Pair trawlers clean out Dunmanus bay

freddyuk

A pair of trawlers cleaning out Dunmanus Bay today. They went almost to the end which basically means the place has been possibly been decimated for recreational anglers. I don't know target species but guess Bass, Mackrel ??
Going by the amount of sea birds during gutting they had a good haul.....:mad:
The catch is being landed at Castletownbear tonight.

Tippjohn

Is fishing this close inshore legal? Looks dodgy to me?

bluezulu49

According to marinetraffic.com they were the Fiona K II and the Ocean Venture II. Both currently at Bere Island.

freddyuk

Correct.

Username Exists.

Probably dredging for razor clam if they were in that close.
Terrible practice.

Tippjohn

Probably the fishermen who objected to a salmon farm. See google. They want to conserve then rip it up.

Jim from Cork

More than likely hoovering up sprat.
Shameful carry on really.

Zzippy

Yep, sprat. No quota, no restrictions. Fish away, lads... :rolleyes:

Tippjohn

And everything eats sprats. Thats the brains of the Minister for you. The sand eels were dredged of the banks off Dover for fertilizer. The cod disapeared.

freddyuk

The actual track took these "deep water" vessels way up into the shallow end of the bay where the juvenile fish are. There are few big fish this far up the bay but more out nearer the entrance and on the reefs off Mizen. I guess the juveniles move out as they grow but they may never get the chance.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:291371/zoom:10

It was a deliberate target as they went straight there for the day and then back to port. That has compromised the recreational fishing which brings in the tourism. The water depth is less than 10 metres! So the young pollack, cod, bass, gurnard, wrasse, scad, conger, ling, flounder etc. which may not have been target species will have been mashed through the nets and ended up as gull food. Possibly they churned up the bottom and affected the shelfish beds also. I am no expert on commercial trawling but the damage to future stocks must be compromised for years to come? Is it possible to "mid water trawl" in 30 feet of water?
It may be technically legal but it is certainly morally unacceptable and frankly reprehensible.

Tippjohn

I am not sure it is legal, I thought there was a 4 mile limit for trawling? A bit like the minister talking about dredging rivers today, homes are more important than fish, what an attitude.

AnglingMad

I am over from the UK at my place here in kerry for a while and we see them do similar runs each year. They to are usually boats from Castletownbere. You are correct, trawling these areas should have been banned years ago as they are clearly nurserys. They say they pair trawl for the Herring but stock depletion here, particularly the Bass fishing is very noticable, plus against local opposition they reopened an old defunct Salmon farm and got authority triple its size. As you can appreciate what with the Trawling, Salmon Farm and poor recreational fishing experienced by visiting anglers the cost to tourism here is large. As a fellow angler I was drawn over many years ago and when I managed to get a place here used to bring all my pals and always being asked if they could come over for the Sea Trout, Bass and general ground fishing in boats but not now. All the ghillies are struggling and it is only the stories that remain. Sadly in my view and that of many UK anglers the quality and consistency of fishing Ireland once offered has long gone. There seems to be no organised opposition strong enough to take these issues on against the commercial lobby. I would love to be wrong but have not seen any at least. Most of my pals spend a lot of money going to others places now.

sword1

AnglingMad wrote: »

I am over from the UK at my place here in kerry for a while and we see them do similar runs each year. They to are usually boats from Castletownbere. You are correct, trawling these areas should have been banned years ago as they are clearly nurserys. They say they pair trawl for the Herring but stock depletion here, particularly the Bass fishing is very noticable, plus against local opposition they reopened an old defunct Salmon farm and got authority triple its size. As you can appreciate what with the Trawling, Salmon Farm and poor recreational fishing experienced by visiting anglers the cost to tourism here is large. As a fellow angler I was drawn over many years ago and when I managed to get a place here used to bring all my pals and always being asked if they could come over for the Sea Trout, Bass and general ground fishing in boats but not now. All the ghillies are struggling and it is only the stories that remain. Sadly in my view and that of many UK anglers the quality and consistency of fishing Ireland once offered has long gone. There seems to be no organised opposition strong enough to take these issues on against the commercial lobby. I would love to be wrong but have not seen any at least. Most of my pals spend a lot of money going to others places now.

