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Dumping of fish


Freyr
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Do you support the dumping of fish?  

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  1. 1. Do you support the dumping of fish?

    • No
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    • Yes
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I was shocked to see what a Shetland boat was up to on the news here in Norway. It had been fishing cod in the Norwegian sector and then proceeded to the British sector where it dumped 80% of its catch. Aparantly the fish were under 80cm so they wouldn't get a premium price. It is well known that cod is in a voulnerable state right now, but in any case this is just wrong. It is morally wrong and its just pissing in your own bed. This has been illegal in Norway since the eighties and the boat would have been arrested had it done it in the Norwegian sector. It is just calculated environmental criminality. The whole thing is very provocative, dissapointing and shocking.

http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/nyheter/spill/verdi/66582

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/hordaland/1.6157006

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Aside from any inedible species counted as a by catch it should be illegal to dump fish to the extent that an offence means loss of the boats licence for a fixed term. That said it is really the fault of the bureaucrats who draw up daft rules at least as much as it is the fault of the fishermen who are limited in what they can land so naturally want the best fish for landing.

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yes it is daft that a beurocrat hasn't banned dumping in the UK, but no beurocrat has told the fishermen to dump the fish. It is possible for people to think for themselves and not wait for a beurocrat to come up with some rule. (We complain about rules, but in examples where we are left without rules stupid things happen)

 

It is the fishermen who decide to dump or not to dump. As an industry it is possible to reach agreements. Norwegian fishermen are not allowed to dump and still compete in the same market as these and still seem to make money...

 

As for beurocrats who tell fishermen how much they can land I believe this example shows that some will stop at nothing for an increase of profit. Left unregulated the sea would soon be empty and my home town and Shetland would be among those who would suffer the most.

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I could rant about this for pages, it is a huge subject, but by way of a short expression;

 

The cod dumping is a recent advance as part of the "Cod Recovery Program" It is truly awful.

 

The longer term reality of this is that fishermen have been grading out perfectly good fish for at least a decade. The pelagic fleet probably takes the 'prize' for this in dumping hundreds of tons at a time because it is not the most lucrative size, or is mixed species. I have heard tell of hundreds of tons a week being dumped like this by one boat, amongst a fleet doing likewise.

 

Until a law is passed that says "You catch it, you keep it" the sea will run rotten with dumped fish. As it has for long.

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The story about the pelagic trawler heading to Shetland Catch with a hold full of mackerel is the 'best!/worst' I have heard.

 

On route from the fishing grounds it passed over a shoal of larger sized fish than it had onboard.

 

What happened - they caught the larger fish but had to wait to take it onboard while they pumped the smaller ones back overboard to empty the tanks.

 

Scandalous!

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yes it is daft that a beurocrat hasn't banned dumping in the UK, but no beurocrat has told the fishermen to dump the fish.

 

I'm not sure you're right there. This is a thorny and complex subject that has been the subject of debate for a long time. I can't say i'm up to date with the current regulations, but it certainly used to be the case that if a by-catch of cod of say 5% was allowed and you hauled up 10% in your nets, there was no option but to dump it as you would be prosecuted for landing it.

 

Dumping good fish is wrong, but it's not always the fishermens fault. Norway is not in the EC so the rules there are different, and as far as I can see, far more sensible.

 

It would be interesting to hear from somebody who knows the current regulations.

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[mod edit]One must question your comprehension of what black fish really is?! Content removed.[/mod edit]

 

Tons!

And thats just at one factory!

Absolutely scandelous, and the fishermen expect us to feel sorry for them, live for today, sod tomorrow seems to be their motto.

Do they really expect their children and grandchildren to have fish in the sea if they carry on like this?

I dont feel sorry about the diminishing fleets at all, the more out the better, they are not capable of self responcibility.

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Who mentioned 'black fish? At least black fish finds a market, illegally landed or not, and its not wasted!

Usual Shetland thinking, must not 'dis' the locals, but fact is fact whether you like the facts or not , tons of fish just dumped in the hunt for ONE species!

If people really knew what was just dumped they would be appalled and shocked, just as they are with these other messages on here, only difference this happens IN A SHETLAND FACTORY!!

Sorry if its not what you want to see, mod, but if you want to run a forum just to suit you, well thats fine, I wont bother with it.

FACE THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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^^ Yes, perhaps, but what you wrote was just plain wrong. Why - how - would ling, haddock, cod etc. especially by the "Tons!" be landed at a Pelagic factory - as you put it?

 

It's not "'dis' the locals" - it's writing sense!

 

Dumping fish and landing fish are two completely different scenarios and definetely not in the realm of your post!

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Its by-catch, dragged up in the nets and straight into the holds, then pumped ashore, incase you dont know how it works.

You are obviously not aware of what goes on under the noses of Shetlanders, those who have worked there know what I'm talking about.

There is no difference in dumping fish at sea and dumping prime fish at a fishmeal factory, its all a terrible waste of resorces.

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*sigh* - I know exactly how it works. I worked in the very place you talk of for years. Your sensationalist statments though would not go amiss in the News of the World ... that is where I'm coming from.

 

The entire scenario can't be summed up so simply as "self responcibility" - it's turned into a pathetic world by sharn agencies such as DEFRA and government lackies.

 

People do what they have to do.

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So you will have seen the some times 5, 6 or more skips in a single shift that do probably hold a ton each, of Cod, Ling, and all the rest get dumped, but do I take it because people work there its different to trawlers dumping at sea?

Sorry, nothing justifies that scale of waste any-where, for any reason.

You cant condone it at sea then turn a blind eye if and when it suits you.

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Sorry to be the pedant, but 2.1/4 skips (with ice and water) equates to approximately one ton; not much in comparison to what's being dumped at sea.

 

And if this is the same factory I'm thinking of, we used to be allowed a fry until they started sending the said whitefish elsewhere for further processing (and I ain't talking about salmon feed and fertilizer).

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I can assure you the fishermen are as, if not even more so distressed about fish dumping as any of you.

 

The problem is the quota system, When a whitefish boat puts their net over the side, its not possible to select which type of fish comes aboard!! and if you have already reached your cod quota, and you have a mixed haul of fish, some of which is prime big cod, then you have to dump that cod you catch back dead into the sea, if you decide to the moral thing and land the cod you will be fined and incriminated.

 

If we had independence, and could set our own quotas, there would be absolutely no fish dumping, and fishing as a whole could be perfectly sustainable. Just look at how Norway runs there own fisheries, a good example.

 

I blame the people who make the rules. Until we have independence, or complete control over our own resources we will continue down the road to ruin.

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