cod fishing

[molly]

It seems that a total ban on cod fishing is quite likely. This of course is not just inconvenient for the consumer but disasterous for those whose livelihoods depend on cod fishing. Perhaps I'm being naive here but I've heard no one mention fish farming. Would this not be an answer to the problem? Or can cod not be farmed the way we do salmon? Perhaps the numbers in the wild could be boosted in this way?

[priveet]

Cod farming is underway in Norway and expected to produce large yields in a few years. It is more difficult than salmon farming because cod have to be fed live food whereas salmon can be fed dried food. Here is an interesting article ......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2440779.stm

[straz]

I believe Cod like to scavenge in wrecks in relative shallow water. There is talk of building huge wind farms on the shallow parts of the North Sea, they could make these wind farms "Cod friendly" by securing purpose build wrecks at the bases of each wind mill, even pump cod food (what ever that is!) from the bases. The entire farm would require a protection boon against passing traffic which would also give protection against our Spanish brothers who seem to think quotas are thing that everyone else should observe but them. We would then have a renewable eco-friendly power source & a fishing reserve, (when fish wandered off the reserve then they are fair game). The EU could fund this project. We've been carrying the French farmers all these years so why not give some help to a community that deserves it for a change.

[Moog]

I read an interesting article about cod fishing in Canada and how a ban was imposed, most of the people who lost their jobs as a result apparently took jobs in the electronics industry as the cod stock recovered slightly the governement partially lifted the ban allowing a reduced fleet to fish again many of the ex-fishermen returned with some electronics know how, fitted their boats out with state of the art electronic systems allowing them to improve their yields and therefore descimate the slowly recovering stock returning them to lower levels than before...

[molly]

Good answers priveet and straz. I'm certain the answer has to be fish farming.I just hope they manage to get all the small problems ironed out.I wonder if the government know about the work being done in Norway.They don't appear to be thinking along these lines at all.I hope your article, moog, was exaggerating the situation. If fish farming became established it would be far more profitable than trawling for wild fish and there would be no need to fish the wild stocks again.That way the numbers would certainly recover.

[geofbob]

I agree with you, molly, that fish farming is the way forward in relation to the preservation of fish stocks and species. Currently, however, farmed fish gets a bad press because of certain diseases that have been found in farmed fish; but hopefully these teething problems will be eradicated in time. One thing which is rather perplexing is the reluctance of "foodies" to accept farmed fish (especially salmon), when they are quite happy to eat farmed cows, sheep etc, and would probably jib at being served wild mammals; they also seem to overlook the fact that wild fish and shellfish contain many of the pollutants which afflict our oceans.

[Gef]

Now, I'm no expert on fish farming but I think geofbob has over simplified things. Farmed salmon is of a much poorer quality than 'wild' salmon although that is not necessarily to say that it is bad for you. Recently we have certainly had problems with 'farmed' animals - BSE, salmonella in eggs - but that was caused by bad practice by the farming industry. The fact that " wild fish and shellfish contain many of the pollutants which afflict our oceans" is totally irrelevant.

[molly]

I think the crucial point is this. Unless the powers that be start using their heads and act responsibly, there will be no wild cod etc. left in our seas to fish.The so called food snobs can grumble all they like, they can't have what isn't there! The government should support research into fish farming and perhaps any complications could be sorted out. Who knows they might even improve the taste?

[Rabelais]

I think apart from polluting the local enviroment, the major problem with farmed fish is with what they are fed. Which turns out to be feed made from wild caught fish. Manyfold the weight of small, immature fry are used to get one fat, lice ridden, antibiotic stuffed farmed fish. It about as ecologically sound as hacking down aain forest to make mulch for a tree restoration project