increase in fishing quotas for irish commercial fleet.

[Donnyboy1]

THanks for that, nice to have a commercial involved in these thread!!

personally i think quotas should be done away with just have a strict days at sea system and land what is caught also increase the mesh size.hope noone blows up after reading this

That would be an awesome start, but I can't see this fixing other probs like highgrading. Would ye honestly fill your hull with cheap fish as ye steam over more expensive fish? Also without a fixed quota to determine who should fish for what... sure wouldn't every fisherman just go after a) what fish would catch the highest price and b) which of the previous is most abundant / easier to catch.

I can only imagine what its like to chuck away all that decent cod, but I cannot agree with a boom in cod stocks. Even if there is more fish than there were 6/7 years ago... it still aint a drop and what it was decades ago... and we had decades to wipe out thousands of years of cod booms... how long do you reckon it will take to wipe out 6/7 years of a boom.

Sorry mate, I feel for your profession, seriously... but its not sustainable... and I don't mean sustainably cought fish... I mean I can't really see that much of a future in commercial fishing on the large scale.
Small scale boutique type fishing operations where fishermen add tangible value to their trade I can definately see a future... but large scale fishing ops where fisherman do not really add any value... nope.
I really think its true that all fishermen need to take a more active role in becoming a type of shepard to the ocean and being on the front line when looking after it?

I also think I'm not the one out there tossing the bycatch or taking from the ocean, neither is the politicians or scientists. Fact is its ye guys, and if ye catch all the fish... there will be noone left to come to to ask for help? If you are unhappy with discards and mesh size just stop fishing... take a stand... don't continue to do it?

Just me 0.02

[robbiekennedy]

well if too much of anything comes on the market the price drops rock bottom so there is no fear of boats slaughtering the one specie for weeks and we never practised this highgrading to be honest i dont think ive heard of it in this country, a lot easier to just land. whats there and start again.when i started fishing 12 years ago there was a fleet of french boats there that anywhere we went there would be 10 or 12 boats in a 6 mile range i remember counting 26 boats on the radar one morning now we could do a week without seeing another fishing boat there have been a serious decline in boats.i honestly believe there is a big increase on all stocks and these quota increase show it thats only my opinion anyway

[twinkle]

take a leaf out of icelands book and i dont mean the super market. a set time for fishing different species and only long lines within a strict shore limit i think its 20 miles. with huge fines for anyone netting with in the restricted zones.

[robbiekennedy]

take a leaf out of icelands book and i dont mean the super market. a set time for fishing different species and only long lines within a strict shore limit i think its 20 miles. with huge fines for anyone netting with in the restricted zones.

long lines never seem to work down here for some reason, a few years back BIM funded a few of the smaller boats to go long lining for cod pollock ling etc but all was caught was dogfish and congers which was a pity because it would be a lovely way to fish but like i said earlier have days at sea and anybody out when they shouldnt hit them with huge fines

[Donnyboy1]

i honestly believe there is a big increase on all stocks and these quota increase show it thats only my opinion anyway

What do you consider big?

(I don't know the factual numbers so I'll make them up to show a point.)
Lets say cod stocks were down at around 2% (of what they were 100 years ago) 4 years ago. And today they are around 8%.

Well on one hand you could argue (as I think you are... maybe?) that there are 4 times more fish in the waters than there were 4 years ago so lets catch them!

On the other hand, there are still 92% less fish in the water than there were 100 years ago so leave them be and wait for the stocks to get even bigger!!!

I mean, as a commercial, surely you'd rather start seeing more 20/30lb+ fish being caught than lots of 6/7lbers... The longer we wait and allow stocks to recover, the better we will all be in the long run. Also the better the breeding and genes of these fish will be not to mention the more that will be spawned... it'll be like a domino effect!

We just gotta have patience, faith, and some balls.

And like you say... have a good look at the quota system.

Edit: regarding long line? There are a few commercials doing jiggin for pollock and such with reasonable success, AFAIK.

[robbiekennedy]

i honestly believe there is a big increase on all stocks and these quota increase show it thats only my opinion anyway

What do you consider big?

(I don't know the factual numbers so I'll make them up to show a point.)
Lets say cod stocks were down at around 2% (of what they were 100 years ago) 4 years ago. And today they are around 8%.

Well on one hand you could argue (as I think you are... maybe?) that there are 4 times more fish in the waters than there were 4 years ago so lets catch them!

On the other hand, there are still 92% less fish in the water than there were 100 years ago so leave them be and wait for the stocks to get even bigger!!!

I mean, as a commercial, surely you'd rather start seeing more 20/30lb+ fish being caught than lots of 6/7lbers... The longer we wait and allow stocks to recover, the better we will all be in the long run. Also the better the breeding and genes of these fish will be not to mention the more that will be spawned... it'll be like a domino effect!

We just gotta have patience, faith, and some balls.

And like you say... have a good look at the quota system.

Edit: regarding long line? There are a few commercials doing jiggin for pollock and such with reasonable success, AFAIK.

well yes i see your point but what i am saying there are cod all over the ground ,lets say a place that always held whiting is now holding cod too and its the same everywhere for most of the year its all the one if there is quota or not we cant not catch them at least now they are not going to waste and talking to lads fishing thirty years all say they have never seen such a constant run of fish as the last few years .most fish are about 15 pounds and up.im only giving my opinion on what ive witnessed ,not trying to argue with anyone or troll just giving my worth after all its in my interest to look after our stocks too

[fishwish]

well said at lest you and your fellow fishermen know whats going on in our waters,,not like a lot of hobby fishermen that get rods for christmas,,,