I would think the seals in the area eat more in a day than the boat's take in a season

freddyuk

Seals are discerning in their food gathering efforts and take enough to feed themselves. It is part of the "natural balance" of the food chain.
Taking a bl**dy great net from end to end of a narrow bay fishing for "sprats", which I very much doubt can be "targeted", is not helping support the young stocks to increase the food supply it is basically trawling anything that happens to be there and any small fish which get trashed through a net is unlikely to survive whether it manages to get through or not.
The purpose of this practice is to turn the catch into fish meal.
Your argument sounds like something I would expect to hear from a commercial fisherman who does not give a damn - it's all about the money. To suggest the fish stocks are decimated by seals is daft but then the increase in seal numbers may to do with the introduction of salmon farms into the area? So again it is human intervention upsetting the natural balance.
The available fishing areas open to trawlers are vast so it is totally unnecessary to come onto the beaches and potentially destroy the recreational end of the industry which also supports tourism.

sword1

freddyuk wrote: »

Seals are discerning in their food gathering efforts and take enough to feed themselves. It is part of the "natural balance" of the food chain.
Taking a bl**dy great net from end to end of a narrow bay fishing for "sprats", which I very much doubt can be "targeted", is not helping support the young stocks to increase the food supply it is basically trawling anything that happens to be there and any small fish which get trashed through a net is unlikely to survive whether it manages to get through or not.
The purpose of this practice is to turn the catch into fish meal.
Your argument sounds like something I would expect to hear from a commercial fisherman who does not give a damn - it's all about the money. To suggest the fish stocks are decimated by seals is daft but then the increase in seal numbers may to do with the introduction of salmon farms into the area? So again it is human intervention upsetting the natural balance.
The available fishing areas open to trawlers are vast so it is totally unnecessary to come onto the beaches and potentially destroy the recreational end of the industry which also supports tourism.

Of course fishermen give a damn, they are doing what they have for decades in the bays, it is just with ais and social media people are more aware of it, the vessels catch is monitored and there is little or no bycatch, there has to be a balance though and the main imbalance is the seal population is exploding, the amount of fishing effort and boats is decreasing if anything

Zzippy

sword1 wrote: »

Of course fishermen give a damn, they are doing what they have for decades in the bays, it is just with ais and social media people are more aware of it, the vessels catch is monitored and there is little or no bycatch, there has to be a balance though and the main imbalance is the seal population is exploding, the amount of fishing effort and boats is decreasing if anything

Have you got those stats handy to show the seal population is exploding, or just peddling the same line we hear from fishermen all the time to lay the blame elsewhere?

These boats are not monitored, there is no limit on sprat catches and no quota, so they can take as much as they like. That's not sustainable.

sword1

Zzippy wrote: »

Have you got those stats handy to show the seal population is exploding, or just peddling the same line we hear from fishermen all the time to lay the blame elsewhere?

These boats are not monitored, there is no limit on sprat catches and no quota, so they can take as much as they like. That's not sustainable.

I don't have stats on seals, just speaking from my own observations, I have not been sprat fishing in over a decade, but from what I can see of catches they are going strong after decades of fishing at what you call unsustainable levels, I believe the marine institute actually have finding of very strong amount of sprat this year so there is science to back up that part of my view but I do not have a link to that

AnglingMad

sword1 wrote: »

I would think the seals in the area eat more in a day than the boat's take in a season

I think this says it all!!!!! thats why its got this bad. Don,t you think the animal species that exist were here before the trawlers?????

sword1

AnglingMad wrote: »

I think this says it all!!!!! thats why its got this bad. Don,t you think the animal species that exist were here before the trawlers?????

I was answering a point blaming trawlers for a decline in angling, I was making the point that the fishermen cannot get all the blame for this, seals, other predators, climate change are all factors and in some cases if there were more sprat and more predators leading to even less fish for angler's

Malcolm600f

sword1 wrote: »

I was answering a point blaming trawlers for a decline in angling, I was making the point that the fishermen cannot get all the blame for this, seals, other predators, climate change are all factors and in some cases if there were more sprat and more predators leading to even less fish for angler's

Seals are doing more damage to fish stocks inshore than any trawler..
There is a colony of seals near where i live its claimed to be 400 seals strong , thats working out at about nearly 2 ton of fish DAILY they require to survive thats over 700 ton of fish annually .. Now thats only one colony in the bay.So think about the overall damage seals do nationwide in small inshore bays and around river mouths..

gctest50

Malcolm600f wrote: »

Seals are doing more damage to fish stocks inshore than any trawler..
There is a colony of seals near where i live its claimed to be 400 seals strong ....

:eek:

you'd need to start hunting them before their numbers go ballistic


Dangerous yokes them

Pet owner watches in horror as his labrador is dragged into sea and killed by a seal as it played in the surf

But this huge seal, more than twice the size of the dog, was flinging Fly around and pulling him under the water. I was horrified. The seal was enormous.

'Both his hind legs were completely crushed and mangled, his rib cage smashed and his left eye torn out. He was pouring with blood and in spasms of agony.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215050/Seal-mauls-labrador-death-dragged-water-went-retrieve-ducks.html

.

Malcolm600f

gctest50 wrote: »

:eek:

you'd need to start hunting them before their numbers go ballistic


Dangerous yokes them


.

Going to be alot more attacks like that to be honest as seal numbers grow and food becomes a issue ,,cant blame the seal for the attack to be fair the dog was in the seals territory, would be more concerned about them attacking young kids in the surf but not sure if they would attacks humans ..

Malcolm600f

Zzippy wrote: »

Have you got those stats handy to show the seal population is exploding, or just peddling the same line we hear from fishermen all the time to lay the blame elsewhere?

