Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A FISHING CRISIS

The number of fish to be found in the seas around Sicily has decreased by about one third since 1980 and some species, such as white cod, have all but disappeared. Sicilian fishermen often have to fish near Egyptian and Cypriot waters to find red shrimp these days. Whereas twenty years ago a boat would remain at sea for a week in order to fill its nets, this now takes a month.

Consequently, there are less fishermen and the number of Sicilian fishing boats has decreased from five thousand to four thousand since 1998. Higher costs have also caused some fishermen to give up.

The main cause of the reduction in the number and species of fish is pollution and the EU is about to step in with more regulations. "Fish less, fish better and look after the sea", say the Sicilians.

10 comments:

Crushed said...

Being a fisherman is one career I could not hack.

I really feel for the hardness of their task- no time for lieing down resting on a trawler.

They are tough men, and I often wish I could have chat with one.
As brave as soldiers, and as tough I'd say.
But unsung.

lady macleod said...

This is one of Q's biggest peeves. She can quote you statistics and species - as to which are in danger and where. She also has a plan for what needs to be done to preserve our fish supplies. It is a problem that gets overlooked I think because the supple seems endless..
Thank you for drawing attention to the problem.

sally in norfolk said...

yes i have noticed the price increase in the fish i sell and that its not always available.. especially cod as you say

jmb said...

I am amazed that a virtually closed system like the Mediterranean still has a fishing industry at all.
There has been no commercial cod fishing off the Atlantic coast of Canada for years and the salmon fishing is also limited too. It is a constant worry in Canada.

Whispering Walls said...

There won't be any fish left soon. Yesterday a salmon farm in Scotland reported "losing" 40,000 to the wild after a hole was found in the net, believed to have been made by otters. Anyway, apparently it's very bad to dilute breeds of wild salmon with farmed salmon. Maybe in the end they'll simply clone fish. Then there are the bees dying in the US...

Ellee Seymour said...

This is a very serious problem. The seas have been over fished and the baby fish are not able to fully grow, they are caught in the nets with fully grown fish, that's how I understand it. I don't know how this will be resolved. A halibut steak costs more than a sirloin steak now.
As you know, Sally is the expert on this subject.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Crushed. No, I certainly couldn't do it. That's interesting, Lady M. Has Q written about this on her blog? Hi, Sally. That's interesting that you have noticed the problem over there, too. Jmb, WW, Ellee, I hadn't realised how widespread the problem is.

Lee said...

I guess it's similar to here, too, in that a lot of the waters have been over-fished. We also have to contend with illegal fishing boats from Taiwan and Indonesia coming into our waters. New restrictions have been put into place, but the problem will exist for some time, no doubt.

Sharon said...

Living in a fishing villiage I often see small fish being sold. I really mean small fish. I think the name of them is neonato. There is a season for them but it isn't always followed. These fish will never get large but they are feed for other fish. Sometimes fishermen are their own worst enemy.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Lee. I certainly didn't realise there was a problem in Oz, too. Ciao, Sharon . That's interesting. I didn't know about that aspect of it.

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