Is Alderney fished out?

[Adam F]

Was following a couple of Facebook discussions this week where anglers we shunning Alderney trips due to the gradual demise of the fishing.

 

Certianly our experience has been one of gradual decline in the last few years.

 

A decade ago it was a real Mecca, somewhere a long way off shore but where you could virtually guarantee good fishing compared to back home.

 

Is it a phase? Or do we have bigger and faster boats and more people go, is it now was fished out as back home?

 

Discuss?

[billy2shots]

From an inexperienced sea angler I would hazard a guess in saying it's not limited to Alderney. Alderney has just taken longer to feel the pinch. 

 

A growing world population with greater demand for food can only negatively impact natural resources. 

[Bramble banker]

Are the shambles fishing? it seems to be across the board a general lack of flat fish, have they not returned or have they been taken beyond recovery?


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[Oli]

I’d say nothing much at all to do with bigger and faster boats (this last trip I didn’t see anyone fishing other than club boats and maybe one small Guernsey boat - and that was on a perfect forecast and bank holiday!) and more to do with trawlers. 

 

That’s a pure guess though!

[Newboy]

3 hours ago, Oli said:

I’d say nothing much at all to do with bigger and faster boats (this last trip I didn’t see anyone fishing other than club boats and maybe one small Guernsey boat - and that was on a perfect forecast and bank holiday!) and more to do with trawlers. 

 

That’s a pure guess though!

Fish can't reproduce if there are too few older/ bigger fish to spawn. 

I was on a week's holiday in Alderney last June. Over the week I counted over 12 charter boats. Say each boat keeps 5 fish every day, on a 4 days trip, that makes 20, multiply that by number of boat, you do the maths.

[Oli]

12 hours ago, Newboy said:

Fish can't reproduce if there are too few older/ bigger fish to spawn. 

I was on a week's holiday in Alderney last June. Over the week I counted over 12 charter boats. Say each boat keeps 5 fish every day, on a 4 days trip, that makes 20, multiply that by number of boat, you do the maths.

 

Compared with a beam trawler which could be out every day of the week? I’d have thought recreational anglers wouldn’t touch the sides (much like the bass ban).

[Newboy]

13 hours ago, Oli said:

 

Compared with a beam trawler which could be out every day of the week? I’d have thought recreational anglers wouldn’t touch the sides (much like the bass ban).

Not saying the trawlers are not to blame, but leisure anglers do their fair share of damage too if they hammer the grounds day in day out.

[great white]

still some good fish out there

[plaicemat]

I do believe the fishing for flatfish has deteriorated over time but there is still some great fishing for other species. Bass, for example, but these have lost their general appeal due to legislation, which is obviously the desired effect. Bream offer some fantastic sport, light line pollack, tope when they're there etc, etc. However, whether or not anglers would be prepared to make an extended and expensive trip for these species is another matter. For us, to a certain extent, it is not wholly about the fishing (although this would ultimately be the deciding factor) but also the excitement of an extended voyage and coming together with one's friends for food, beer and the craic in a place that we know and enjoy..

 

I still enjoy the trips enormously and am grateful to the skippers who offer me hospitality on their boats but, if another venue came up that offered better fishing, I think most of us would be tempted. Some people in Alderney recognise these facts and see it as a problem to their tourism trade but we all know there is a certain amount of complacency and inertia amongst those who regulate things in the Channel Islands.

[Steve S]

On a narrow point I think the flattie fishing has got worse in recent years (some guys have been going much longer than me) whether this is cyclic or fishing pressure I'm not sure. Turbot have been showing up all over the place near us recently and some good ones, maybe something has changed, has fishing pressure reduced in Poole bay, I hope it has but I'd be surprised if it actually has.

 

I think Terry put it very well, it's the whole Alderney experience. With the fishing not so good there on the banks currently I'm not inclined to go more than once in the year particularly as we have found the best of the fishing for flatties is normally early season but if we hear the fishing has picked up I'm up for going over again.