Aaron Mcloughlin has started a discussion: Campaign to Continue the Discarding of Fish

Aaron Mcloughlin has started a discussion: Campaign to Continue the Discarding of Fish

"There is a campaign to stop the discard ban. You can see the petition @ http://www.mesopinions.com/petition/politique/amender-interdiction-rejet/9540I

I have provided the Google translate version of the petition below:

What I find strange is that the trials in Denmark and the UK have shown that these concerns are not founded. It is true that any change will require new efforts and potential new costs. All change runs risks. But, the current system allowing discards has clear negative effects. It will be interesting to see how the petition does. Attention: MEPs. After the vote principle of European Council of Ministers of Fisheries, Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament voted on 18 December in favor of the proposal from the European Commission to ban discards. Such a proposal, although appealing in terms of sustainable development and seemingly simple, is nevertheless totally inapplicable in this state because it is proof of the total ignorance of this economic sector. This is why professional fishermen are opposed for the following reasons

 ■ current European regulations for safety of ships (carrying capacity of vessels) for fisheries regulations (compliance with the regulation on technical measures and quotas) and in health does not allow it.

■ the mode of remuneration of fishermen and social legislation does not permit also. Any work worthy salary, it is not conceivable to ask sailors to work, sort, store fish without financial compensation.

■ any reduction of discards must go through an effort in terms of selectivity and fine management of fisheries, efforts that professionals have voluntarily undertaken in recent years but it takes time and financial resources.

■ States that apply a ban on discards in the world, are so very limited and not comprehensive. Their experience should be used to implement at European level, a realistic policy, measured, which aims to make the productive sector a dynamic, sustainable source of employment and wealth along European coasts.

Therefore, before you decide for or against a ban on discards, all signatories of this petition held to remember some essential elements of this debate."

Sharecroppers of the Sea As Alaska's deadliest catches become more regulated, "slipper skippers" exploit those who actually fish.

Before you feel sorry for anybody in this story, meet Jared Bright. And remember your first impression, because he's eventully going to call himself a serf. For the moment, he's just a guy you're about to get jealous of. That's because he's 38 years old, and industry sources say he's worth about $2 million.

Between his ordinary upbringing inKetchikan, Alaska, and the day Bright invested in his fishing boat, there was no winning lottery ticket, no trust fund. He's just a fisherman; been one for 21 years. And lucky for him, he happens to be good at it. If he can keep the bearded men in the embroidered shirts out of his game, he's going to be even better.

But before we get into the bearded men, get rid of the image of the Gorton's fisherman. Forget the fish sticks, the wooden captain's wheel, and that wholesome picture of the guy on the yellow box. Instead, put yourself on one side of the Whole Foods fish counter, a chunk of halibut in the middle—price tag: $28 a pound—and think of Bright as the guy on the other side, the guy who's going to get it to you. Think six feet two inches of lean muscle, pierced ears, and an auburn mug and sideburns, dressed in black North Face and talking like 10 cups of coffee while texting on a smartphone.

This is your fisherman. You are as likely to see him driving around West Seattle in his Smart Car as out on the open ocean. And if you thought The Deadliest Catch was wild, the game he plays to bring you this latest item in white-tablecloth seafood is even weirder.

There's no captain's wheel in this industry. Hasn't been in a while, if there ever really was. The oddball universe that is halibut fishing, a fish that two decades ago cost $3.99 a pound and came in a hideous frozen brick, is more a game of floating Monopoly.

Guys like Jared Bright vie for control of the industry's lower rungs, the only rungs that seem to be left. Simply put, they're renters. They don't own the halibut, not even when it lands in their boats. The fish are instead the property of a generation of wealthy owners, most of whom did nothing more than fish in the right place at the right time to get a stake.

Their ownership rights came courtesy of the federal government. At the time, it was a good idea. In ways, it still is. But it's created what amounts to a feudal system over a natural resource.

It's a system, called catch shares, that the government and environmental groups will tell you is the best thing to happen to fish since catch limits. But fishermen in the halibut and black-cod industry—the first in the country to live with the bizarre realities of these new policies—have weathered its real consequences, outcomes that fly in the face of more official, rosy portrayals. Outcomes like absentee landlords, brokers and bankers, fish quota that costs more than your house, and a new generation of people cluttering their hulls, demanding sandwiches.

It's getting hard for young fishermen like Bright to stay in this game. Those who try, though, are bettering their odds with a few comfy amenities, bait for a different kind of big fish: owners. Big-screen TVs, staterooms, hot tubs, saunas, and a super-sweet DVD collection are all things that could potentially shift their odds.

Meet America's newest sharecroppers.

Halibut is a tough business. As fishing goes, it's child's play, but it makes the typical 40 hours of desk jockeying look like a spa retreat.

The rest of the story is available in the e-book above courtesy of:

news@seattleweekly.com

InvestigateWest (invw.org) is a donor- supported investigative newsroom in Seattle.

Newlyn Meadery almost flooded again!

 

 

Newlyn Coombe river in full flood again pass just under the Meadery bridge as heavy rains and gale force winds hammer the far west of Cornwall. Elsewhere in the UK it's a white world. #nosnow

Plenty of wind through the night as the UK gets hit by snow its gales and heavy rain over Cornwall

The wind graph from the Sevenstones lightship shows the wind steadily increasing up to nearly 40 knots at 0100 hours...

as a result, the Breton and French boats working around Land's End leave some interesting tracks on the AIS. It looks like the Effera has been towing south west for the best part of the last twenty four hours.

Fishy Friday's full of fishy favourites

The newly named and numbered,  Sapphire II...

preparing to lift off a damaged derrick...

loading the broken top half of the derrick on the Dutch transport flatbed trailer...

eyes down for a full house as the soles go under the auctioneer...

plenty of megrim soles with the AA...

glowing red gurnards greet the market...

as another batch of data is collected...

the cuttle catches have risen since the Xmas break, shame the prices are not what they were last year though...

Newlyn Coombe river in full spate again...

flowing just under the Newlyn Meadery bridge...

even the boating pool at Wherry Town overflowed in the early hours....

Big swell in the Graveyard

No doubt a few of the local surfers will take advantage of the big swell running in the Bay this morning. This spot at the back of the North Quay known locally as the Graveyard only gets a good wave when wind and swell conditions come together. The worst gale in the last 40 years (1979) saw some seas reaching the height of the lamp posts - seven boats sank that night - crews were aboard all the larger vessels with their engines running trying to keep the tiers of boats in place as a huge 'run' in the harbour caused the boats to ride heavily on their mooring ropes.

Belgian beam trawler derrick damaged in poor weather

The crew of the Belgian beam trawler in the process of removing the lower half of the snapped derrick. This is a common occurrence with beam trawlers fishing in poor weather - if the trawl becomes fast (stuck on some sort of hitch on the sea bed) while they are fishing and is lifted on a big swell the sudden strain can easily snap even the biggest of derricks.