its not the offshore trawlers that have a huge impact.the gill nets are the worst,no escape and they just wait for the shore angling reports then bang the nets are out.with the trawlers most of which in the northeast target prawns do have a bye catch of fish but at least they have tight guidelines with the square mesh and quotas,just look at whitby and the ban of nets within 1-3miles what a difference.
oh and if you think the trawlers around here are decemating the fish stocks then go down and see what they land in fish.its about 1 box of cod 1 box of mixed and well yes loads of whiting.but look at what the shore fishing is like its great loads of small fish around to keep us shore anglers happy until now.the gill netters are out as they have read the reports of good fishing from the shore.yea i understand they need to make a living but to cover miles of the inland shore area is beyond a living and can only be considered as pure greed.its the same year after year a great start to the shore angling then oh bugga theres nowt and then the offshore trawlers get the blame well am sorry but av seen this throught my own eyes and will take anyone down to see the catches landed by the trawlers around here,at least they are or most of them miles offshore.but the inshore robbers with the miles of mesh are just thinking about money and not the regeneration of the inshore areas that we have around are coast.