View Full Version : Shoud we decommision scallop dredgers
Scallop dredgers are making a mess of our seabed, should the gov decommision them as well as the white fish boats?
The Irish government did a weird one where they banned scallop diving
But encouraged Scallop dredgers
Brides, votes etc,
It’s the whole livelihood debate you have to give them something else
There seems to be a lot of fishermen turning to tourism these days sight seeing, boat trips, diving trips etc,
The other thing is to fight for more zones where they can’t dredge
This seems to be an issue which only has profile with divers. Maybe it's because we're the only people who see the devastation ...
Maybe we should write to our MSPs ...?
No, we should sink the bastards ;)
I've spoken to a number of west coast fishermen who all want them banned. One guy at Carsaig Bay on the Sound of Jura had a really thriving prawn business until the dregers arrived and devastated the seabed. Having witnessed the barren seabed and almost total destruction after a dredger has passed by, I can't believe it is allowed to continue. The Marine Conservation Society tried to raise awareness a number of years ago but had limited success.
Our inimitable deputy prime minister John Prescott is a diver and kindered spirit... He is in need of some positive publicity at the moment, perhaps he might move his ass to do something about it if enough people poked him hard enough :)
I think the scallop fishermen need to be compensated as they are loosing their livleyhood the same as whitefish fishermen. Then only dredging once every say 3 years. This would give the seabed time to recover.
PS I think we need more no take zones they seem to realy work :cool:
Many years ago I saw the damage done to the bottom by a scallop dredger.
It was like a ploughed field, nothing had survived.
At the time, I would have been happy if the navy had declaired open day on scallop trawlers.
But, scallop dredging has a place, may be it should be limited to depths of greater than 40 m (divers then will not see it and maybe it's to deep for scallop diving) or more than (say) 3 kn from shore.
The preferred method of collecting scallops in shallow waters should be diving.
The dredgers and divers should be given guidance how to maintain a high sustainable yield. This may very well result in trawlers & divers having areas allocated to them or closing large area of the sea bed to enable it to 'rest'.
Whatever, the suggestions the debate will go on for a long time.
The bottom line is that scallop trawlers will need to be decommissioned and all that entails, I've not a problem with that, may be they will become scallop dive boats?