Stop the trawlers....please read

Member Joined: Jun 11, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: belfast

Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Fishermandan007@hotmail.com

Dear fellow fishermen/woman

I am writing to you in an effort to try and raise the plight and worsening condition of our shore sea-fishing around northern Ireland due to what I believe is being caused by trawlers and the lack of respect of the men who man these trawlers whom are cutting up the seabed and lifting all sorts and sizes of fish within their net radius.

After arriving home from fishing on the evening of Sunday 7th June 2009 and yet again a dreadful day, with no fish, no bites and very little to write home about I felt this is so wrong and felt someone needs to try and do something about this, so I emailed the Stephen Nolan show, as I have been fishing all round Ireland and particularly northern Ireland have been talking to fishermen over the last couple of months whilst fishing the north east coast and a lot of fishermen came to the same conclusion as myself “The Place is Ruined” and again they agreed the same that trawlers were “cleaning the place out”.

On Wednesday 10th June 2009 I received a phone call from a researcher from the Nolan show who was very interested in hearing what the fishing communities thoughts and views were. So he suggested that he come with myself on either Saturday/Sunday to record these views and maybe air the views live on the radio.

What I am trying to find out is if there is fishermen/woman who are passionate about the sport would be prepared to meet up on any of the locations along the north east coast so you can express your views to the researcher and maybe try to find out if something done about this.

If you would be interested in this can I would be more than grateful to hear from you with your thoughts and views.

This is a chance for all of us to express ourselves, and if you have no thoughts or views on this, can I ask you 1 thing?
How many father, mothers have dreamt 1 day of fishing with your son/daughter and letting them experience the excitement of everything that comes with sea-fishing…
my freind that day may never happen!
Many thanks

Daniel McMahon

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:58 am

As much as I hate to say this, you’re probably wasting your time. If the powers that be up the north are the same as down south they couldn’t care less.
East cork used to be a top place to fish for Bass. any 1 of 10 beaches would have got you a fish. Now you’re lucky if you hear of a fish being caught. This isn’t due to the trawlers, its guys in small boats dropping illegal nets, leaving them for a day or 2 and then hauling them. The fisheries board received numerous calls about the nets and usually, didn’t even come to have a look. On one occasion they came out after 3 days and I later found out they missed the nets being lifted by about 5 hours. When the scumbag politicians were calling to my door I asked them what their policies on illegal fishing/nets were. They all looked at me like I had 2 heads. I explained all about the nets and about how the fisheries board didn’t give a toss. All I got was "oh, the budgets have been cut". Bullsh1t. If the fisheries board hear about a net for salmon there’s 10 guys hiding in bushes waiting to see them lifted.
The same thing was happening in Wexford a while back. I know of 8 people from another forum that reported the illegal nets, visible from the shore at low water. All the fisheries board said was, "yeah we've been notified already". It’s just not good enough.

Just before Christmas I was at a private, invite only meeting with about 20 other guys and 2 fisheries board officers. They basically said as much about the salmon. Their wasn’t enough people employed to worry about the sea.
i know that was a bit of a rant and im talking about floating nets, which are different to what is happening in your area. Im hoping that you’ll have a different response if it gets aired or published but I wouldn’t bet on it.

best of luck and i pray that it might make a difference.

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:30 am

The number of petitions that have beensigned on this site are unbelieveable.

I for one refuse to waste my time signing petitions that will only fall on deaf ears

I feel sorry for the younger generation in the sport as being 67yrs old I can remember the days where you could fish for the table when times were hard, but alas no more. crying

The sooner we pull out of the Common Market the better and stop forigen vessels sailing under uk licences the better.

A VEY DISGRUNTLED OLD MAN!!! angry

Cheers keith big grin

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 12:56 pm

rabbi2 wrote:

The sooner we pull out of the Common Market the better and stop forigen vessels sailing under uk licences the better.

