Here's A Random One.... Fish.

I probably do not have an impact on the fish market in your country, but I eat salmon and/or whitefish (baked usually) once or twice a week. I do not catch fish very often when I go fishing due to lack of skill/luck, but when I do it is catfish, crappy, or bass and we eat them. I grew up eating fried fish of all kinds as my grandmother was an expert fisherman and cook!

 

I eat it all, not much I don’t like. Baked, fried, sushi, smoked,

 

Living in the North east of Scotland on the coast, the boats go out for whatever they catch most of the little boats catch squid that ends up in France "Me" I eat all types of fish I have even had catfish crawfish and gator the lads locally pick up cod and mackerel and I usually have some dropped off, It has not been easy for the industry and this brexit idea may change things for them, but as the british are not the biggest fish eaters a lot of fishermen sold their quotas to the french and spanish, interesting times.

 

Well I don't know if your survey includes it but I am particularly partial to shellfish - Prawns, Crab, Lobster, Oysters, Mussels, Cockles etc. I haven't really eaten white fish in many moons mainly because the balance of cost and quality is awful now. A fish supper of Haddock now is rubbish compared to a haddock supper when I was a kid. The quality of the fish just seems so poor now. Given that our nation doesn't seem to eat much in the way of fish these days (strange considering we are an island) it must be the French, Spanish and every other plundering bugger who has stripped our share of the seas.

I recall as a teen being on the harbour of an evening waiting for the mackerel to run in to shore so we could catch some and the feckin' Russian Klondyker factory ships would turn up off the coast and not a single bleedin' fish would be caught on the harbour as those robbin' bastards took 'em all.

When I was a youngster I would go to stay with my Grandparents in the port of Ayr and, back then you could walk across the mouth of the river on the fishing boats when the fleet was in town. Now? Not a single bloody boat and the Fishing community is gone. The gear sheds, market sheds, ice factory, moorings all gone and replaced with crappy 'luxury' riverside flats. If we ain't eating the fish someone else must have been plundering them.

A while back I remember watching a program about trawlers, I think they were out of Grimsby, and when one of them had an engine failure it had to be towed to Norway for repair because this 'great seafaring nation' had no-one who could repair a trawler. I often grieve for how pathetic Britain has allowed itself to become.

 

I think part of it should be aimed at previous UK governments and the senselessness of EU quota rules. If I recall correctly, when a trawler was sold (usually to Portuguese or Spanish trawlermen) it would not only be the vessel but also it's 'patch' and quota so they would sail up into UK waters, trawl our seas and then head back to mainland Europe with the fish. Of course it didn't help that every trawler back in the day was dumping tonnes of dead fish when the nets came up with more than they needed to fulfil their quota. Then of course we had ridiculous things like plundering Sandeel stocks not to mention other fish stocks just to feed the ever growing demand for pet food. It is hard to believe just how depleted the oceans have become in my lifetime.

Some years ago, out of personal interest, I did a bit of a study into the decline of fishing in Scotland and I am sure it applies equally elsewhere.

Here is a rough summary of the last hundred and twenty years:

Approximately 1900 Typically in the West of Scotland fish was caught using a fairly small sail and oar powered boat relying on manpower to haul nets in and with very limited 'hold' capacity. Say a quarter of a tonne per boat. No fuel needed, boat built locally and relatively cheaply, simple nets repaired by boat owners/crew. Many people, including women and children in the community required to catch, gut and salt the fish but little in the way of 'overheads'.

Approximately 1910 Boat owners, who can afford it, purchase 'steam trawlers'. Much bigger as not reliant on manpower, able to catch much more fish using less manpower. Downside is that they require much more sophisticated 'gear' that is hugely more expensive and, instead of 'free' energy now require coal in large quantities and they can travel away from their home ports meaning they can now follow the fish and of course the local community lose not only their access to the fresh fish but also their employment in the processing side and the sale of many tonnes of the catch also now has to go to paying for the vessel and it's coal.

After that of course we go to huge diesel trawlers using massive expensive equipment and that can refrigerate their massive catches or even process them entirely and take them even to distant countries far afield from where the fish are being depleted using fewer crew and no longer providing employment for the communities who once depended on fishing in their local waters. Again an even more massive chunk of the income from the haul goes to pay for fuel, upkeep, gear repairs and the vessel itself.

