Many may not know, but our government is planning yet another fishing liciense 'buy back', a move that they say will protect our fish stocks for generations to come, and one that will also see many fishermen and their support industries go to the wall.

Meanwhile, this same government is allowing a 'super trawler' to reek havoc on our fish stocks, giving the green light for the capture and processing some insane tonnage of processed fish to be taken from our waters.

Bi catch has long been an issue with trawl netting and is generally about 7 to 1, however, given that bi catch is largely made up of 'juvinile fish', had these fish been allowed to mature, that figure would be more like 100 to 1.

Now the government says they have imposed measures to minimize bi catch, yer right, who's going to monitor that, given that we simply have no money to pay for such monitoring, unless of cause we take it from somewhere else.

So they are happy to put our own people out of work, while allowing outsiders to drain the very fish reserves they seek to protect.

What is going on!

Globalisation and capitalism is what's going on.

Yes Poirot, but given we have so much to offer and so few people (in real terms) do you think the day is coming where we may have to fight to protect what's ours, or, are we simply bowing to the preasure from a higher power.

rehctub,

Globalisation does just that.

It gobbles up for the sake of gobbling up. We all know these supertrawlers are an obscenity, but we're all tied up with obligations to the WTO etc. We want a piece of the pie even as we know the prevailing behaviour is unsustainable.

Any true fisherman or woman , knows our stocks are running low in most breeds.
We too understand catch limits, including for weekend fishers are working.
Both licensed at ordinary fishermen, will be better served by continuing limits.

Belly, I agree and one of the best sayings I have heard for a while would have to be, 'limit your catch, dont catch your limit'.

As a keen fisherman myself, traveling to many parts of the country ove the past twenty odd years, our group focussed on catch and release, as we only go to catch fish, not outright kill them.

In fact, I know several fisherman now who have live wells on their boats, catch their fish, keep them alive, so they can up-size without killing the smaller ones.

However, I am mystified that on the one hand our governments are buying back licenses, while on the other allowing these Super trawlers to rape our waterways.

What's the point!

A very confused government caught in between all-powerful big-business vested-interests and a genuine desire to move towards a greener future, or at least take some baby steps in that direction.

That’s what’s going on.

Poirot, I think you confuse globalisation with human greed, which was
going on long before capitalsim or globalisation were invented.

AFAIK, we have every right to regulate our fisheries to make them
sustainable.

But look at this story:

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/slaughter-on-a-huge-scale-do-you-want-your-children-to-grow-up-in-a-world-without-elephants-20120904-25c9p.html

Everything is being shot. People do it because they can. Sometimes
I am ashamed of my species, I really am.

I agree with you, Yabby.

Globalisation does, however, enable that greed to be enlivened at distance...if your only interest is the bottom line, you're not going to cry crocodile tears for the damage you're doing.

Poirot, people have been trading things and moving goods around,
since they started walking and talking. Enabling greed exists in
all systems, do not confuse cause and effect. Human nature remains
the cause, much as many would like to wish that away.

Perhaps Ludwig can come up with a new name for the species,
something like Homo Destrustor.

Take your pick Yabby....

Homo abhorrentius
Homo blunderingfoolsii
Homo dumbarsiana
Homo incrediblystupidius
Homo spasticus.................

I do not like the super trawler.
But understand the economy's of scale.
I know it has a catch limit, is on contract to a local fish processor.
And that the quota could have been caught by a few smaller boats over a little longer.
More importantly over a bigger area.
Econmonys of scale rules, not so sure it is wrong.
Rechtub I fish like that.
But you would have seen those who kill every thing, I knew folk in Harvey bay 40 years ago who took every thing and sold it to a fish shop.
I take about 2 fish home no more.
I think we need control and even some places we can not fish.

Yabby,

You won't get any argument from me on man's capacity for greed.
I might point out ,though, that technological advances now enable mankind to indulge his greed far beyond anything sustainable.

Belly,

"...not so sure it is wrong."

Don't think that because an activity is "sanctioned", it is "right".
http://worldwildlife.org/industries/wild-caught-seafood

I must admit that I agree with Belly.

What is worse, 10 small trawlers or one big one, especially if the bi catch ratio is the same and the fishing quota total is the same. The conditions and inspections are far easier to monitor and enforce than on 10 smaller trawlers.

Is this the usual emotive green's response to everything, or is there a rational argument.

Belly, if governments really want to protect/prolong fish reserves, then they must do more than simply bann, or close fisheries.

The eradication of mossies is a classic egample.

For ever and a day, these mossie larvay have been the primary food source for juvenile fish, mostly hatched in mangrove swamps. By killing the mossies, the food source is gone, with the result being that many juvenile fish die well before they even leave the breeding grounds, as there is simply no food.

It stands to reason that if you stop what is causing the depletion of juvenile fish, these fish will become so plentiful that restrictions placed on fishing could be wound back a peg or two.

As usual, governments tackle the problem, not the cause.

SM, there are indeed good rational reasons to question what the
European super trawlers are up to. The global fisheries situation is
very much a disaster. I read somewhere recently, that we now only
have around one sixth the fish in the oceans, compared to a couple
of hundred years ago.

Fact is that today our technology is such, that we can totally upset
ecosystems, beyond their ability to recover. Look at what happened
to the cod. The Europeans then moved on to African waters and their supertrawlers stripped the oceans there, leaving little for the local
fishermen. Without fish, there won't be too many breeders left.
But look at Japan, where the Chinese and Japanese, fish heavily.
They caught so many fish, that not too many were left to eat the
baby Normura jellyfish. Now Japanese trawlers have nets full of
giant Nomura jellyfish.

So I think that we need to think beyond capitalism here and question
what is sustainable. With our oceans its largely been a free for all
and the results are there for all to see.