Fish slaughter

Hello everyone,

I'm just posting this after seeing something extremely disturbing last weekend.

I'd popped down to the small quay at Bun na hAbhann (just out past Inveran) on the N.Galway bay shore to scout for any new marks, and was confronted by a pretty grim sight (and smell!) at low water.The entire length of the area where the boats are moored there was carpeted with dead dogfish to the point where I gave up counting the number of dead, which presumably had just been chucked overboard in the harbour to rot. Judging by the varying states of decay in the fish this wasn't a once-off event.

I find it hard to believe it's acceptable or (legal?) to slaughter and throw away so many fish in this way: does anyone know if it's worth reporting this into the WFB or would I be wasting my time?

Regards to all.

i think it may be a waste of time reporting it.... just not far there .. there is another pier where you can count any amount of dead,, tope,spurdog, doggies.... just dump into the quay..........never seen anyone from the wsb looking around the piers,,, seem to just look after the lakes and rivers..........

i thought the days of this happening where over,mindless slaughter of fish and adding ammo to the anti angling brigade!!!report the matter as soon as possible.there might not be anything done visually,but at least it should be kept on record.its a complete disgrace!!!!!

ive been to that same pier and there nearly always a few dogs and huss thrown around- disgraceful

[seahorse]

i thought the days of this happening where over,mindless slaughter of fish and adding ammo to the anti angling brigade!!!report the matter as soon as possible.there might not be anything done visually,but at least it should be kept on record.its a complete disgrace!!!!!

I've just talked to one of the WRFB inspectors and it seems clear this practise is not illegal. He was an angler himself and equally mad that such a sight breaks no laws in this part of the world

Last edited by seahorse on Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

i thought the days of this happening where over,mindless slaughter of fish and adding ammo to the anti angling brigade!!!report the matter as soon as possible.there might not be anything done visually,but at least it should be kept on record.its a complete disgrace!!!!!

I've just emailed the Western regional Fisheries Board beachcaster and can only hope they take note. I'd read a report (somewhere in this forum I think) of a similar occurrence down Cork way, sad to say. I'd like to think you're wrong lucky about action being taken but my gut tells me you may well be right

your right the more i thought about it ... it is worth a email so i sent one aswell.... hope it works.....

Is it not good practice to sort out and gut your catch on the way in out of sight from the public?

Either let them go alive at sea or keep them for market, but letting them rot is not good for anyone.

yea it seems such a waste - whatever about dogs and huss but spurdog and ray can be sold at market

i remember being told before its the tanglenets they use - which are very ineffeicient and a lot of the fish are dead a while in it and so only so much can be sold unspoiled

Disgrace..thankfully i havent come across it before. Such a waste. Its amazing how little they care about fish stocks. They seem to think there is any amount of them so it doesnt matter. Nearly all anglers i fish with handle the fish with care and make sure the fish goes back alive if they dont want to keep it for the table. Could never imagine just killing them and then leaving them to rot!

yea it seems such a waste - whatever about dogs and huss but spurdog and ray can be sold at market

i remember being told before its the tanglenets they use - which are very ineffeicient and a lot of the fish are dead a while in it and so only so much can be sold unspoiled

Spurdog have a very small bycatch allowance (currently 2% bycatch allowance), depending on how big there catch was it could infact have been illegal to land these fish.

It looks like from next month on spurdog will be completly protected. It will be illegal to land or sell these fish.

Unfortunatly there are a lot of discards from commercial fishing, most will be discarded at sea but there are some small boats that discard when back at the pier side, this give these fish very little chance of survival.

In general discarding is not illegal except for high grading.

If you are unsure about something or something may not look right you can call the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) confidential line on 1890 76 76 76.

most of this would be disgarded bait given to lobster men if the weather turns bad and they cant get out to rebait the pots
its thrown in to the sea to the crabs its much better than leaving them stink on the pier and have the rats feast on them

When I was commercially fishing Galway Bay in bygone times, the beam trawlers often got huge hauls of dogfish when they were scraping the bottom for rays. Sometimes the bag was so full they couldnt haul it and had to head to harbour with the net hanging off the boat, and deal with it there. Their big concern was saving the gear, not the fish. Maybe this is still happening.

I think there are local authority environmental bye-laws about dumping waste fish in harbours, a call to the county council might be more productive than one to the fisheries people.

so what are they fishing for ??

You should take some photographs if you can.

Much more likely to provoke a response if a letter is accompanied by undoubtable proof.

Perhaps even sending photos and explanation to local media might stir some public support for the cause?

Nothing like a sickening picture to grab a readers attention and possibly incite action