Link to Mullet Murder

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:05 am

Hi....Just in case you don't see this in "General", I've posted a link here.

http://www.sea-fishing.org/ftopict-24870.html

Cheers Dave

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:34 pm

horriable but legal angry

aint nothing anyone can do .

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:44 pm

Truely sickening mate, for lovers of the Mullet. If it was Tuna or Mackerel I honestly wouldn't give a t*ss but the fact its Mullet stocks being decimated saddens. I don't blame the fishing crew so much as the weak willed politicians who allow such carnage to take place. The Isle of Man is off my holiday list for sure. I wonder what contributes most to the Manx economy, tourism or commercial fishing?

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:06 pm

A difficult one really.
From a sport fisher point of view i agree,a slaughter.
From a commercial fisher point of view its a good catch.
There will always be that grinding opposition of where to draw the line.
Cheers
Si

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 9:01 pm

I've seen this on a number of forums, apparently it goes on all the time. One guy was bragging about it happening down the South West coasts too. On one particular forum, there are a lot of commercial, semi commercial fishers who are members, bragging about earning and having fun at the same time, sick'os. I'm not against the commercial side of fishing at all, I eat fish myself and am not so naive as to not know where my fish come from. I even took a brace of Bass for the table last year. I do try to fish catch and release though and I don't particularly like the taste of Trout, they are all carefully released. I will kill fish if a friend want's a brace, this is very rare though. To me this is just killing to make up their quota and was probably sold for next to nothing, litterally like shooting fish in a barrel, after all we've all seen how Mullet shoal up in great numbers.....It's what they do and they pay the ultimate price...I could understand their actions if the Mullet was a tasty fish but I'm told their flavour is akin to a mouthfull of cotton wool laced with needles.

The link to the Isle of Man forum was quite rightly removed by the mods as I was (and still am) so angry and upset that I didn't think of the forum rules when I posted.

Dave

PS: I wonder if there were many Bass in amongst them!!??

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 12:47 am

ballthebuilder wrote:

I've seen this on a number of forums, apparently it goes on all the time. One guy was bragging about it happening down the South West coasts too. On one particular forum, there are a lot of commercial, semi commercial fishers who are members, bragging about earning and having fun at the same time, sick'os. I'm not against the commercial side of fishing at all, I eat fish myself and am not so naive as to not know where my fish come from. I even took a brace of Bass for the table last year. I do try to fish catch and release though and I don't particularly like the taste of Trout, they are all carefully released. I will kill fish if a friend want's a brace, this is very rare though. To me this is just killing to make up their quota and was probably sold for next to nothing, litterally like shooting fish in a barrel, after all we've all seen how Mullet shoal up in great numbers.....It's what they do and they pay the ultimate price...I could understand their actions if the Mullet was a tasty fish but I'm told their flavour is akin to a mouthfull of cotton wool laced with needles.

The link to the Isle of Man forum was quite rightly removed by the mods as I was (and still am) so angry and upset that I didn't think of the forum rules when I posted.

Dave

PS: I wonder if there were many Bass in amongst them!!??

Actually when its cooked right Mullet tastes very nice when it comes out of saltwater.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 10:53 am

Well what next, fair enough if it was for our market but we all know it's going to the continent like so many fish sales bloody europe, they'll only learn once its all gone then some bright spark will blame the pleasure angler.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:53 am

stingraysteve wrote:

Well what next, fair enough if it was for our market but we all know it's going to the continent like so many fish sales bloody europe, they'll only learn once its all gone then some bright spark will blame the pleasure angler.

Yes and it was Europeans that caught them ... remember like it or not we are part of Europe. I've seen these kind of rants for 40 years now and if I'm honest I'm sick of seeing the lynch-mob mentality that these kind of posts seem to promote. They do no good whatsoever!

Everybody on here is ranting and raving about the slaughter of our seas and the seeming lack of control on our commercial fleet but generally (and recent rants over fishing licence's and marine conservation areas have been just the same) as soon as anybody suggests any conservation measures that might dare to effect the rod and line angler off it kicks ... I'm afraid you will never change this type of thing until the hobby/sport angling fraternatity get their own house in order, accept that conservation means they might have to lose some freedoms and embrace ALL conservation measures not just the ones that suit them.

