UK depleting pollack stock, say keen fishermen
Thursday 25th August 2011, 2:29PM BST.
Local amateur fishermen John Le Couteur, left, and Andrew Pouteaux. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 1172975)
POLLACK in local waters are getting smaller, recreational fishermen have said.
John Le Couteur, whose family has fished at Rocquaine for four generations, and fellow fishing enthusiast Andrew Pouteaux believe that commercial fishermen in the UK – from Scotland to Cornwall – are catching the bigger fish, leaving smaller ones to make their way to Guernsey waters.
The larger pollack that do make it down are quickly gathered by local commercial fishermen, Mr Le Couteur added.
‘When I started fishing 25 years ago the sizes were far bigger,’ he said. ‘We were getting five or six pounders, but between two and three pounders is par for the course these days. When you think how much is caught off the coasts of Scotland and Cornwall before it reaches here, it’s not surprising.’
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with all this work on fishing more “common” species like Pollack to help on depleting stocks of Plaice/Cod etc., thoughts need to be on ensuring this process doesn’t start depletion of that more common species.
There needs to be much better fisheries regulations in place, not just in the UK but in Guernsey too.
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Here in Australia we have a small army of fishing inspectors in smart uniforms and big 4WD vehicles chasing around trying to catch anglers catching too many or too small fish – they preach ‘conservation’all the time. Yet the answer to depleting stocks is REPLENISHMENT REPLENISHMENT REPLENISHMENT. I can’t think of one edible fish in the sea that can’t be bred in or onshore. Some people are breeding fish that way but they do it to sell them. I would like to see them compelled to release a small portion back into the sea or, otherwise, see the governments of all countries start a breed and release programme.
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There needs to be more fishing regulations for foreign boats too, to stop them sucking all life out of our waters!
And it would be good to see our protection vessel out and about enforcing the law/regulations, rather than gathering weed in the harbour.
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Dave!
Couldn’t agree more about protection boats patrolling–however…
It wouldn’t be long before some know all ups and protests about the waste of fuel for patrolling.
See what I mean? You can’t win whatever the way the wind blows.
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Dave well said, I think foreign and large factory ships out in the atlantic are doing most of the damage, as a fisherman myself and starting at a early age i can remember fishing from many shore marks catching flat fish those days are now long gone.
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I couldn’t agree more. Even the local commercials can be accused of heavily exploiting our stocks.
Last year a local boat docked in St Peter Port bragging that overnight they’d hauled 29 tonnes of Bass. Where’s the sense in that!? Short-term financial gain for a few at the long-term expense of many.
Personally, I’d welcome the establishment of a no fishing protection zone it’s something that has been hugely successful the world over for not just maintaining but building local stocks.
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Surely a box of undesized pollack would have been a better illustration of the problem.
These “experienced fishermen” must know the difference between pollack and mackerel.
How many of our boat owners, fishermen or anglers report any sightings of “foreign” boats fishing in our waters?
The Leopardess can`t be at sea on continuous patrol because of manpower and costs but if local boats keep a lookout and report sightings of suspected illegal fishing then every little helps.
I have found that if a suspected illegal fishing boat is sighted then just pulling up astern of the vessel and making a show of taking a note of the vessels name and number usually gets them to raise their gear and bugger off.
It`s quite funny to see them run to the wheelhouse to listen to the radio to see if you`re reporting them when you pretend to use the radio.
Some very rude gestures accompanied by some foul language usually follows but it does work.
Don`t get too close though as some of these “Johnny foreigners” carry shotguns.
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A no take zone is the way ahead. In a matter of a few years you would get an overspill of fish benefiting the environment and the island as a whole. Getting the states to do something about it is the problem by the time they do our sea life will be all but finished.
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Sadly, I note that no-one is interested in replenishing fish stocks. I had the same wall of silence when I put a letter in an Australian newspaper. I can understand why pro fishermen would be against it, because fewer fish means higher prices. But why isn’t anyone, not even anglers, interested in the sea going back to what it once was: teeming with fish?
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Brian, I appreciate your sentiment but it is totally un-workable. When rearing fish in a farmed environment fish become used to being fed and lose their wild instincts.They actually become lazy, and their muscle turns to fat, and they could not endure the daily hunt for food. They also carry disesases and sea lice which whilst harmless in the farmed environment would obliterate thousands of tonnes of their wild relations. Whilst wild and farmed fish share the same name they are totally different fish- try a farmed salmon compared to a wild salmon and there is literally no comparison!