Basically, over the years, the fish have been able to be transported farther and farther from the waters they came from but, at the same time more and more fish has had to be caught just to pay the overheads and this, coupled with massive population growth globally has meant that the seas have been stripped bare.

I suspect that fishermen back in the 1800's hauling their small quantities of Herring out of the massive shoals that were once seen in Loch Fyne onto their little skiffs (there were hundreds of these in Loch Fyne alone feeding a thriving fishing community and supplying Glasgow with Herring amongst other fish) had better earnings and way of life than the far smaller fleets of trawlers who replaced them. Now there are a few 'Creel' Boats in Loch Fyne and a couple of trawlers and our seas are incredibly empty. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more fish in the fish farms around Scotland now than there are in the seas themselves.

To give an idea of the scale of fishing now-

A few years ago I was talking to a fella from Shetland and he was telling me that they have a 'super trawler' there that goes out once a year and catches the port's entire quota for the year in one go. It comes back to port and delivers it's catch to a purpose built plant where a handful of workers can process the lot and ship it off before cleaning and closing the plant until the next year. Sounds great and economical but the supertrawler burns thousands of pounds in fuel oil in that one trip that has to be paid for from the catch not to mention the maintenance of the vessel. The big winners are the folk who built and maintain the vessel and processing plant and the losers are the local community, the environment and the fish stocks.

If folks want to talk 'environment' and 'green' then a serious look at global fishing and it's lack of sustainability would be a very good place to look at. Maybe we should ban the use of powered fishing vessels?

 

Ling is my favorite fish, baked or fried got a taste for it when I lived in south devon and used to go wreck fishing out of Dartmouth 30/35lb Ling were common then. Most of the wrecks we used to fish are fished out now by French and Spanish trawlers now as is the Skerris bank.

 

Marty, as you have an interest I'll strongly recommend this book.

Apart from that, being a Norwegian born far up north I eat fish twice a week and in months with an 'R' in its name, I drink cod liver oil every day. Whales and seals? Bring it on!

 

We eat a lot of fish and not all of it from the chip shop, including white fish and salmon. Particularly partial to a tuna steak.
We use fresh prawns in Indian and Chinese cooking.

 

I quite enjoy fish but the wife is neauseated by the merest whiff so I very rarely eat it (no mimsy jokes please ) except fish and chips (I love going and finding quality chippys, I started a thread on it once)... the occasional restaurant meal and a nice mackerel goes really well on a BBQ (once the snegs and burgers are done)

 

Maybe have fish and chips once a year, that's about it for how fishy I get.

 

Fish at least once a week, not from the chippy. Should eat more. Salmon not so fussed a nice trout mmmmmm

 

I think your central point is BoJo selling out. That remains a very real risk. He isn’t exactly a man of his word. However, I think even he recognises that fishing, although economically not that important, is a kind of test he must pass - so he’ll sell somebody else out or fudge a bit.

 

Times have changed. Don't know of a shop dedicated to selling only fish here in Birmingham any more. Used to be a fish shop in most villages. Some supermarkets have a decent selection. Missus tends to buy whatever is on offer.

Personal favourite is ling like Steve 998. Was fortunate enough to try an Arbroath Smokie years ago, delicious.

Aren't our fishing rights one of Boris's red lines. Will soon see what he's really made of.

 

I like most fish and shellfish though my wife doesn't like shellfish so we don't get that much. We are lucky to have a local market where a man with a van turns up and sells really nice fresh fish. Otherwise, fresh fish is hard to get round these parts. That's why I love going to France and Spain, you can always get great fish dishes there. Hopefully next year they will suffer a severe shortage but I fear Boris will give the EU all the fishing it wants.

 

I like most fish. Wife and I have fish at least once a week.

 

Had Haddock and chips (fried in beef dripping, not yer shitty oil!!!) with mushy peas for tea this evening. Fookin' yummy!!!!! Cod is also perfectly acceptable but haddock for preference.
A nice bit of salmon also goes down well as indeed does tinned tuna either in brine or spring water.
Can't remember the last time I had trout but it too goes down well.
Kippers anyone?
Smoked haddock poached in milk - not had that since I were a lad. Now that IS a while back!!