South Coast What a difference a few years makes!

[chesilpete]

A recent Wayne Hand video (at Chesil with Gem) starts off with a trawler relatively close to the shore, and one of the comments mentions that one boat using gill nets at Christchurch (Hengistbury Head is my "local" fishing spot) has "...cleared out most of the fish..." which if true is so messed up

Its also the tearing up of the bottom it turns it into a wasteland.
A tip for others here is to understand where can't be trawled so at least it's holding food if it's there.
Its no coincidence that on Chesil there are areas of hard bottom where trawlers cannot work.
I was surprised that trawler was towing where Wayne was if it was later in the year I would have thought he was just off the bottom looking for cuttle.

 

[chesilpete]

Same here Pete , work and more work seems to get in the way and when I do get the chance I’m to tired to bother like wise my tackle box is full and ready for the off new rods n reels begging to be used , but hopefully from 1st of feb I’m having more time for my self the love of fishing will creep back in

Seen the odd video online and it seems Feb might be good for spots down your way. Your timing might be perfect hopefully Mike.

 

[Shirleycodlin]

And once all the commercially desirable fish have been netted and trawled up, those miserable pieces of commercial excitement will start wiping out the whelks, just like at Dungeness.

 

[Mike hemming]

Seen the odd video online and it seems Feb might be good for spots down your way. Your timing might be perfect hopefully Mike.

Yes down black rock you’ll be fighting to get a patch to set up and fish , so I give that area a miss and fish up in hove plus parking fees are a big time rip off in Brighton

 

[squidword]

Its also the tearing up of the bottom it turns it into a wasteland.
A tip for others here is to understand where can't be trawled so at least it's holding food if it's there.
Its no coincidence that on Chesil there are areas of hard bottom where trawlers cannot work.
I was surprised that trawler was towing where Wayne was if it was later in the year I would have thought he was just off the bottom looking for cuttle.

I was wiped out by that same trawler at cogden earlier in the year, he was 80 yards out.

I've also caught him trawling in a prohibited area a few years back. I started to him him and he soon headed out. Wayne could pass on some of that footage because I've a feeling he shouldn't be trawling in that area.

 

[chesilpete]

I was wiped out by that same trawler at cogden earlier in the year, he was 80 yards out.

I've also caught him trawling in a prohibited area a few years back. I started to him him and he soon headed out. Wayne could pass on some of that footage because I've a feeling he shouldn't be trawling in that area.

We have tried reporting him....... just gotta keep doing it. Ultimately the one I am after is one of the west bay boats. I want to get him and the wholesaler bang to rights, him landing and the wholesaler receiving....

 

[Leginfisher]

And once all the commercially desirable fish have been netted and trawled up, those miserable pieces of commercial excitement will start wiping out the whelks, just like at Dungeness.

Yeah but they’ve got to make a living, bills to pay bla bla bla….. If it was that hard and poorly paid then why are they still doing it? Running at a loss, government subsidies? Time will come when there is nothing left to catch. Maybe it is what they have always done, been in the family years, but they know the catches are decreasing. Basically half the commercial fleet needs decommissioning, not just UK, but it won’t happen. Maximising revenues while they can and who can blame them if govt/ fisheries doesn’t do anything

 

[chesilpete]

Yeah but they’ve got to make a living, bills to pay bla bla bla….. If it was that hard and poorly paid then why are they still doing it? Running at a loss, government subsidies? Time will come when there is nothing left to catch. Maybe it is what they have always done, been in the family years, but they know the catches are decreasing. Basically half the commercial fleet needs to be decommissioning, not just UK, but it won’t happen. Maximising revenues while they can and who can blame them if govt/ fisheries doesn’t do anything

The birth of the part time commercial is what's happening down here.
They target high value fish when they can for supplementary income.
Small boats shooting mono nets that take everything are on the rise down here.
The obvious increase of bream is making it viable and profitable but obviously they kill everything and the bass and bream share habitat.
But the biggest problem is simple overfishing, I just hope that sooner rather than later that the whole thing becomes commercially not workable.
Its obvious that this uk gov will not take a position on enforcement or protection.
I think we are just going to have to wait for a mixture of taxation, fuel cost and scarcity of fish to finally defeat the commercials.
Personally I would let the commercials have the bluefins let them set up for longlining. These fish are not interesting to the majority of anglers.
Let the commercials have them for a few years. It will be hard for them to switch back to scraping a living.
It also removes another apex predator we are competing with as anglers.