These boats are not monitored, there is no limit on sprat catches and no quota, so they can take as much as they like. That's not sustainable.

Boats only catch a fraction of the sprat thats around our waters and the fact they have a short life cycle and the fishing season is very short it means they are a very sustainable fishery and only fished in a few area's around the coast .The sprat fishery was fished alot more yrs ago and it did not make any impact on sprat.

viper123

Malcolm600f wrote: »

Boats only catch a fraction of the sprat thats around our waters and the fact they have a short life cycle and the fishing season is very short it means they are a very sustainable fishery and only fished in a few area's around the coast .The sprat fishery was fished alot more yrs ago and it did not make any impact on sprat.

Don't think anybody above has commented as to the sustainability of sprat, it is the bycatch of netting a potential nursery for other species which is the main concern.

Malcolm600f

viper123 wrote: »

Don't think anybody above has commented as to the sustainability of sprat, it is the bycatch of netting a potential nursery for other species which is the main concern.

..zzippy mentioned in his post it was not sustainable......
The by catch from sprat fishing is very very very small i have done enough of it over the years to back up that statement too.. ;-)
Dont think I am just another fisherman backing up trawlers I am not because i am totally against the larger boats been allowed into small bays as it should be preserved for the small inshore fleet. Biggest issue now within the fishing industry is social media just because stuff is posted on Facebook it dont mean its facts and thats where alot of the rubbish about the commercial fishing industry comes from.. Small bays die because of fishermen its nothing to do with weather,farmers pollution ,I am sure the 1000's of dead jelly fish i seen this year was the fisherman too not red tide..

gctest50

Malcolm600f wrote: »

....... but not sure if they would attacks humans ..

no reason for them not to attack - your kid will look might look like food to them if they've a wetsuit on

they are wild animals after all

Over the past decade more than one thousand severely scarred and wounded porpoises have washed up on North Sea coastlines.

Now DNA analysis of their injuries has led to an intriguing conclusion. It seems they are regularly attacked and killed by grey seals which tear strips of nutritious blubber from their bodies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11253207/Grey-seals-kill-porpoises-and-could-attack-humans-scientists-warn.html

Northumberland islands see record seal births
National Trust records largest total for grey seals off Farne Islands since 1971 as experts say they have benefited from lack of predators and rich waters for food

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11360396/Northumberland-islands-see-record-seal-births.html

wexandproud

before people post on here they really should go and educate themselves about something before they post about it .
The fact that people talk about fish being mashed through these nets really shows a total lack of knowledge of what they are talking about , if they were to go to where these boats were landing there would not be enough of the cod , pollock ,bass or any of the other species to get a good feed .
as another poster said seals are a far bigger threat to inshore fish stocks than any commercial fishing , yes you could argue they are part of the natural balance but there has been a population explosion in the last 20 years . A couple of dozen seals used to inhabit the sand banks in wexford harbour now their are about 6/7 hundered and often seen 15 miles up the slaney and every one is wondering where the salmon are . If people want to know where they salmon and sea trout have gone , go and watch all the cormorants feeding at the lower parts of the rivers getting smolts on the way out and seal getting adult fish on the way in

the big easy target is not always the one to aim for

gctest50

A SURFER has told of being attacked off the Tasmanian coast - not by a shark, but by a New Zealand fur seal.

The seal left Liam Byrne's surfboard pitted with tooth marks in the incident at Cloudy Bay, on the island state's southwest coast, The Mercury reported.

Mr Byrne said he noticed the eight-foot seal showing a persistent interest in him as he surfed.

"There were two other guys in the water but as soon as they got out, it was on," Mr Byrne said.

The seal disappeared underwater before charging Mr Byrne from beneath, knocking him off his board.

"It repeatedly latched on to my board and thrashed it about even though I was kicking and punching it as hard as I could," he said.

But his actions did not deter the seal, which attacked him another four times as he tried to reach the beach.

http://www.themercury.com.au/seal-attacks-surfer-off-tasmanian-coast/story-fnj3twbb-1225856755842

.

wexandproud

there is a couple of seals in residence in the harbour in kilmore and visiting anglers like to feed them as they come in to the harbour , also parents of young kids approach them on the slip so the kids can see their big puppy dog eyes and that's ok to a certain degree , kids have to be taught to appreciate nature . However a kid needs to be told that a seal is a wicked and savage predator .I hope i will be proved wrong but i can see some kid been bitten in future and believe me when you see the mouth of teeth they have it will be a serious wound.

gctest50

wexandproud wrote: »

.........and believe me when you see the mouth of teeth they have it will be a serious wound.

seem to have a fine set

GT_TDI_150

Tippjohn wrote: »

I am not sure it is legal, I thought there was a 4 mile limit for trawling? A bit like the minister talking about dredging rivers today, homes are more important than fish, what an attitude.

Imagine that ... Trying to protect peoples house...disguisting