The effects of Scallop Dredging

I got talking to a guy last winter round boiler hole and the subject got onto scallop dredging, trawling etc, the comment was... if you take a dog and gun and walk along a hedge back you will empty the hedge of pheasants and rabbits but in a week or so's time they will return!!! if you go along a hedge with a tractor and plough then they will never return!!!! I absolutely love scallops but since that night i have never had one.

 

That just about sums it up

 

The big worry should be as IFCAs round the country restrict and ban this practice the people responsible for the in shore, the effort will increase in areas that do nothing about it.

 

It isn't just the destruction of the sea bed. What seems to have happened is that, as 'profitable' species such as Cod have become more regulated, people have moved further down the food chain. Prawns, Crab, Scallops ... Trouble is that these are the species that feed 'Cod'. So all we are doing is responding to a reduction in Cod by leaving them alone concentrating on their food sources.

The number of Cod is directly related to food availability. We could stop fishing for them altogether tomorrow morning but now that we are destroying their habitat and the food sources that they rely upon then we may as well fish for them with explosives - the end result is just the same.

 

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