The Scottish pair-seiners which are registered and based in Peterhead the Castlewood FR 216 and Attain 11 PD 332 caught their entire quota of cod for the year on one haul last week it has been reported.
The pair trawlers took a totally unexpected and unwanted haul of over 1,000 boxes of Cod while fishing for Whiting and haddock in the Fair Isle fishing grounds of the North sea.
The haul of Large Cod represented the entire year’s Cod quota for the two Scottish trawlers.
The Skipper of the Castlewood said: “Fair Isle fishing grounds are traditionally associated with yielding mainly Whiting and Haddock. In over 30 years of fishing in these waters, I have not experienced this amount of large cod on these fishing grounds.
In recent years Scottish Fishermen have embraced a number of measures designed to increase the size of the Cod stock, including reducing the fleet by nearly 200 trawlers, RTC’s etc. That these have worked is beyond dispute.As a consequence, a much reduced Scottish fleet now has yo pay a completely unexpected heavy penalty, as a result of a rapidly widening gap between the amount of fish in the sea and quotas”. Even if it had be possible to find quota to lease last week, which is unlikely, it could have cost up to £1.40-£1.60 per kg, and with green selling at £2 per kg, on Peterhead fish market, the economics just don’t add up.
“We took 100 boxes aboard and released the rest. Having gone to Fair Isle looking for haddock and whiting, even a 100 box haul of cod would have been bad news and been frustrating for the crews of both boats, never mind 1,000 boxes”.
He added. “It appears that the rapidly increasing Cod stocks are scaring haddock and whiting away from their usual grounds. Fishing has always been about keeping a balance, as if this becomes heavily skewed in favour of any one factor, everything else is disadvantaged proportionally. No fisherman wants to catch mature fish to have to release them, but this problem will only begin to be addressed if quotas are brought more in line with the amount of fish that is in the sea”.
