, how can say, megrim be avoided? Should a quota not take this into account and allow the landing of this by catch? But there is a Catch 22 here. Whats to stop an unscrupulous skipper "by catching" fish on purpouse? Better policing is the key here.

To return to the TV theme, contrast the situation on Trawlermen with that of The Deadliest Catch. The lads in Alaska are in dread fear of the authourities and methodically measure every crab caught. In every second episode it seems somebody is being boarded by the Coastgaurd at sea and every boat is inspected at season open. This DOES NOT HAPPEN here.

Very good points Blaker. And I think the key is policing, like you say there is no policing.

What really got up my nose was that christian skipper deliberately targeting the spawning Haddock, how can they - the trawler-men - expect to have stocks for the future if they sweep the spawning fish from the sea, as this guy was. I have no doubt that they are all doing the same thing, as he went to his secret place only to find it being pair trawled, again these were spawning Haddock that were being targeted.

I suppose it is all down to the European Union and their lack of a backbone. I remember some time ago hearing the them British Minister saying that the trawler-men need to fish and that they would oppose each and every proposal to protect stocks. It was pointed out to him that if the fish stocks were not protected then there would be no fish to catch and there would be no jobs for the trawler-men he did not answer. If you think that is bad just remember that the Irish minsters thought the years have been even more opposed to any conservation being introduced. I well remember a well known Salmon poacher being asked what his greatest ambition was and he replied that he would like to be the one to catch the last Salmon in the river and I am sure there are some trawler-men with the same ambition.

Sorry for being so long-winded.