Potential Scallop ban in Falmouth Bay

[drysuit repair dave]

I found this on the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee website;

Cornwall County Council - Sea Fisheries News

For anyone who cant be bothered to access the link, scallop dredging and bottom trawling are to be banned in Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation (HOORAY!).
This is to protect the maerl beds and other benthic habitats, which are supposed to be protected under European Habitats Directive legislation. It is only the threat of legal action from Europe that has caused this to finally happen, it is nothing to do with preserving scallop stocks (there are no commercial quotas for scallops, boats are only restricted by how many they can catch)

I am rather concerned about the second part of the article, which proposes banning the take of scallops by ALL methods in the area. The Fal and Helford SAC is the area inshore of a line from Zone Point to Manacles Point (roughly the 30m depth contour) This would close off at least 90% of the area in Falmouth Bay where scallops are to be found in reasonable depths for divers to take a few for the pot (and a big percentage of the total area in Cornwall)
The benefits to the scallop population of a protected area are undeniable (I am a great believer in Marine Protected Areas) but this proposal seems to be aimed purely at placating the scallop dredging lobby, with no thought for other users of the resource.
If you feel strongly about this issue the email for Cornwall Sea fisheries Committee is; Enquiries.seafisheries@cornwall.gov.uk

cheers
dave
drysuitrepair.co.uk

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by drysuit repair dave

I found this on the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee website;

Cornwall County Council - Sea Fisheries News

For anyone who cant be bothered to access the link, scallop dredging and bottom trawling are to be banned in Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation (HOORAY!).
This is to protect the maerl beds and other benthic habitats, which are supposed to be protected under European Habitats Directive legislation. It is only the threat of legal action from Europe that has caused this to finally happen, it is nothing to do with preserving scallop stocks (there are no commercial quotas for scallops, boats are only restricted by how many they can catch)

I am rather concerned about the second part of the article, which proposes banning the take of scallops by ALL methods in the area. The Fal and Helford SAC is the area inshore of a line from Zone Point to Manacles Point (roughly the 30m depth contour) This would close off at least 90% of the area in Falmouth Bay where scallops are to be found in reasonable depths for divers to take a few for the pot (and a big percentage of the total area in Cornwall)
The benefits to the scallop population of a protected area are undeniable (I am a great believer in Marine Protected Areas) but this proposal seems to be aimed purely at placating the scallop dredging lobby, with no thought for other users of the resource.
If you feel strongly about this issue the email for Cornwall Sea fisheries Committee is; Enquiries.seafisheries@cornwall.gov.uk

cheers
dave
drysuitrepair.co.uk

I'd go with the flow - what are you more worried about? Protecting the habitat from being smashed to pieces by dredgers or not being able to take scallops yourself. Seems like a small sacrifice for a good overall outcome to me.

[drysuit repair dave]

The thing is , the dredging ban is coming anyway,it is completely separate to the proposed scallop diving ban, so the bottom habitat will be protected whatever happens. There are also 2 commercial scallop divers working in the area (doing no environmental damage and providing an alternative to dredged scallops) who would be put out of business if the second proposal went through
The proposed scallop diving ban is (in my opinion) purely a sop to the commercial fishing industry, a "well its ok, if you cant have them, no one can" gesture. It is part of a wider pattern, that assumes large scale commercial fishermen have more rights to take from the sea than anyone else
The announcement on the Cornwall Sea Fisheries website cites an opinion piece from "Fishing News" (a newspaper for the commercial fishing industry) as its justification for banning diving for scallops. This is like quoting the Daily Mail to justify immigration laws

cheers
dave
drysuitrepair.co.uk

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by drysuit repair dave

The thing is , the dredging ban is coming anyway,it is completely separate to the proposed scallop diving ban, so the bottom habitat will be protected whatever happens. There are also 2 commercial scallop divers working in the area (doing no environmental damage and providing an alternative to dredged scallops) who would be put out of business if the second proposal went through
The proposed scallop diving ban is (in my opinion) purely a sop to the commercial fishing industry, a "well its ok, if you cant have them, no one can" gesture. It is part of a wider pattern, that assumes large scale commercial fishermen have more rights to take from the sea than anyone else
The announcement on the Cornwall Sea Fisheries website cites an opinion piece from "Fishing News" (a newspaper for the commercial fishing industry) as its justification for banning diving for scallops. This is like quoting the Daily Mail to justify immigration laws

cheers
dave
drysuitrepair.co.uk

Fair comment. I scallop dive myself, season opened here on Saturday but it's highly regulated in terms of what you can catch, 50 a day, possession limit of 100 and we dio extensive pre-season surveys toi help gauge the impact of recreational diver impacts.

