last cod ever caught!

[rustyhookthomas]

driving along in our car tonight and i had a seriously bad thought!!!
it could be real but i hope not.
i said to my wife, "remember that cod you caught in arklow a couple
of years ago? ya know the one we recorded on the mobile"
and she said "yeah, the one we threw back."
i said "yeah, imagine that was the last ever cod you would catch!"
thank god i was driving, she was horrified,dumbstruck!
what a thought! my missus LOVES fishing!
IT'S NOT FAR AWAY!!!

[saltydog]

my missus LOVES fishing!

Lucky Man

Often wondered with cod stocks in decline why they haven't been given the same protection as bass......??

[ady]

you lucky fella if only

[doggie3131]

hey thomas thats a scary thought But that might not be too far away, if things keep going the way there are!!

[James Barry]

I often wonder why they are not protected more, I know there was a total ban on cod fishing in ICES division 7a around the Irish sea for the past while but how strictly enforced is this??
And another point first of all I have no problem with people taking fish for the pan but if you kill a nice cod and put the pic up you see comments like "nice cod and chips for dinner". On the other hand if it was a bass that was killed and somebody said yum bass and chips tomorrow, there would be a few non-friendly posts following....?
It could only help the species if they were protected like bass...

[collieennis]

well if this year is anything to go by i think ill be lucky to catch a decent cod from the shore, if i do ill take my pic and put it back.

[somedose]

To be honest a complete ban on cod fishing is what is needed. These fish are not being trawled, they are being mined. Trawlers hit these fish when they congregate to spawn - they don't have a chance. Also it's catching the large fish that is doing the damage. These fish are the spawning stock whereas the younger fish could be easily replaced by older breeding fish. Stock levels are now too lo to recover. It's not a case of if but a case of when.

Also, the only possible way of reducing pressure on these fish is to commerically farm them. I know this is not a popular option but cod farming is differient to other fish farming. Cages are 1-2 miles offshore and deep underwater. It could also potentially make someone a little fortune

[corbyeire]

i agree - think the cod need an awful amount of protection - the scenario in canada proves it divebombs and doesnt come back

have been thinking the same myself recently to a lot of the cod and chips posts that the common consensus is that is okay but for bass its not etc.

a couple of years ago they farmed some cod out in connemara with some success in a pilot study - mind you i havent heard of any commercial deal following on from this

i think farming sea fish in the sea might be slightly better than the old salmon/sea trout

but at the end of the day sustainable harvests need to be investigated - enforced - and continuously monitored - some thing most politicians dont seem to want to do rather carry on bad practices for a few jobs now - not thinking about no jobs at all down the line

nobody wanting to be the bringer of bad news - all the while its good luck to the cod in the various compartments in the Irish sea

[Ronald]

The only problem with fish farming is the amount of food required to feed the fish , do you not need tons of sandeel (another fish under commercial pressure )to produce the fish meal ,then your taking out a vital link in the food chain ,maybe it's time to cut down on the eating of fish all together ,not a nice thought as I love a piece of fresh fish ,but maybe the only realistic way to let stocks recover .

[corbyeire]

totally agree ronald - think its 5kilo of meal per day etc. for 1kilo of farmed fish at the end of the cycle - i know its unsustainable - madness etc. - but there is a demand there

there are apparently far greater problems encountered with the salmon/sseatrout production that were not found with the cod - less pollution etc.

i think bradan on the site knew a fair bit about it at the time

no more than anything - it seems to be bad to eat it - what can you eat at the end of the day unless you have your own vegetable patch - the way things are going?!!!

[doggie3131]

hey corbyeire,have the veg patch sell ya 1lb of carrots for a euro but i think a total ban on cod for the next five years is the only way the cod have any chance to recover!!

[cortaz]

i am going out to get a few, before they are all gone

[rustyhookthomas]

i remember a good few years ago an add for a famous cod fish finger "searching the furthest away seas too bring us cod fish fingers!!!!! was that not a warning sign?
also if we are going to farm fish, i think we should farm the food too!
it's a big enought investment and big risk for anyone to try.
but then i know a bunch who have no problem investing in electronic voting machines
and have no promlem paying to store them as they don't use them!
maybe they could earn their cushy jobs by investing not just money but time!! in constructive
areas that will benefit so many.

doggie, yer dead right re veg plot, i have a grand long garden and we grow loads of veg.

i hope i never see the day have to drop a line into collies pond to catch a fish:( now that would be a bad day!

[Senor Feeshy]

As Ronald was saying re fish farming what do you feed the fish on?
Fish meal.
And where do the fish for the fish meal come from?
Apart from the waste from fish processing there's also the practice of trawling inshore coastal ecosystems for everything that they can get their hands on. Maybe that's where all the east coast doggies have gone

According to this article http://www.imr.no/english/news/2004/what_do_cod_have_for_dinner, one of Cods' major source of food is the capelin which is also commercially fished for meal and oil. And when the capelin stocks nose dived, Cod actually started feeding on cod fry. Fish farming aint gonna help wild stocks in this scenario.

We just need a total ban on Cod fishing and I don't see why they shouldn't be afforded the same protection as Bass. We don't need laws to make us practice catch and release as we can see first hand the state of Cod stocks. So, why shouldn't we react accordingly and do our bit?

[somedose]

I've done a good bit of research in sustainable aquaculture (i did it as a project last year) and in particular I focused on cod and salmon farming. Yes it is completely true that there are huge flaws with the aquaculture industry and I'm still against it. The main problems are the sourcing of "seed" (breeding stock i.e. cod spawn), the sources of the fish used in the feed and the environmental impacts of aquaculture.

For cod to be grown, first their spawn needs to be captured which will of course result in less recruitment into wild cod stocks in the future. However, it may be possible once the spawn has been obtained to form a closed system i.e. grow the fish from spawn to maturity in cages, collect the spawn off the caged fish, remove and sell the caged fish and replace them with their spawn. This is an ideal system and is still far off in the future

Feed used in fish farms is usually 'trash fish'. These are white fish with very low market value which are ground up and turned into pellet. However this is not sustainable as (as was previously mentioned) it takes 5kg of fish to grow 1kg of farmed fish. So alternatives (mainly plant based) are being looked at. The chinese have had good results with tofu and sunflower oil added to their pellets so this is could potentially help alleviate the pressure off the fish used in pellets.

Very little can be done about the environmental impact of mariculture. The chemicals, antibiotics and waste feed and faeces will eventually end up in the aquatic system but if careful consideration is given to the location of farms (i.e. AWAY FROM IMPORTANT RIVERS AND ESTUARIES) the effect can be lessened. Cages 1 or 2 miles off shore result in lower environmental impact

In short the demand for cod shows no signs of slowing. Stocks WILL be fished out - there is no doubt about it. It will be the same as Newfoundland all over again. Therefore, considering all the risks, farming may be the only way to go

Also farming jobs could be offered to trawlermen in an effort to remove more boats off the sea - win win situation