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| Dumped dead cod |
The picture as it is today:
Four dead cod float away from the boat. Each cod is around 5Kg.
Four times 5 = 20Kg.
That scene is repeated daily for the net boats and trawlers working in Area VIIg - see below......
Cod quota for ICES Area VIIg which is where the Ajax and other Newlyn boats will be fishing this tide is currently 300Kg per month per boat.
20Kg is 20/300X100 = 6.6% of a month's quota caught and then dumped, dead, back into the sea - at least the crabs get a meal out of the waste.
And a timely article appeared on the BBC's web site today:
The whole of the UK needs to present a "united front" to the European Union to protect the future of fishing fleets, MPs have said. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee accused Brussels of "micro-management" in setting catch quotas. It said EU member states should decide them "as locally as possible". The MPs urged ministers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to work together to ensure UK views are heard when new EU rules are introduced.
The European Commission says the existing system of fishing quotas - which often leads to tonnes of good fish being dumped at sea - will be changed over the next couple of years.
The major headache for the boats fishing in Area VII today is that the quota was introduced way back in 1983. At that time, the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) was set based on catch returns from the late 1970s. Unsurprisingly, the fishing fleet of Cornwall had changed significantly in that time. Most of the bigger boats in Newlyn caught very little cod - they were long lining for ling and skate at the time and there were very few trawlers working the grounds where cod habited. As a result, when the quotas were set the UK ended up with around 1200 tonnes and the French around 14000 tonnes - simply because they had a growing fleet of trawlers catching whitefish including cod. Even if the UK's quota was doubled today it would still not reflect the catching capacity of the fleet. Cod do not move far - a fact proved by tagging fish - not one cod tagged in Area VII has been recoverd in any other ICES area suggesting that the stock of cod is entirely located here in and around the Western approaches.
See the rest of the story here.