The Great Fish Fight.

I love fish but stopped eating it because of how wasteful the industry is. It's utterly utterly utterly unbelievable how much death and waste is created by just one trawler alone.

some_dose wrote: »

However not one word was mentioned last night about net design for protecting cod and other species. A device known as a Swedish grid (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6N-4PYYTM6-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04/30/2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1604791374&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=07cb84e65a24a59edb7532e6424d5510&searchtype=a) have shown to be up to 100% effective in reducing cod in nets. Why aren't these being used? Why isn't our fishery minister out there trying to do his be to save our fisheries?

Off the top of my head the same presenter of that program did a program last year on sustainable fishing. One of the things he examined was various net designs to avoid catching undersized fish. I assume he will revisit this topic in a future episode of this series as the theme in a lot of his programs are anti big industry.


And to those of you who say ye dont eat fish anymore because of the industry, why not go out and catch yer own! Doesnt get more sustainable than that.

topper75 wrote: »

People back in the 19th century could never ever have believed in low cod stocks. It seemed to be invincible as a species - a voracious omnivore that lays countless eggs.

Yet mankind has done the impossible and all but destoyed cod in a relatively short space of time.

We may repeat that mistake now again in the 21st century with ocean fish stocks in general.

I think it is not unethical to eat from sustainable fisheries. I wouldn't stop eating fish altogether but I would try to be mindful of how it is caught and by whom.

Read "Cod - The History of the Fish that Changed the World" by Mark Kurlansky.

The thing is though that people would not have to do much to actually force a change. Just buy fish from sustainable stocks - look for line/pole caught tuna when buying tinned tuna and look for MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) approved fish when buying other frozen fish. Also try buy Irish fish, we have it all here so there is no need for us to import it.

If you buy your fish from a fishmonger, ask him where it was caught and how it was caught (those of you buying cod from Irish waters, anything off the south coast of Ireland is relatively ok). Avoid trawled fish, instead opt for seine netted or long-lined fish. Or even better yet, change your preference and try more sustainable and healthier fish such as mackerel and sardines!

sensibleken wrote: »

because they have no sole

I was whiting for that one

Have found both episodes pretty disappointing so far to be honest.

The disgraceful issue is not that the fishermen in the first episode have to discard dead fish (as they are over their quotas), its that they continue to fish in the areas where they know full well that they will catch certain types of fish and then have to discard them. This is somewhat mindboggling as fishermen are well aware of the current scientific evidence which states that current quotas are not even low enough to help stocks recover. Clearly the quota system does not work if they are killing the fish anyway, but instead of addressing this issue themselves and trying to figure a way not to needlessly catch fish whose quotas have been used up, they catch them anyway and blame the EU, typical. When stocks disappear they will have noone to blame but themselves.

The EU is not the main villain in this story, but unfortunately that's not the message that came across from the first episode.

The second episode seemed to be more focused on sharks, dolphins and turtles, once again missing the bigger issue of many tuna stocks endangerment.

The series seems like a missed opportunity, but hopefully it will raise awareness about the bigger problem of overfishing, and result in people educating themselves on the main issues and endangered species.

I do like the Mackerel in the chipper bit though.

As mentioned earlier, where can we buy Pole caught tuna????????