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Does anybody know what the fishing was like in guernsey waters after the war??
Was there more Crab, Lobster and fish due to the restricted fishing??
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In 1956 I can remember going ormering with my mum and dad and reurning with over 20 dozen each time carried in potato sacks over the crossbar of my dad`s bike.
It used to take them hours to shuck and prepare the ormers for pickling in old sweet jars and part cook the rest for the next weeks eating. No fridges then.
I tell you, there`s nothing like ormers for breakfast,fried, and ormer casserol for dinner.
The digestive system used to take a walloping but it kept you regular.
We also used to go fishing off the castle walk and come home with lots of fish especially on the day the mackerel came into Havelet Bay in their millions chasing the whitebait and being chased by the dolphins. You`ll never see such a sight ever again.
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There were also piles of spider crab in the fish market with the smell of boiling crab permeating through town every weekend.
Part of my duties on Saturdays was to go shopping with my mum and me and my sister had to carry home two live crabs each which my mum would cook in an old copper boiler and then we`d all sit down and pick the crab for a slap up crab meal picnic out on the cliffs somewhere on Sundays with fresh baked bread and lots of good Guernsey butter.
What I wouldn`t give for just one more week of that lifestyle again.
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Peter
20 dozen ormers a time? And people wonder why there’s hardly any left!!!!
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@ Peter…
Its because of the mentality of people such as yourself there are no fish in the sea. 20 dozen ormers! Didnt you ever hear of ‘take what you need’ rather then ‘take until you can carry no more’?
[quote] “you’ll never sea such a sight again..”
Thanks to people like you I’d have to agree!
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@Mark
An old fisherman once told me that after the war he regularly caught lobsters around 5lbs in his pots in the bays. I am sure there would have been a lot more maybe a bit later though once the offspring from these mature animals had grown up. I can remember in the 70s when the spiders use to come into fermain and soldiers bay you could not see the sand for crab. We used to hook a few for tea with a treble hook.
That’s where a no fish zones would be of benefit as they have proven that if the fish are left alone it does not take long for them to recover. It’s sick to see the local government has no interest in the Environment, its fish stocks and has only interest in the finance sector.
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Both Phill and iphoney,
In those days rationing was still in force and wages were very poor so you took what you could get.
We took what we needed and ate everything unlike most families today who waste food and litter everywhere with left over packaging.
The ormer stock`s demise was down to divers exploiting the outer ormering grounds for a quick profit on the french markets in the 60`s and 70`s, as they did to the spider crab population in the 80`s once they were banned from ormer diving.
I can tell you that diving for ormers still goes on, how else does a certain fishing outlet get plenty of ormers for sale during the ormering tides? They aren`t all from shore gatherers.
If anyone wants to see how fish stocks, shellfish or wet fish, can be regulated efficiently then go see how Sark does it.
They regulate the fishing boats that can fish inside their waters and have a ban on shell fishing through the winter months. This ensures their stocks are kept healthily high.
Guernsey should take a leaf out of their books.
Professional fishing should be banned from November to April within a two mile boundary from the whole shoreline of The Bailiwick.
There are thousands of square miles of open sea where the professional fishermen can catch their quota offshore.
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A few artificial reefs and sunken ships would help the fish stocks and bring recreational divers to the island.
Waste tyres, refuse compacted and encased in concrete strategically placed to form reefs offshore would stop straying fishermen with nets and give fish the chance to breed and grow.
It would take but a few months to legislate for this through The States but as usual they are out of touch with the sea stock conservation.
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Sorry OZZ, You are right in what you say, but, I am talking about breeding the fish not rearing them – It has been proven in Guernsey with Ormer seed and in Canada with Lobster larva. Certainly being penned up until full maturity, even in sea compounds has led to problems with some fish.
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We should stop the Bass Fishing at the Boue Blondel where the bass seem to be spawning for a start
I have heard of some local fishermen making £80,000 in a week caching bass there, coming back with boats full to the gunwales.
Stop it now for future stocks.
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I wonder when the states will come clean about the level of “compensation” which has been paid by Guernsey to help UK fishermen exploit our dwindling fish stocks? Well done Guernsey another home goal – I heard that the compensation amounted to many millions of Pounds!
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