We are going through an MPA process here too and our club have really gone out on a limb to support extensive no-take areas, in the face of virulent opposition from commercial and amateur fishing interests, who are trying to portray us all as a bunch of yoghurt knitting lentil munchers.

Unfortunately, our case for saving areas of representative biohabitat (the last of their kind on the planet due to our geographic location) are somewhat undermined by the fact that the vast majority of our fellow divers are primarily hunter-gatherers - amateur hookah divers outnumber SCUBA divers here by around 4 to 1.

[Okeanos]

Firstly it is a proposal.

The proposed stop on commercial diving for scallops (that's what I have been doing on a licensed boat there) is being put forward by the scallop dredgers as to preserve the scallop stocks, as this is the argument DEFRA have put forward. If they can't dredge why should divers collect. Whether it will affect recreational divers depends on what level of protection they give the site, it'd have to be a marine reserve (I think) to stop recreational divers taking scallops.

There's plenty of other scallop beds around, if you know where to look.

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by Okeanos

Firstly it is a proposal.

The proposed stop on commercial diving for scallops (that's what I have been doing on a licensed boat there) is being put forward by the scallop dredgers as to preserve the scallop stocks, as this is the argument DEFRA have put forward. If they can't dredge why should divers collect.

Because dredging smashes everything, including immature scallops.

[drysuit repair dave]

Originally Posted by Okeanos

Firstly it is a proposal.

The proposed stop on commercial diving for scallops (that's what I have been doing on a licensed boat there) is being put forward by the scallop dredgers as to preserve the scallop stocks, as this is the argument DEFRA have put forward. If they can't dredge why should divers collect. Whether it will affect recreational divers depends on what level of protection they give the site, it'd have to be a marine reserve (I think) to stop recreational divers taking scallops.

There's plenty of other scallop beds around, if you know where to look.

If you read the proposal, it is suggesting stopping the take of scallops by all methods in the area, no differentiation between recreational and commercial. I have spoken to Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee and they have confirmed this is the case.

cheers
dave
drysuitrepair.co.uk

[drysuit repair dave]

Originally Posted by Richard Mason

Because dredging smashes everything, including immature scallops.

Exactly.
The two closed areas that have been studied, one on the Isle of Man, and the Inshore Potting Agreement area off Salcombe both restrict the use of dredges, but do not ban the take of scallops.
The Inshore Potting Agreement area supports several full time commercial scallop divers (and has done for 20+ years) and a lot of recreational diver collection, but still shows a massive increase in scallop density and size compared to areas that are dredged (as well as a massive increase in other benthic life).
UK commercial (99.99999% dredged) scallop landings are currently about 20 000 tonnes a year, and have been for the last 10 years. This doesn't make a strong case for scallops themselves needing protection, but sensitive habits need protecting from the damage caused by dredgers

cheers
dave
drysuitrepair.co.uk

[Okeanos]

Originally Posted by drysuit repair dave

If you read the proposal, it is suggesting stopping the take of scallops by all methods in the area, no differentiation between recreational and commercial. I have spoken to Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee and they have confirmed this is the case.

cheers
dave
drysuitrepair.co.uk

I do not like the dredgers, I saw one of the Falmouth boats power right up to a dive boat (6ft at a guess) who had his flag up. The dredger was on the radio telling him to move. The coastguard was immediately on the radio telling the dredger not to move until all the divers were out of the water. The dredger was asking why they were diving there! They do a lot of damage, I've seen it within minutes of them dredging.

DEFRA have been talking to local divers about diving for scallops and are looking into the matter. Somewhere there's an old English law that states something like 'It's every Englishman's right to take food from the sea'.

However they decide to do it, someone's gonna be upset.

Stopping commercial dredging and diving is easy, stopping own use scallop diving isn't.

[Finless]

Bloody troublemakers, those scallops! Good job, I say!