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.
5 comments:
You wonder if a years ban will be enough, perhaps they should adopt the dredging under sail only principle as on the River Fal in Cornwall!
Good to see that Shoal Waters is still sailing - carrying on the fun of Charles Stock - long may it continue.
.... and I think that its good that the shellfish season has been closed to allow the stock to recover - it's done a lot here in New Zealand - if we don't conserve the stock it will disappear forever.
With quite stringent rules in place, the oyster fishing/farming in general is wholly sustainable (it's been around since the Romans) but however many limits such as size or species etc, are placed on the fisherman, like everything else that grows outdoors, the oyster is susceptible to nature; IE frost and disease which does strike every once in a while.
Yes we get disease in our shellfish from time to time - The Bluff oyster beds were closed for a number of years because a disease decimated the stock. Also our Toheroa shellfish beds are close from time to time for the shellfish to replenish themselves - and there are strict limits on the size and number that can be taken.
Post a Comment