FISH TO EAT LIST - MACKEREL REMOVED.

http://news.sky.com/story/1041178/macke ... nable-list

Mackerel has been taken off a list of sustainable fish to eat regularly, amid a fear of overfishing.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said it downgraded mackerel and the fish, renowned for its omega 3 content, should only be eaten occasionally.

The removal by the MCS of mackerel from its list of "fish to eat" comes after the Marine Stewardship Council, which certifies fish stocks that are managed sustainably, suspended its certification of the north east Atlantic mackerel fishery.

Atlantic populations have moved north west into Icelandic and Faroe Islands waters, prompting their fishermen to fish more stock than was previously agreed and causing a dispute between the countries that target the fishery.

Mackerel has been a favourite fish for health-conscious Britons for a number of years.

Bernadette Clarke, fisheries officer at the MCS, said the stock has moved to follow its prey of small fish, crustaceans and squid.

"As a result, both countries have begun to fish more mackerel than was previously agreed.

"The total catch is now far in excess of what has been scientifically recommended and previously agreed upon by all participating countries - negotiations to introduce new catch allowances have so far failed to reach agreement."

The conservation group said alternatives to mackerel included herring and sardine, and if people wanted to continue to buy mackerel, they should ensure it is as sustainable as possible - for example, fish caught locally using traditional methods.

Another fish taken off the "fish to eat" list is gurnard, because of a lack of data on population levels and concerns about how stocks of the increasingly popular fish are being managed.

Many gurnard which are caught are discarded, a wasteful practice which sees useable fish thrown back into the sea, because there is still relatively low demand for them, Ms Clarke added.

But the latest version of the "fish to eat" list also shows that herring stocks, coley and Dover sole from the English Channel are all good to eat with a clear conscience.

Whiting from the Celtic Sea also appears on the list for the first time.

Cod stocks from the North Sea are still below recommended levels, the MCS said, but a number of other popular wild fish are given the green light to appear on the dinner plate, including haddock and lemon sole.

says it all really

spot on the shoals aint there like they used to be only going back maybe 5 years. and the mackerel you are catching are tiny. just another example of pure greed.

"plenty of fish in the sea" not any more

very interesting read. thanks for that pal

Terrible news, but sadly expected. Pure greed is right and done on a terrifying timescale.

you really do wonder what it's gonna take before something is done. How bad does it have to get? Look at all the environmental and conservation laws we have from the EU but the only people listened to when it comes to the sea is the commercial fishing industry.That certification is dead handy in fairness but works best for packaged foods unless you keep track of their advice on species

typical, and as expected. deadly
ive seen the russian trawlers for myself sucking shoals of these from the N.Atlantic. was only a matter of time

everyone should only be allowed to fish rod and line!

read it in the papers today. thanks for posting tho

Iv seen trawlers slaughter mackeral when i used to be in the navy,they shoot the nets then when its ready to be hauled they just bring the net up to astern and drop a suction pipe and then they re-shoot the nets without taken them out of the water,its no wonder we cant catch them from the shore during the summer.

John A.

greed greed greed shame on them.they make me f#####G SICK.........

was watching a programe the other night about sea birds off of scotland and shetland. whole colonies of puffins and smaller sea birds not able to rere there young as the food they feed there young on, mostly sand eels, are scearce. and the ones they are getting are not carrying the amount of nutrition they would normally have.the currents dont seem to be carrying the plankton the young eels need to survive to adulthood and so the young puffins are also dying first trip away ,because they are under nourished.this has to effect fish stocks also .if the sand eels are not there the fish move off also

The eels aren't there because the Danes have hoovered them up to make fishmeal to feed pigs. If you ever wonder why there's a smell of fish whenever you fry a rasher on the pan, that's your answer.

The mackeral are in trouble because of EU greed and intransigence. The stock has moved out of EU waters into Icelandic/Faroese waters. The EU no longer has the same amount of mackeral in their waters, but still insists on killing the same amounts as previous years. These are now Icelandic & Faroese fish, and we have no right to dictate to them how they manage it. It's a specious arguement to contend that Iceland & Faroes have no history of a mackeral fishery and therefore they have no right to now harvest fish in their waters. They have no history of fishing mackeral because there was no mackeral in their waters. Now there is, having moved out of EU waters.

i was looking at the eu quotas for mackerel for 2012 here http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/documenta ... 012_en.pdf everything is quoted in tonnes but if you break it down its a lot worse,the quotas for mackerel were 637622 tonnes,if the average weight of a mackerel is 500 g then there would be 2000 mackerel per tonne,mupily 637622 tonnes by 2000 mackerel =1275244000 mackerel per year

Why do I feel that it was only ever going to be a matter of time, but a crying shame. Thanks for the info anyway

Blackie

North East Atlantic mackerel have been traveling towards this sorry denouement since the late 1970's when the stock became ripe for targeting due to technological breakthroughs in the development of sonar used to locate shoals of fish.

To cut a long story short stocks were hammered, major hay was made, and the EU negotiated a quota agreement between Norway and exploiting EU countries to include Scotland and Ireland. Stocks noticeably diminished at first but seemed to settle down and hold their own that is until 2010 when the Iceland/Faroe Island axis entered the equation.

