One good thing, the RSPB are on the case, they have more clout than any angling body. Wipe out the sandeels and you wipe out the fish and birds that depend on them.

 

I was told that all the danes do with the bait fish (which they hoover up by the ton) is process it and turn it into pig food.

 

I spent over 3 years serving in the Royal Navy Fishery Protection Squadron, and during that time we arrested a number of Danish industrial trawlers, these trawlers literally catch anything that swims, not just Sandeels. When they bring in the trawl they send the catch down a giant chute, through a macerator and into the hold. The more it rots down ,then the more they can cram in, apparently the pigs love it, hence the fishy flavour of danish bacon, I havent eaten Danish bacon since. the last arrest I was involved in , they had a couple of tons of undersized fish boxed up ready for churning, the fish were so small it was difficult to detect the species. and there is a lot of these boats out there and only 16 Fishery Protection boats for all UK waters

 

Sandeels are also a major component of feed pellets for farmed salmon - probably coz they're abundant and cheap. Unfortunately they also contain traces of toxic chemicals which get concentrated in the salmon - hence the recommendation that kids and pregnant women shouldn't eat more than two portions per week.

 

there must be something else people can use to feed pigs, fish etc? how about the people farmin pigs get in contact with the supermarkets, whatever, and process all the food that goes unwanted there? fishmeal cannot be good for the flavour of the meat!!!!
Going back to a former thread, could farmed salmon/bass nor be released at strategic points so they join the migrating shoals of fish and help to replenish stocks?

 

wow this is interesting reading guys, i will never eat danish bacon again or farmed salmon.

i will look on the net for more info on this

cheers for the info

 

Good news on the Sandeel front from this weeks Fishing News. For the third year running the Danes have not be able to catch thier quota of Sandeels because they're just not there to be caught through years of over fishing. The largest fishmeal plant in Denmark is closing down as a result

Norway was expected to announce today that the fishery will close from this week until stocks recover, other counties are expected to follow suit.
Scientist are forecasting a quick recovery.

Trawler Skippers were blaming the lack of sandeels on migration due to global warming !!! not over fishing.

Where I have I heard that one before

 

thats good news,but it may be a bit to late,wil have to wait and see.shaggy

 

I'm sorry did I hear that right good news that there are no fish left to catch?

 

Let me put it this way, scientists reckon the biomass of sandeels in the North Sea stands at 300 billion sandeels. This stock is big enough to recover completely within a couple of years.
This amount of stock makes fishing commercially non viable. Other seas around the UK are unaffected as the sandeel fishery is only prosecuted in the North Sea.

Two or three years and things should start to get back to normal, the unfortunate side of the closure will be pressure on other species such as Blue Whiting as a substitute

 

wow this is interesting reading guys, i will never eat danish bacon again or farmed salmon.

i will look on the net for more info on this

cheers for the info

there was a big report a while ago ( on the tv, news radio etc etc) about farmed scottish salmon, it contained chemicals that were absorbed by the human body and then deposited ( in the fat i assume?) and it was something that can never be broken down by the human body

also what makes me a bit wary is all the chemicals and dyes they have to put in the feed.

 

Just good news that they not gonna try and fish for them for a while,paidfor.... or at least until stocks recover if they recover

 

Interesting thread. Great news about the Norwegian factory. However the detrimental effects are still with us regarding unwanted and un-thought-about additives in fish food and, by normal means, in humans via salmon.

They can't release farmed salmon as they are already diseased and even when caged, a major infecting agent of 'wild' Salmon (I'd be wild too if i was stopped from getting to my spawning grounds) Even if they were disease free they would not join the migrants off to feed on shrimp in the Atlantic as they have no real 'memory' to return as they could of come from anywhere as fry. As I understand it Salmon Fry need to be nurtured in a river system to gain the river's 'imprint' so they recognise the 'smell' when they approach the estuary.

The theory of farming the sea for fish food is sound but the practice leaves a lot to be desired, particularly when additives are included. Think about it, when farmers started feeding offal in the feed of catttle it was because some scientists somewhere worked out that it was 'just' protein so would be re-converted into expensive Fillet Steak. Oops, pity about the brain disease that was also included!

If you want to farm fish then you should be forced to farm or GROW the food for them as well! HOOS I say!

Hands Off Our Sandeels, Puffins rule!

 

Very true swelley man. Just like normal farms growing silage for cattle, they should farm teh food.
It all seems very odd, I you were to get a scientist to analise a farmed salmon/bass and then a wildone they would tell you it had no difference. But they taste VERY different.
It's the same with meat from farm mammals. I swear its that animals happiness that makes it taste good!!!

 

As I understand it wild Salmon tastes better because they actually use their muscles whereas farmed salmon don't really need to as they can't really swim anywhere-also being crammed into cages makes them more likely to fall prey to parasitic infection and also makes cross contamination more likely. I remember reading somwhere that in order to produce the pink colour wild salmon get from eating crustascians dye is added to the food pellets.

 

the good news is the danes are going to be baned,so sandeels can recover.shaggy

 

paid4: yep thats correct about the dye, u will find that pellets are also orange, i know a few people that catch trout near salmon farms with orange ear plugs as a lure !!

 

the danes must be barmy feeding them to pigs.
sandeels are great fried.
if they're around 15cms long, they don't need to be gutted either.
they make a welcome change to sardines in summertime...

 

Woderful news this, a fishery is closing because all the fish have been caught! I wonder if our "Angling Politicians" on the forum are going to claim that the closure was a result of negotiations/consultations between them (on our behalf) & the Danish Government?
Perhaps now the Danes will switch to some of our other fish stocks (bass maybe)? & we can then negotiate/consult on the closure of that fishery as well?
Then Labour (& its forum allies) can boast that their Anglers Charter has been successful, because of the bass fishery closure!
blueskip