 

[Leginfisher]

Those of us in our 50s and older have seen so much decline in the fishing over the years It is really sad how it has been so mismanaged. I’d be surprised if in another 10 years there is much of a charter fleet left and the tackle shops will continue to disappear. When retirement arrives I’d hoped to be doing a lot of beach and boat fishing but I might have to go to dark side and take up coarse fishing if I want to catch anything over 1lb!

 

[chesilpete]

Those of us in our 50s and older have seen so much decline in the fishing over the years It is really sad how it has been so mismanaged. I’d be surprised if in another 10 years there is much of a charter fleet left and the tackle shops will continue to disappear. When retirement arrives I’d hoped to be doing a lot of beach and boat fishing but I might have to go to dark side and take up coarse fishing if I want to catch anything over 1lb!

Your far to old to take up smoking weed and camping out and if you call me "bro" your going in!!!.
We are just going to have to go abroad!.

 

[Leginfisher]

Your far to old to take up smoking weed and camping out and if you call me "bro" your going in!!!.
We are just going to have to go abroad!.

. May be smoking weed will make those pin ting and dogfish seem like a great catch.

 

[chesilpete]

. May be smoking weed will make those pin ting and dogfish seem like a great catch.

I think I am just going back to my old methodology of just using 6/0 pennels and a whole fish as bait unless targeting flats.
My whole fishing kit used to be a set of feathers a box of squid and four up n overs with 6/0 pennels even the dogs struggle with a half pound pouting!

 

[Bass&Chips]

And once all the commercially desirable fish have been netted and trawled up, those miserable pieces of commercial excitement will start wiping out the whelks, just like at Dungeness.

That's what's happening in the Thames too. No more homes for hermits.

 

[crablante]

We're next...unless we already are

Spanish fishers in Galicia report ‘catastrophic’ collapse in shellfish stocks

Climate crisis and pollution reported as possible reasons for dramatic fall in numbers of cockles, clams and mussels

www.theguardian.com

 

[Leginfisher]

The state of the seas is only heading one way. On the bright side I think it will recover in a few million years after humans have become extinct

 

[Kine262]

The only way the massive decline in nearly all marine fish and crustaceans could be reversed and see them make a meaningful comeback would be if all commercial fishing was stopped immediately, for at least ten years. It will never happen though!

 

[crablante]

The only way the massive decline in nearly all marine fish and crustaceans could be reversed and see them make a meaningful comeback would be if all commercial fishing was stopped immediately, for at least ten years. It will never happen though!

Even one year would make a massive difference!

One could also drill holes on nefarious boats plating gill nets...

 

[Leginfisher]

Even one year would make a massive difference!

One could also drill holes on nefarious boats plating gill nets...

It would but when they restart it wouldn’t take them long to deplete the stocks. Undulates were thriving whilst commercial ban in place and once lifted it only took a couple of years for them to be decimated. Reduced quotas and boats is what’s need but more chance of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow unfortunately.

 

[crablante]

It would but when they restart it wouldn’t take them long to deplete the stocks. Undulates were thriving whilst commercial ban in place and once lifted it only took a couple of years for them to be decimated. Reduced quotas and boats is what’s need but more chance of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow unfortunately.

I should have been more clear - I meant that fish/crab stocks will come back with a vengeance if you don't touch them for a year BUT like you say unless industry calms the F down nothing will change.

Not so sure about clams etc though...I'm under the impression they're quite sensitive to temperature and it'll take time for pollution in the ground to dilute...

 

[Kine262]

I should have been more clear - I meant that fish/crab stocks will come back with a vengeance if you don't touch them for a year BUT like you say unless industry calms the F down nothing will change.

Not so sure about clams etc though...I'm under the impression they're quite sensitive to temperature and it'll take time for pollution in the ground to dilute...

A one year ban wouldn't really do much for fish stocks, as most surviving fish are juvenile and too young to breed. It will take two or three years for them to reach maturity and to become effective reproducers. Their offspring will also take three years to join the chain, which is why I said ten years initially. By that time there should be a noticeable difference in many species. Most (not all) crustaceans have a shorter life cycle than fish, but it would still take five or six years for them too.