Trawlermen and celebretarys

[John Arton]

Anyone watched the program on Chanel 5 tonight where 5 well known t.v. people signed on a n. Atlantic trawler for a trip to see how the fish we eat actuality gets caught. The first episode showed a trawl full of cod which due to quotas and the area they were fishing in off the n.w. coast of Scotland up towards the Faroes, all had to be thrown dead back into the ocean, a crying shame.
Rgds
J.A.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Ah! Trawlers, separates the men from the boys, at least they got to gut the fish under cover, it's quite different doing it on an open deck in the Arctic with freezing water spraying you all the time, that is when you're not shipping green seas. So far they got to trawl in what trawlermen see as clement weather, lets see how our celeberities cope when the weather. The celeb chef realised he'd made a mistake (or someone told him!) that it was stupid to fill a pan of boiling mixture to the brim on a rolling vessel.

Throwing the cod back into the sea was a crying shame, but we can only be consoled that it will feed creatures that new cod (and other species) will feed on and thus keep the food cycle going

[Dennis McGuckin]

Here on the west coast of Canada we have similar problems.
Large fishing boats, mainly owned by the Indians, rape the ocean.
They use seine nets [small openings] which go deep.
Any species of fish will be scooped up.
If only one species of fish is open for harvesting, all others in the net, are thrown back.
Most, if not all, are dead due to the weight of fish in the net.
I know this to be true, as have seen it when 'sport fishing' in the area.
Government afraid to do anything about it, as its the 'Indians'.

[Bill Morrison]

Dennis over fishing is a world problem. The cod fishery on the Newfoundland Grand Banks was the first I remember to collapse, The herring fishery around the British coast was next. We had the Icelandic cod wars all through 1960's and 70's. The old saying there's plenty more fish in the sea does not hold water these days. This is probably one reason.

https://www.britishseafishing.co.uk/...hip-from-hell/

[Dennis McGuckin]

Good article there Bill.
Much of the problems with our salmon decline could still be reversed.
We need Department of Fisheries to grow a pair.
Stop the Indian's fishing for 'food fish' in closed areas with nets.
When granted that right back in the 1980, they used to catch fish in the rivers using spears.
Also the logging industry is much to blame.
Many of the spawning streams have been destroyed.
Few years back we had a large herring fishery.
That is now almost depleted.
Herring lay their eggs on Kelp.
Some genius allowed farmers to take kelp for fertilizer.
Guess what. Now no herring nor Salmon who feed on herring as their main prey.
The pre requisite for a job with fisheries is.
You must have to be an idiot.
However. You get to retire with a great pension.
Beam me up.
Den.

[Dennis McGuckin]

Sorry, should read 18 hundreds, Not 1980.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

We used to eat a fair bit of salmon plus other fish but now were getting a bit wary with all the plastic in the oceans, especially those tiny beads . Just read an article that said in the Mariana Trench the deepest part of the Pacific they have seen those plastic beads down there.
They have just had the G20 haven't seen anything about a world wide ban on plastic.
Cheers Des

[Stan Carter]

Hi Dennis, Last year we were out on the island for a trip, one day we were out on a day trip and our hosts wanted to get some salmon for smoking. They drove to a friends house on a reserve and bought 5 salmon for $100.00. They had 5 large coolers there full of the good size fish.. When he cleaned them that night, everyone was a female and full of eggs, what a waste.
regards, stan..

[Dennis McGuckin]

Hi Stan,
First off why didn't you let me know you were on the Island?
Your story is all too common.
Some native houses in Port Alberni have signs outside their homes reading salmon for sale.
These are the fish that are caught by them under the 'food fishing' law.
Meaning for their use at home.
It's a big joke.
Personally, I wouldn't buy any from them.
Sadly lots of people do.
Den.

[Stan Carter]

Hi Den,sorry, it was a quick trip out for a week to see Brenda's kin folk. unfortunately we had no access to a vehicle of our own and at the mercy of their trips out. We were in the Croften area and spent a couple of days out fishing and netting prawns. There was so much Brenda wanted to show me, was unable to bring it to be. On another topic, you had mentioned the flags flown by canadian ships... we were down to the St Lawrence and watched a couple of Algoma Shipping lakers going through the locks and both were flying the Maple leaf on the stern and the Ontario Flag as a courtesy flag. take care,
regards, stan