Scallop fishermen 'don't want to damage the environment'

[MikeF]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wal...-reporting-map

really? why didn't they show some before and after scallop dredging seabed video?

[graham_hk]

...

[Neilwood]

I have to say that, only watching the video there, they do not seem to use the heavy rolling dredge that has been featured in some of the previous horrendous videos.

[Wibs]

When drifting off of wrecks on the South coast, it's often like a featureless desert. Have often wondered if that's a result of bottom fishing techniques.

[frogfone]

I especially liked the comment that it's a shame to waste them as they will just grow old and die! I'm not sure how long a king scallop lives if it gets left alone but I am pretty sure that the oldest living animal on the planet, (so far as we know is a bi-valve clam) the ocean quahog so I am going to guess that a scallop can live for a very long time, breeding and reproducing for much of that time therefore is not really going to waste. When are these people going to learn that no take zones are essential to the survival of many species and a benefit to the fishing industry overall.

Sharon

[cazyoung]

Scallops are 4-5 years old before they reach adulthood and can live for 20 years apparently.

[Divemouse]

The ones we caught and measured off Skomer were well over 35 years old. Most things like that just live until they get eaten.

[Chrisch]

... When are these people going to learn that no take zones are essential to the survival of many species and a benefit to the fishing industry overall.

They already know that. If they don't fish everything out to extinction someone else will so it is a race to recover the capital on the boat before no one wants the boat and it is worthless. The system is set up to destroy the ecosystem and it is doing exactly that. There is no simple answer and I'm not sure there is a complex one either. As fish becomes more scarce it becomes more valuable and so the cost-benefit of destruction of the system moves more to destruction - it is a downward spiral that only stops when there is no fish left.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...s-uk-hong-kong

[Allan Carr]

The stupid common fisheries policy is a major cause of the problem. Why can't they adopt the policy that New Zealand did back in the 70's of simple no fish zones. Easy to police - if a fishing boat is seen in them they are in trouble, rather than having to monitor catches. The fishermen were dead against the approach initially but then found that catches adjacent to the no-fish zones not only shot up but stayed up.

[Divemouse]

Because the stupid fishermen lobby against it - they wouldn't even allow one of 20sqm in the Norfolk MCZ