Wexford fisherman gives away free monkfish

[gfkelly1969]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1004/monkfi ... herty.html

[The Austrian]

Apparently this generous skipper likes himself painted as a Saint on a mural, doling out freshly caught prime fish to the starving poor... http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1004/monkfi ... html#video
- but why did he target monk fish if he knew he would exceed his quota?
This would certainly be the first question I'd ask him as a journalist...
Protection of fish? - yeah, right
Prosecution? Absolutely!

[redzerologhlen]

Are those not angler fish that were on the news or are they marketed as monkfish?

[The Austrian]

Are those not angler fish that were on the news or are they marketed as monkfish?

Anglerfish, Lophius piscatorius (the one in the in the report) are mostly marketed as Monkfish, Squatina squatina (which is actually a shark species) and they are totally different, search online to find out more details or simply check here:
http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/shar ... nkfish.htm
and here: http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/fish ... erfish.htm

[beachbuddy]

I had to laugh when youre wan started on about dumping those tiny fish as been a health hazard on the ocean bottom.Nothing about "st skipper" tearing up the ocean floor.Yes scandalous to see such an amount of dead fish but begs the question why target them if the quota was going to be exceeded,unless they hit a motherload.
The irony is that by giving them away the local sale of monkfish /anglerfish will be non existant for a long time now with freezers been full up now.
Would love to know how the other skippers and crew feel about their wages to feed their families and pay bills possibly been affected by such a kind act

[The Austrian]

I had to laugh when youre wan started on about dumping those tiny fish as been a health hazard on the ocean bottom.Nothing about "st skipper" tearing up the ocean floor.Yes scandalous to see such an amount of dead fish but begs the question why target them if the quota was going to be exceeded,unless they hit a motherload.
The irony is that by giving them away the local sale of monkfish /anglerfish will be non existant for a long time now with freezers been full up now.
Would love to know how the other skippers and crew feel about their wages to feed their families and pay bills possibly been affected by such a kind act

I know exactly how you feel, only 'laughing' wasn't my first emotion seeing this report, angry, being disillusioned and let down again by always the same people who should have a spark of common sense to even protect their own livelihood, if not anything else, would probably better describe it...

[corbyeire]

heard they didnt even taste that great!

[Ashley Hayden]

"but why did he target monk fish if he knew he would exceed his quota?
This would certainly be the first question I'd ask him as a journalist..."

Quite agree Austrian, soundbite media as per usual, a good face value story but we won't go too deep.

More pressing questions could come under the headings of:

1. Beam trawling (the skippers modus operandi) and the damage it has wreaked on the marine environment, what's your viewpoint?
2. High grading? What went over the side before you filled those boxes with very uniform and not very large judging by the news footage "angler fish"?
3. Is it ethical to prove that the CFP is a joke by such an environmentally damaging protest?
4. Do you care about distorting the retail/wholesale fish market by handing out free fish?

Yes, the skipper has a right to make a living, yes the CFP is terribly flawed, and yes the rules have changed over the years making it harder for commercial boats to make ends meet. Equally valid though are the stakeholders who to date still do not get considered while the resource that they own continues to be treated as a commons and mined into non existence.

The skipper, Mr. Byrne, and the owner Mr O'Flaherty, are misguided in their actions and to use the economic situation as reason for their actions is a red herring. Regarding Mr Byrne's quote in the Irish Times that the people of Wexford were supportive of his actions, firstly, the average Joe/Josephine will never look a gift horse in the mouth, and secondly, the same average Joe/Josephine has no clue as to what is really happening in their name to their marine resource.

[chilly123]

In my opinion he was dead right.. He was just highlighting the issue that needed to be highlighted..thats only a fraction of the fish that would be fecked back over on a daily bases.. They should be givin less days at see but aloud land all there catch so nothing has to go back over.. And when's the last time anybody gave U something for free in this screwed up country fare play to the man.. Just dont make a habit of it

[Ashley Hayden]

The skipper did not highlight anything, he gave away free fish which should have stayed in the sea.

