Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Fish Discards

frugalbrunette

Horrendous I know. Dare I suggest it's trawling that is the problem, the quotas are there to protect the fish stocks but obviously not working when you trawl and catch huge nets full of whatever comes it's way.

I'm out raged too. I don't know what other way of catching fish for the greater public is, and trawling seems to be the way it has to be and for that reason the quota system just does not work. I too have signed the petition and outraged at so many dead fish being slung back into the sea.

avinabacca

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

These rules were introduced so that there could be quotas of fish caught. If we remove quotas and allow fishermen to land and sell everything they catch, what's to stop overfishing, and complete species being wiped out?

Bang on the money.

And of course, there's little thought for respective cost of pole-and-line versus beam-trawl methods, is there?

mumoftwo

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I haven;t seen the programme yet, so can't comment on that.

If I might play Devil's Advocate These rules were introduced so that there could be quotas of fish caught. If we remove quotas and allow fishermen to land and sell everything they catch, what's to stop overfishing, and complete species being wiped out?

Looking forward to watching this, with interest, and the associated recipes being cooked up by Jamie :T

I'll move this to the Green and Ethical Board later.

As I understood it, they still catch the fish, they were saying there is lots and lots of cod, the fish dies, they throw it overboard dead because they are not allowed to land it, so how is that preserving the species?

One fisherman was saying if they changed it from fish quota, to limited time fishing instead, they would be able to land all the fish they catch and still preserve stocks because of the limited time they are out fishing. No idea myself if that would be an option.

Penelope_Penguin

mumoftwo wrote: »

As I understood it, they still catch the fish, they were saying there is lots and lots of cod, the fish dies, they throw it overboard dead because they are not allowed to land it, so how is that preserving the species?

Possibly the fishermen need to look at different ways of catching fish, so that they differentiate at catching, rather than when the fish are cought. It's then too late to return them to the sea, of course.

However, that may well cost more; are we prepared to put our purses where our mouths are?

Is there really a lot of cod, as I thought the numbers were in steep decline? I'm sure I remember Hugh recommending that we eat pollack instead.

RAS

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

If I might play Devil's Advocate

These rules were introduced so that there could be quotas of fish caught.

Wrong - the EU quotas affect the amount of fish that can be landed - it has limited effect on the amount of fish that is caught.

What happens if that because their Cod quota is used up, the fisherman go out for pollack, say or something that has no quota. Fish do not come in neatly packaged single species shoals. They catch the pollack but also dredge up a load of small cod. Since they cannot land the cod because they have no quota left, they just chuck them over the side, and most are dead.

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

If we remove quotas and allow fishermen to land and sell everything they catch, what's to stop overfishing, and complete species being wiped out?

Because the current system works on fish landed, the quotas have limited use on preventing overfishing, simply because they do not affect fishing.

It just allows the politicians to claim they are doing something about the situation.

In practice, it appears to be even worse than I suggest because it is suggested that in order to maximise value of their catch, even when officially fishing for quota species, some fisherman only retain the largest specimens and chuck the younger ones over the side, dead.

*Maya*

It was ridiculous but how much was staged for the cameras?

Fruball

I've signed up and put the link on FB - a couple of friends have signed up already and posted it on their fb too

Primrose

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I

If I might play Devil's Advocate These rules were introduced so that there could be quotas of fish caught. If we remove quotas and allow fishermen to land and sell everything they catch, what's to stop overfishing, and complete species being wiped out?

.

I can't see why a Quota rule shouldn't cover ALL fish caught in every net, i.e. once you've caught your quota of xyz tonnes , that's your lot, regardless of what's in the net. Then whatever is caught would have to go to market. This would obvious include some of the more unpopular fish, but like food rationing in wartime, people would have to make the most of what was available and find ingenuous ways of using it. Surely that is a far less wasteful way of catching fish. We're all creatures of habit, preferring our favourite varieties but really if we had no other option but to experiment with other fish we could well find we end up being perfectly happy to substitute. But please, not the dreaded Snoek which was was something like whalemeal which was served up during the last war which smelt and tasted like a rotten egg and would make even the strongest stomach heave :eek:

bevrob

Thanks for the post. i have sent my name to the petition. This sort of waste is disgusting, especially as there are a lot of people who could benefit from this loss. As a vegetarian i dont eat fish and agree with what someone else said about people complaining about not eating a cow thats been slaughtered humanely but would happily eat fish. I agree to a point, but i would still choose to eat a fish if i had to, rather than a cow for humane reasons. Go to Peta website and watch that Cow being 'Humanely slaughtered' you too will choose the fish!!
bev xx

Penelope_Penguin

RAS wrote: »

Wrong - the EU quotas affect the amount of fish that can be landed - it has limited effect on the amount of fish that is caught.

I stand corrected - thank you :A Caught was the word I meant to use, and will edit my post.