jellyfish

[mary,queen of everything]

just watching a fascinating Nat Geo show about the increase in jellyfish worldwide. Anyone notice an increase around CN

[general jack o'niell]

not since tesco started their re-use your carrierbag scheme, the local leatherback turtle population has been eating all the scowders, seriously one would hope this is the case, i was lucky enough to see one once away down off the mull of oa, and since jellyfish are their staple diet an increase might attract more, they are often spotted off the west coast of ireland so it would not be unique to see an odd one here.

an increase in jellyfish may be due to the fact that the rest of europe coastline is actually having a summer and a theory about a slight change in the gulf stream which was blamed for all the floods down south. it all depend on the type of jellyfish being spotted, the bigger red ones or the wee white ones? i've seen the west loch carpeted with the white ones in the past and more locally the inner harbour, not as common now as there doesn't seem to be the annual summer increase in plankton that was so prevalaint in the third quarter of the last century, which attracted herring and basking sharks.

[Sweltered]

big jim daniels

[general jack o'niell]

wee baby big jim daniels, but do you know the background story to the name? it involves janet, late wife of gogga, well her father at least, and here i'm getting two stories mixed up, as there is a story about the boat names too, one was called "nobles" the other "nobles again" and the aformentioned big jim daniels, the man not the jellyfish

[mary,queen of everything]

Thanks General for Mentioning the turtles, when I speak on them everyone thinks i have my locations mixed up. Remember my Father & Granda telling on the scouders in the nets, nothing like what those poor japenese fishermen have to put up with.....200kg jellyfish and no fish poor babys.
must be a giant decrease in turtles

[general jack o'niell]

i have no sympathy for japanese fishermen, they kill everything in sight, likewise the spanish, portuguese, danes, poles and russians, if you saw the sizes of the fish they land it would frighten you, better the EU fisheries ministers stick to victimising the scottish fleet, easy target when there no support from westminster.

i once visited a portuguese fishmarket on xmas day to watch the boats land, i was made most welcome as i stood watching the catch being unloaded, hake the size of your finger, boxes and boxes of them, every single fish undersize, prawns you'd need a microscope to see, big trawlers, mesh sizes that were so small its a wonder that even water escaped. all was well till one skipper asked what i did? when i told him i was a scottish trawler skipper he walked off, there followed a very vocal confab between him, the other skippers, fishsalesman and a fisheries officer, whereby a security guard, big guy from north africa, was summoned and told to escort me from the quay, visit over!!!!

[mary,queen of everything]

well gen, I am in agreement with you, I am still in the 100 mile limit club. The rape of the Scots fisherman will someday come back to haunt the those responsible. I am now finished with this subject as I will get thouroghly pissed off and go out and do someone harm. Better I stay in my castle.

[Sweltered]

Lips sealed, would only cause an argument.

[general jack o'niell]

cause and effect, if european factory trawlers hadn't been hoovering up the north sea unchecked for years there wouldn't be the problem there is now and there wouldn't be a need for the type of actions that your lips are sealed about.

hard to condemn a man with a £1,000,000 banks loan to repay and 5 or 6 families to feed.

just look at the foot and mouth thing thats happening, farmers will get money thrown at them in compo. the last time onr dumfries farmer got £4,200,000, and its full of stories about farmers getting mates to value their stock and quite a few ending up with a single beast worth £50,000 or more. had similar levels of money been puut into a set aside scheme of decommissioning it would be a different story

the government spend £4.2 billion tryinfg to protect an export market worth £600 million, value for money eh? and the decomm fund? £24.000.000 total for a whole fleet, and your goingto crucify a few for some "black" fish!!!!!

[mary,queen of everything]

still in the castle, still in the castle,

[4th gen Suthen']

cause and effect, if european factory trawlers hadn't been hoovering up the north sea unchecked for years there wouldn't be the problem there is now and there wouldn't be a need for the type of actions that your lips are sealed about.

hard to condemn a man with a £1,000,000 banks loan to repay and 5 or 6 families to feed.

just look at the foot and mouth thing thats happening, farmers will get money thrown at them in compo. the last time onr dumfries farmer got £4,200,000, and its full of stories about farmers getting mates to value their stock and quite a few ending up with a single beast worth £50,000 or more. had similar levels of money been puut into a set aside scheme of decommissioning it would be a different story

the government spend £4.2 billion tryinfg to protect an export market worth £600 million, value for money eh? and the decomm fund? £24.000.000 total for a whole fleet, and your goingto crucify a few for some "black" fish!!!!!

You been reading Brian Reade in the Daily Mirror Gen Jack....

You know about fishing, and lots of other things! but the farming industry is not your, or Briane Read's, strong point.

[general jack o'niell]

his opinions are one thing, which 99% of the time i don't agree with, the facts are another, i would assume that he didn't just pick the sums out of thin air? fact, there are no subsidies paid to the fishing industry, the £24 million for decommissioning was the total, for the whole of the UK, spread over three years, not a lot when you consider that to replace these same boats would cost at least £200 million.

fishermen were paid a fixed price set by size and tonnage, not market value, there are no set aside payments, if an area is closed its closed, look at the irish skipper in the local paper fined for fishing in a closed area of the clyde, i never knew there was such a thing? i have a rough idea of where it may be, but that could be miles out, the area i had in mind was a staple fishing ground for kintyre and ayrshire boats throughout the year, now it gets shut!!!

farmers get paid not to work land, fishermen get nothing, as it should be most would agree, a small shopkeeper doesn't get a subsidy to compete with the big supermarket, farmers shouldn't either, but then they should also get a fair price for t heir crops, milk, beef etc its no laughing matter when it costs more to produce the milk than they get paid for it, especially as its often used as a loss leader by the big chains.

i couldn't afford to buy fresh fish or prawns or clams etc yet the quay prices are the same as they were thirty years ago, which was the same price as it was ten years previous to that!!!

no wonder half the crews are from eastern europe, nobody will work under these circumstances nowadays, not looking for special treatment, devolve responsibility to holyrood for a start and a level playing field with farmers, see how that would be recieved, with glee by the scottish fishing industry(i know there will be, only the owners would benefit, the crews would get nothing responses) the farmers? they'd be up in arms in case they lost money. it is called the department of agriculture and fisheries, its just the last bit gets mumbled with a hand across the mouth when the money is handed out.

i know farmers have concerns regarding loss of euro money with the new eatern european countries joining, well welcome to the club, scottish fleets have been getting cut for years while the likes of france,spain and portugal have been handing out grants for new builds.