A VEY DISGRUNTLED OLD MAN!!! angry

Cheers keith big grin

Absolutely right Keith. Not only will we save our fish but the taxpayer will save just short of £20 billion a year as well.

ANOTHER DISGRUNTLED OLD MAN angry

Dave

Member Joined: Jun 11, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: belfast

i know what you are saying maybe true but its worth a effert i think,
surley if there were enough people that would be prepared to shout a bit louder some1 has gotta listen, if the fishermen are suffering then this must have a knock effect to the tourist area also, when we go fishing there is usually 3-4 of us, say spending around 10-15 pound intheir shops,chippies, petrol etc the these shops are missing out also.
would it it be rite in saying that some of these rural shops relie on our money to keep themselves in bisnesses.

surley if a couple of hundred fishermen turn up some where and highlight this then som1 goota listen?

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:30 pm

Hi, in a perfect world a protest of some kind might be of benefit, but its impossible to get some people to attend fund raising, or fun matches etc. the chances of getting a protest together would be around Nil. And as rabbi2 said, we have signed petitions etc, all to no avail. Lets face it, the only time the govt listen to the people is when they want votes, and even then they fail to deliver, The only way you might get anything done is if you can get the support of every business connected with Sea Angling, plus the Anglers, to stand up at the same time, but as has been proved in the past its only possible to get a few together at a time, and only when they feel affected by whats going on. The other problem is there are very few if any politicians who can be bothered to leave their expense claims in favour of actually doing their job and helping the people they represent. another truly disgruntled and now, Non Voter. angry

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 2:20 pm

Quote:

There is only one way to get round trawling and thats by vandalising there boats its true

Please remember forum rules....
cheers
mrix

Member Joined: Jun 11, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: belfast

i know what yr saying mate about people togather just look at the people who have viewed this posting and there is only 6 replies, but if the 100 or so who have looked at this got togather and bought 1 person with them,
its a start like if we just got the numbers and could send a invitation to politicans to meet with us... for those politicians who refuse to dicuss it then they can be named and it would look better for us and worse for them if we were to say live on radio this politican and that politican refuse to meet us if we could just get the numbers!

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 3:53 pm

As mrix has pointed out, direct action and going agains the law or inciting others to do so is not the answer.

Quotas is not the answer either as putting dead or damaged fish back into the sea just because of a ruling is not my idea of conservation either.

The only thing that will work and its only my opinion mind,

Is to create artificial reefs where the fish can breed and nets can't touch them and to impose at the very least a 5 mile fishing limit around our coasts.

If other countries can do it then so can we.

Sorry lads this is my last word on the subject as I dont want it to get out of hand.

Please remember the forum rules as I dont want to lock the post
Cheers keith big grin

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:24 pm

I wonder how many people who have signed petitions about this actually bothered to vote in the EU elections ? it is the EU that controls our fishing..... not the Westminster government

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:04 pm

i say fair play to you for trying to do something about it. what you need to know is 2 things,
1. the older generation have seen all this before with nothing coming of it so wont be showing too much interest.
2. the younger generation wont be too bothered about it, too many cans to drink. if they do show an interest, half of them wont show up when their needed.

like i said in my previous post, ive met with fisheries officers about illegal netting of Bass and they didnt care less. they said they were doing all they could but would try to help a little. when they did turn up when needed it was loo late, the nets were gone.
i hope the replies above dont dampen your enthusiasm as i really do commend you for trying.
by convincing the radio show to turn up youve done a lot more than most and if it even makes a tiny difference then it will have been worth it.

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:43 pm

Over a million of us turned out for the pro foxhunting rallies and nobody took a blind bit of notice.

The idea that you are trying to achive is great but beware the media unless you are a skilled public speaker with some kind of P.R experience you should avoid a live radio show as hosts tend to be more in favour of good ratings than a balanced debate.

The fisheries boards dont care about our fish stocks, they never came out to inspect any complaints before the cutbacks. As long as the tourists turn up it doesnt matter.