On that day a number of people rang me up asking was I going to drive down and avail of the opportunity to get some free fish, that is all the average Joe picked up on by this action.

Consider the marine life killed and maimed during the catching of that 130 box haul, and the very likely discards from the vessel which were not discussed on TV.

Consider the size of the fish landed, by all appearances very young.

Cracking nuts with a sledge hammer is not a productive exercise.

[twinkle]

i have 20 boxes of bass to give away i caught them as i was fishing for mullet by mistake any takers??

[sparkey+1]

i have 20 boxes of Bass to give away i caught them as i was fishing for mullet by mistake any takers??

Only 20.....

[razor2]

It looked as if the skipper was trying to make some kind of point i think it might happen a bit more .What was the TV people doing there unless he called them himself.Looked like a bit of a set up if you ask me

[pollachius virens]

Discards are shameful as is the the state of the seabed after it has been trawled and the destruction of all the life that gets caught up in the whole trawling process. The average Joe cares about these things doesn't he? Eh no actually.

Nobu is a very fashionable restaurant in London that has gained some notoriety as a restaurant that sells critically endangered species. At present they have 16 dishes based around Bluefin Tuna. They have a footnote on their menu telling the customer that the fish is a threatened species and that you can ask your server for an alternative. Despite the fact that Bluefin Tuna are on the verge of falling off an environmental cliff, they still appear on the menu because the customer wants them there.

Do the good people of Wexford care that their fish are being thrown back into the sea dead? Do they care that their seabed is being churned up by Irish Skippers on Irish boats in order to make money? In my experience the answer is no. What occupies their mind are budgets and negative equity, septic tanks and property charges, dole ques and petrol prices. We have an interest in this story because we are anglers. The average Joe, just like the punters in Nobu doesn't give a cobblers so long as they can have their fish and chips on a Friday. If they did they would do something about it.

[Ashley Hayden]

"PV", unfortunately you've hit the nail on the head. I would add a rider though which HFW's discards protest seemed to prove. Most people are blissfully ignorant of the marine environment and how it is managed/exploited, the seaside to them is sand, cornets, a foreign sunny beach, dolphins, whales, buying their tuna or sea bass from Caviston's (remember that one), or a walk up Dunlaoghaire Pier of a summer's evening. All nice and pretty, they really do not know how damaged the marine environment is today and how that damage is being prosecuted. However I firmly believe that as the average Joe/Josephine does become aware they won't be too happy. It's all about informing.

[JimC]

Have always said.... If farming was carried out like trawling and people could see what was being done....farming would be banned.

[gfkelly1969]

http://www.facebook.com/SupportSkipperJimmyByrne

[Eoghan]

Im no expert on the quota system, but isnt the problem that a skipper could have hit a quota on Monkfish, but not whiting or similar. Now to fish for whiting he has to target the bottom and will take other fish while doing so. He keeps doing this as he has to make a living but obviously has to throw back any fish he has already hit from his quota..? Thats how I understand it. Ye cant really blame the fishermen, its the quota system that I believe is wrong. I dont really have a ground breaking idea on how to fix it either. Wasnt the old system based on days at sea..? So a skipper had X number of days to make a living, targeting any species they liked. Maybe they could look at banning fishing for one species a year but this wont prevent them showing up in nets. Anyway watching the Wiked Tuna series on National geographic. America doing some great work on conservation for these fish. Easier to handle as they use rods are specifically target the tuna, returning the smallers ones and so on.

[Ashley Hayden]

And in your reply Eoghan is a key principle that needs to be adopted, a change over to more selective environmentally friendly fishing methods.

Bottom trawling was invented in the 13th Century and identified as being destructive to the seabed even then. A petition was sent to the English King, Edward III, in 1376 requesting that he ban the new fishing method because of the damage wrought. Needless to say it went unheeded and we live with the legacy today. Callum Roberts, The Unnatural History of the Sea, Island Press 2007, P. 136 - 137.