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Monday, 23 February 2015
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
All Quiet on the Oyster Layings
In 2014 there was a noticeable decrease in activity of local
fishing vessels. The River Blackwater, usually buzzing with small oyster dredgers
combing up and down the oyster beds, had an eerie lack of fishing boat movements.
I launched Shoal Waters later than usual last year because we were up in Norfolk
for five weeks but I noticed the silence in my local creek as soon as we were
back. All was confirmed by the lack of dredgers passed when sailing downriver.
After making enquiries with the Kent and Essex fisheries found the fishery had
been temporarily closed from May 31st 2014 until 31st May 2015, to
allow the Native Oyster stocks to replenish.
The total area under closure, north to south, is from Clacton down to
Foulness Point. Let’s hope the stock has been growing and the Oystermen have
been able to get by, be it in other ways or sailing further afield to work
their dredge. Every now and again when cruising around the coast I’ve been
lucky enough to witness a very ancient method of Sien netting. This happened
again last year on a warm summer’s day while waiting the tide below Bradwell. A chap set a shallow, but very long, net in an
arc from the shoreline downriver and, in his small skiff, shot the net out into
the river and then let it pay out back upriver four or five hundred yards before working his
skiff to the shore. He then stood on the sandflats for half an hour, roughly
the last of the ebb-tide, before hopping back into his skiff. At once he set
about retrieving the top end and began hauling. Each few pulls on the net,
feeding from his outstretched right hand to the left hand, his skiff would move
downriver and a large fish would appear flapping. These would be placed on the
gunnel and put to sleep club fashion. He repeated this in a timely and
well-practiced rhythm until all the net and at least a couple of dozen large
fish was on board. This type of fishing is centuries old and is lovely to see
the traditions carried on but the finale is not for the squeamish.
Labels:
East Coast,
River Blackwater
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