Greed, National Government and EU procrastination, based on (although none of the vested interests will admit to this) that they feel they own the stock because they exploit it, and sheer bloody mindedness on all sides has led to this juncture where the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) has removed mackerel from its fish to eat list. The next step will be placement on its endangered list. REMEMBER, it only took three years to reach this point.

It has been plainly obvious we were coming to this sad crossroads for a number of years, the preponderance of joeys being a clear sign of adult mackerel decline.

This writer highlighted what was coming down the tracks as far back as June 2011, http://www.anirishanglersworld.com/inde ... -mackerel/, and http://www.anirishanglersworld.com/inde ... diversity/, while also hand delivering a submission to Minister Coveney directly, (copied below, note the date)

08/06/2011.

Dear Minister Coveney,

The historical and present tradition is that the marine commercial fishing industry, politicians, and Eurocrats decide how Ireland's inshore and oceanic waters are managed. To date their record is appalling, and banner headlines on page two of last Saturday's Irish Times dated June 4th 2011 do not inspire confidence that you in your role as Minister are going to tread anything but the same well worn and disastrous path as your predecessors. How can you forecast the creation of 158 seafood sector jobs when upwards of 50% of the 56 already commercially targeted fish in Irish waters are dangerously over exploited with the status of many others uncertain?

Until such time as the brief is widened to include all interested parties around the table and the marine is looked at from a position whose terms are based on restoration, strict management which may have to include entry restrictions to the industry, and a wider socio economic input to include recreational angling and other tourism interests, then unfortunately Ireland is going to further squander and destroy the one resource that really can turn around our ailing economy.

It is possible for recreational sea angling and commercial sea fishing to co-exist; they did in the recent past before we sold our territorial waters to the then Common Market. When one considers just one statistic it puts a lot in perspective. The pelagic fleet is the flagship of Ireland's commercial sea fishing sector probably responsible for most onshore processing jobs. In 2009 the Irish pelagic catch (predominantly herring, mackerel, blue whiting) was 155,000 tonnes worth approximately €112million. In 2010 the volume landed was marginally up but the value stayed the same. It is reasonable to assume that the margins were down and the costs were up in 2010.

155,000 tonnes is an extraordinary figure for one nation to remove from the sea. Contrary to what the industry says mackerel as a resource are being hammered, the dramatically reduced shoals off north Co. Wicklow compared to 20 years ago and the preponderance of joeys (juvenile mackerel) within the catch prove this. Also when one considers that blue whiting end up as fish food for the aquaculture industry at a weight conversion ratio of 4:1( four kilos of blue whiting makes one kilo of farmed salmon) the whole exercise just does not make economic or environmental sense.

Contrast those figures with recreational sea angling whose understated contribution to the economy is €33million. This is a totally underdeveloped industry reliant on a decimated resource which hinders its growth just as it does for the commercial sector. If restoration policies were implemented Ireland could develop a destination sea angling market the envy of Europe and the web of benefits filtering out into the accommodation, restaurant, pub, general leisure industry, and artisan fishmongers from what is accepted as a sustainable industry has to date not even been quantified.

Minister Coveney, you really have an opportunity to change the way Ireland manages and develops its marine resource. Like our economy it is in a parlous state but has the fundamentals for recovery. Please use vision and widen the brief away from just the political and commercial seafood sector to include all interested parties. Failure to do this, besides being undemocratic, will retain a status quo which in a few short years if left to its own devices, will render one of Ireland’s few natural resources with sustainable long term potential unviable.
Yours sincerely,

Ashley Hayden


Unfortunately mackerel are piggy in the middle to this greed led madness and sadly being low down the food chain their slow demise, unless arrested, will affect scores of other species.

Please note, krill are now being targeted heavily in the South Atlantic and plankton are also ripe for commercial targeting. This craziness has to stop or our oceans WILL DIE, much sooner than we think. Write to your politician today........

i have to say i couldnt believe an ad recently on telly approving krill oil - their numbers are crucial to so many aspects of sea life and even terrestrial life - their numbers have been plumeting for ages and now there is a serious push to get a market for this on it

no wonder the seas are filling up with jellyfish at this stage

i have to say i couldnt believe an ad recently on telly approving krill oil - their numbers are crucial to so many aspects of sea life and even terrestrial life - their numbers have been plumeting for ages and now there is a serious push to get a market for this on it

no wonder the seas are filling up with jellyfish at this stage

Its a slippery slope when they start hunting the bottom of the food chain, It will have a devestating affect across all species if it continues.

[quote="Tanglerat"]The eels aren't there because the Danes have hoovered them up to make fishmeal to feed pigs. If you ever wonder why there's a smell of fish whenever you fry a rasher on the pan, that's your answer.

The scientists on the program i was watching said that the sand eels the puffins were catching were all malnourished. that the plankton
the eels needed to survive was missing from the currents. so this is a problem much further down the food chain .again they never mentioned over fishing

i have to say i couldnt believe an ad recently on telly approving krill oil

didnt like the sound of that myself.