Do you want to support Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's campaign to change EEC Fish Quota rules?

[Whoever]

If you saw his programme last night and feel angry about thousands of tonnes of perfectly good fish having to be thrown back dead into the sea every day because EEC Fishing Quota rules have been exceeded, you can sign up here:

http://www.fishfight.net/

[pastafreak]

Maybe the quotas should be a bit lower,but the boats allowed to land all that they catch.
Could that reduce waste while limiting numbers caught?
Thing is...we are being encouraged to try different fish....but where do you find them?

[ganesh]

Ok,I get it now..that means they are deliberately over-fishing so that they can end up meeting their quota of cod even if it means wasting some.I have seen enough documentaries to know that the seas will be empty of fish in about 30 years if we continue to fish at the present rate which means that then the planet dies.If you stop the quotas those fishermen will have no control at all and fish even more,so I don't see how signing a petition to stop the existing quotas will help.I think more rules are needed,not less.
The only thing that we can do to help is to cut down on our fish intake or stop altogether!(Supply and Demand)

[pastafreak]

I give up.......

dohhhhh!

[Invictas]

No, cannot stand HFW,I would keep the fish and throw him back into the ocean!

[slinkycat]

Just watched 1st three episodes of this progamme on catch up, real eye opener, Pasta don't give up:-) Ganesh and Squarebear, watch the programme, the fishermen are not to blame, they do not want to throw the fish back, but the way the rules are at the moment, in mixed fishing grounds they have no choice.

[Mamyalynne]

I have signed after much consideration.

[Old_Geezer]

I went to the link, scrolled down to the 'Discards at Sea' section and read it. I am prepared to change my initial point of view if the evidence is presented but I see nothing in that paragraph that contradicts my initial point.

Yes, fair to say fisherman can not control the species they catch to a fine degree of accuracy, but they can chose to fish where the species they are looking for are likely to be, and should have enough experience to know roughly what amount of other species they are likely to get in the catch.

If the public don't presently want to buy these other species, then in the main that is lack of familiarity and a marketing problem (unless the species caught are simply unpalatable in which case the loss of life is not quota related). That bit is fine and one can support encouraging variety in our diet.

But why would it be that fishermen are not allowed to land them ? As I understand it that only becomes so if the fishermen have deliberately opted to fill their quota of that particular species earlier in the season, and so have only themselves to blame when they go over limit later. It seem to me to be obvious nonsense to say that the fishermen have no choice but to throw them overboard; I'm not that daft, anyone can see if they haven't earlier deliberately fished for the preferred species until their quota was reached, they wouldn't have the problem of being over later.

If HFW can explain how the fishermen are prevented from organising their fishing properly then maybe the petition would be worth signing, But at the moment it seems to be just a case of trying to fool us into supporting the removal of the quota system for the short term benefit of the fishermen and in the long term, a loss of a food source.

[anyone]

Quotas, overfishing, price of fish, supply and demand, making a working wage, and maintaining market demand are all contraversial issues that need major reforms but wont be solved in a day.
But throwing good but dead fish away is obviously totally pointless. Do all fishing boats at the port have exceeded quotas at the same time? If not you could have a "Bonded Fish Bank" that all could contribute to, and take from before official landing, but I suspect that there would be a lot more taking than giving. Any fish left unwanted would be better used on the land as fertilizer than crab food.
BeeDee