Fishing boat left fifty miles of nets in the sea for a month: Freedom of information laws have allowed the Scottish investigative news organisation The Ferret to reveal that a fishing boat left 50 miles (80km) of gillnets in the sea for almost a month. Even though the nets were in the sea for seven times longer than regulations permit, the boat’s owner and crew were only given a warning and not fined. The incident happened when the fishing boat Genesis II was operating north of Unst, one of the North Isles of the Shetland Isles. The vessel’s gearbox failed, forcing the crew to abandon fishing and spend the night at sea. The following day, the Genesis II was towed to land, but its nets were left out at sea. The Ferret reports that the exact location of the nets was redacted from the official documents, but coordinates leaked by local fishing crews showed that nine gillnets were abandoned, each around six miles (10km) long. The Genesis II’s skipper contacted the Scottish Marine Directorate (the organisation responsible for managing Scotland’s seas), saying that the nets would be retrieved as soon as the Genesis II was repaired. This did not happen, and the vessel’s owners, the Anglo-Spanish Hooktone Group, instead said another one of their ships, the Brisan, would recover the nets. The Marine Directorate accepted this, sent a warning letter to the Genesis II, and closed the case. However, the Ferret reports that the Brisan continued fishing, as local fishermen repeatedly reported that the nets were still at sea. Eventually, the Brisan did start recovering the nets, completing the task twenty-three days after they were deployed. The legal limit for gill nets to be left at sea is three days. Oceana, the world’s largest marine conservation organisation, has described gillnets as “walls of death” as they catch many non-target species, including sharks, seabirds, and marine mammals. The Scottish government stated that options for punishing the Genesis II and the Hooktone Group were limited, as the incident was deemed a force majeure (sometimes referred to as an act of God), meaning that factors beyond the culprit’s control led to the incident occurring. The Marine Directorate did not respond to the Ferret’s questions, and the hooktone group said that their gillnets target monkfish and avoided catching other sea creatures, and said that no unintentionally caught animals were found in the recovered nets. Read more by clicking here.
Scheme sees more than one tonne of fishing gear recycled: A recent initiative in Lowestoft has successfully diverted over a tonne of end-of-life fishing gear from the marine environment. Organised by East Suffolk Council, the four-day collection event at Hamilton Dock saw commercial fishermen donate 1,194kg (2,632 lbs) of redundant equipment, including nets, ropes, plastic pots and crates. Among the haul were gill nets containing several miles of line and filament, materials that can pose serious threats to marine wildlife if discarded at sea. The campaign, led in collaboration with the Eastern and Southern Plastics Coalition, brought together key partners such as the Eastern Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority (IFCA), Keep Britain Tidy, and energy company RWE. The initiative aimed to prevent ‘ghost gear’ – lost or abandoned fishing tackle that continues to entangle marine life – from reaching the sea. Click here to read more.
Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre “to be decolonised”: An article in the Telegraph this month said that North Sea fishermen are set to be decolonised at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre in North East Lincolnshire. The centre displays a recreation of a dry dock, 1950s shops and houses the Ross Tiger, a decommissioned trawler where former crew members give guided tours to visitors. The article stated that the centre would examine the links between the town’s fishing heritage and “colonialism and racism.” Equipment and objects on display would be reviewed to see if they were “problematic” or had connections to slavery. The centre would also seek to include more information on people from diverse backgrounds and “protected characteristic groups” and ensure that the centre was “inclusive of multiple narratives.” Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, said that the plan was “woke nonsense” and added: “British fishermen have already been dealt a tough hand and betrayed by one incompetent government after another … The growing sense of guilt and lack of patriotism plaguing Britain must be reversed.” Read more on this story here. Later in the month, North East Lincolnshire Council released a public statement on the Telegraph article. In it, Councillor Philip Jackson, the leader of the council, said that he could “Confirm that North Sea fishermen are not set to be ‘decolonised’.” He went on to say that they were, however, working through Humber Museums Partnership to review collections to “find hidden stories” and “consider objects through modern eyes.” Read the full council response here.
North East shellfish die-off “catastrophic”: A mass die-off of shellfish along the coastline of Teesside and North Yorkshire in 2021 has had a catastrophic impact on the livelihoods and mental health of the region’s fishing community, as well as having a significant impact on local tourism. Thousands of crustaceans and molluscs washed up on beaches in the area in October 2021, followed by re-occurrences until late 2022. The cause has never been definitively proven, but Defra and local authorities have claimed it was a natural algal bloom that caused the die-off. But many others, including fishermen, anglers and conservationists, believe it was linked to the dredging of the River Tees, which may have released a chemical, pyridine (which is a byproduct of industrial processes), into the water. A government report, released in 2023, said that a “novel pathogen” was responsible, while another theory was that a new National Grid cable, which was recently installed between Northumberland to Norway, may have created an electromagnetic field that killed the creatures. Regardless of the cause, a meeting between councillors from six local authorities affected by the die-off has stated that the aftermath of the die-off has caused a “fight for survival” for the area’s marine ecosystem and the fishermen who rely on it. Councillors said that the impact on fishing communities had been “catastrophic in certain areas” with a fall off in catches and the number of boats involved in inshore fishing being “significantly diminished.” While crab and lobster populations have shown some signs of recovery in recent years following the die-off, both are still some way away from reaching their previous levels. There have been calls for a public inquiry into the incident, but the government has so far rejected this. Read more on this story here.
Angler fined for not returning endangered eel: An angler has been fined for failing to return a silver eel he caught in the River Medway. Piotr Wieclaw, from south west London, was fishing at a stretch of the river between Tonbridge and Maidstone in August of last year. An onlooker called the Environment Agency after seeing a small fire burning next to where Wieclaw was fishing. Environment Agency officers arrived and found a dead eel under a towel next to the fire, and Wieclaw was unable to provide a valid rod licence – a legal requirement for freshwater fishing in England. Silver eels are classed as critically endangered. They are born in the Sargasso Sea near the Caribbean and swim to Europe, where they go through several life stages. They then swim into freshwater rivers and live there for several years before returning to saltwater and eventually the Sargasso Sea, where they spawn and then die, completing their life cycle. Both recreational and commercial fishing for eels is highly regulated, and it is an offence to retain eels without the correct licence. Wieclaw pleaded guilty to fishing without a valid rod licence and removing one eel from the River Medway. He was fined £800 with costs of £135 and a victim surcharge of £320 at Wimbledon Magistrates Court. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Increased octopus numbers down to climate change: A boom in octopus numbers around south west England has been linked to warmer sea temperatures caused by climate change. Marine ecologist Dr Bryce Howard of the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth said that the combination of warmer seas and changing ocean currents, both of which are caused by climate change, was the likely cause. The main species present off the southwest coast of Europe is the European octopus, also known as the Mediterranean octopus. It is typically found in warmer waters and was previously a rare visitor to British waters. Dr Howard said that the waters being around four degrees Celsius warmer than normal in the summer, along with mild winters, had allowed the species to establish itself off the coast of the south west. While some fishermen have turned to catching the creatures, others are concerned about the impact that growing octopus numbers will have on the commercially valuable species they prey on, such as crabs, lobsters, and molluscs. Read more on this story here.