The measures to conserve the Eel are typical of the angling hypocrosy that I've watched since I was a boy .... the Eel is heading for extinction if we are not careful and yet on a thread on this very site anglers were still moaning that they would not be able to take one home to eat - the logic here of course is go without now otherwise there might never be some to eat ... but still the blind and blinkered moan.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 12:56 pm

suppose if we all get our own house in order first and backed some sort of organisation with a donationbut go along way

Regular Joined: Jul 26, 2009 Posts: 343 Location: Surrey

reel_wizard is right. The nets of mullet look a lot, but to see what a typical trawler brings home would make them look rather small. The problem is that the seas cannot sustain such harvesting, which is why we have fishery restrictions, which despite their limitations and apparent absurdities, are important. More are needed.

Although sea anglers hardly have the impact of commercial fishing, we have to do our bit, support the conservation measures even if it means some restrictions placed on ourselves. In the end we will benefit, and just maybe we'll get back to the stage where a catch of a couple of half-decent cod does not represent a red-letter day.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:11 pm

nthendpompey wrote:

suppose if we all get our own house in order first and backed some sort of organisation with a donationbut go along way

There's been a lot of criticism of the Angling Trust and how much it does for sea angling but ultimately it is our governing body and is recognised by government. So many people bleat that they are not putting our case across correctly and refuse to join but that isn't the way to change things .... if you join you have a vote and a voice and thats how you change things - not by standing outside a meeting and whinging.

One of the problems with sea anglers is that we are tight in many ways ... you expect to pay subs at the golf club, pay an entrance to a football ground and get road tax to drive your vehicle on the road .... but dare to mention that you might have to pay to fish in the sea or join your governing body and all hell breaks loose! The figure quoted for a sea angling licence was £25 when it was proposed and there were absolute screams of discontent. Many of those that screamed the loudest near me would think nothing of spending twice that in a pub in one night or of smoking £40 worth of fags a week, but £25 a year for their fishing ... outrageous!!

The trouble of course is that if you get something for free then you have little complaint if the quality is not up to scratch - if we were paying for licences we would have a very good case to scream and shout at government about what we were getting for our money.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:23 pm

Im not going to get into the rights and wrongs of commercial fishing, as opinions will always vary, and each is entitled to his/her opinion, and a moan if he/she feels like it, the comparisons are really lame, of course subs are paid at a golf club, (and you get to play golf on well maintained courses) its a business, and so is football, (and you get to see a game) as for road tax, thats law, and its interesting to note very little of the road fund license money is spent on roads. a license fee is paid to fish fresh water, but the waterboard actually clean up and maintain waterways and restock etc, Its every mans right to fish our coasts free of charge, thats law. But that aside, if the govt could guarantee all the money would be spent to benefit the angler, i might be prepared to pay it, but im damned if im going to contribute to a stealth tax. If anyone can tell me what the govt would do to improve fishing for the angler, im prepared to listen. As far as i can see its not the anglers who are responsible for the state of our seas, and i doubt very much a license fee would be used to improve the situation, If anyone can prove me wrong, i will be happy to pay it.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:13 pm

I say that's a bit strong! As for paying for a licence, it wouldn't pay for the fishing wardens to patrol our shores and until foreign vessels sailing under British licences are stopped from plundering our shores it wouldn't make a half pennies worth of difference. angry

As for the shores being cleaned up I heard a charter boats skippers point of view, and that was that the shores have been so well cleaned up that there's sod all for the fish and crabs etc to feed on. angry

Cheers
keith big grin

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:52 pm

If it could be guaranteed that more enforcement officers were employed checking and cracking down on illegal fishing activities (by anyone, both sport anglers and commercial), then I would gladly pay a license fee. Some how though, I think our money would be taken and like Mick said, become yet another stealth tax. I have a freshwater license as I fish the river's around me a lot but in all my years of fishing, I've yet to be asked to produce my license. I know the revenue generated by the license fee, fund's more than just bailifs, but they seem extremely thin on the ground and I suspect it would be the same scenario if sea fishing was licensed.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:07 pm

lets all join one body that will fight the issue.there is suppose to be so many thousands of anglers fishing our coast ,surely some governing body with that amount of anglers can have some sort of clout.
some of the points that reelwizard has made are true.at the end of the day what right have we to moan about ,when we dont contribute nothing .we are all guilty in one way or the other.the only way to help sort this is not arguing amongst our selfs but unite togeather and join one governing body .we all do our bit returning fish when we are lucky enougth to catch,but that is not enougth.
where do we start ,i dont know,one thing i do know is that fighting amongst our selfs is a waste of time.mick