forecharlee (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

The fisheries are completely screwed by trawling. We are slow learners and forever victims of our own greed.

sandysawtelle (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I have seen it with my own eyes.Whales floating with the imprints of the trawls cut into their skin.I was there fishing herring myself for eight years,and saw the catch become harder and harder to get.We were purse seining,and what herring the trawlers didnt catch they broke up the schools and changed their habits.This is a very bad fishery.Just look into the north sea fishery and make your own choice

kallys4 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Hillarious, all of ye!!!

keepertuna76 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

For every pound the boats land of herring, you can figure they killed twice that in bycatch. If the herring are too small, or have the improper oil content, or proteins, they will just dump the net, with all the fish killed. It's just considered "bycatch." Perfectly legal-millions of pounds of forage eliminated from the ecosystem. This bycatch doesn't even count against their quota, which is set too high. By Canadian numbers, the biomass is 1/4 of what the US "scientists" claim it is. hmmm.

keepertuna76 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

The "mid-water" pair trawlers label is not accurate. These boats fish the nets right on the bottom, which is where, anyone who has tried to catch herring for bait, live 95% of the time. I have been offshore and seen the nets on our sounder running right on the bottom, catching the herring that was on the bottom, along with cod, haddock, pollock, halibut, and all other groundfish. With no observers on board,there are no checks and balances if they haul up 40,000 lb of juvenile haddock! unreal.

keepertuna76 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

These boats and this style of fishing is wiping everything out in their path. In just six or seven years, the abundance of cod, haddock, giant tuna, herring, mackeral, humpback whales, pilot whales, sharks, and all other groundfish and pelagic fish have easily decliined to about 5-10% of the numbers we saw just as recently as 2001-2002. Canada outlawed this type of fishing years ago because it had the same effects on their fisheries. Makes you wonder how these guys are able to continue!

shereebryan (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

most people dont care untill its too late