Holy mackerel! Belfast warned not to eat free fish

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — This fish tale might be a wee bit hard to stomach.

Belfast City Council is advising its citizens: Don't eat fish found lying on the roadside. They're too fishy.

Tuesday's health warning follows the accidental dumping of thousands of mackerel on to the busy Ravenhill Road, apparently by a delivery truck with a loose back door. Locals grabbed bags to haul in their catch before passing cars could turn the stranded school to pulp.

Tommy Bardsley says he bagged 25 mackerel and deemed them off-the-boat fresh. "I know fish," the 61-year-old declared.

Continued ...

Mackerel taken off 'to eat' list

Mackerel is no longer a sustainable choice for a regular fish supper, conservationists have warned in the face of overfishing of the stock. 

The Marine Conservation Society said it had removed mackerel, an oily fish packed with omega 3, from its latest version of its "fish to eat" list, and it should be eaten only occasionally.

The warning comes after the Marine Stewardship Council, which certifies fish stocks that are managed sustainably, suspended its certification of the north east Atlantic mackerel fishery.

Atlantic populations of mackerel have moved north west into Icelandic and Faroe Islands waters, prompting their fishermen to fish more stock than was previously agreed and causing a dispute between the countries that target the fishery.

Bernardette Clarke, fisheries officer at the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), said: "The stock has moved into Icelandic and Faroese waters, probably following their prey of small fish, crustaceans and squid.

"As a result, both countries have begun to fish more mackerel than was previously agreed.

"The total catch is now far in excess of what has been scientifically recommended and previously agreed upon by all participating countries. Negotiations to introduce new catch allowances have so far failed to reach agreement."

The conservation group said good alternatives to mackerel were herring and sardine, and if people wanted to continue to buy mackerel, they should ensure it is as sustainable as possible - for example, fish caught locally using traditional methods.

Another fish taken off the "fish to eat" list is gurnard, because of a lack of data on population levels and concerns about how stocks of the increasingly popular fish are being managed.
Because the fish has been historically caught accidentally as "bycatch" by fishing vessels targeting other species, there are no catch restrictions - but if stocks are being increasingly targeted, they need to be managed sustainably, said the MCS. 

http://news.uk.msn.com/mackerel-taken-off-to-eat-list

Wildlife officer finds fish dumped on Plymouth roundabout

THERE'S been something fishy going on in Mainstone, claim police.

Patrol officers found the strangest fly-tipping they have seen in years after spotting silvery-looking items by the side of the road in Plymbridge Road, by the Wrigley's factory.

Acting Sgt Ryan Canning, who also happens to be the Plymouth Wildlife Crime Liaison Officer, said he and his colleague were out on the hunt for criminals and poachers at around 3.50am on Thursday when they encountered the unusual haul.

He said: "As we drove by it caught my eye. I went over to look and found someone had dumped a load of fresh mackerel on the grass.

"It was really fresh. It must have been caught that day. There was about two dozen of them, left on the grass verge.

"They'd been left a short distance from the Plymbridge Woods, but mackerel are a saltwater fish, so they'd been caught at sea by someone and left here."

To prove the find to disbelieving colleagues, Acting Sgt Canning took a photo of the fish which he posted on a social networking site.

He said: "I think its the first time I've found fish dumped at the side of the road.

"We decided the best thing to do was to leave them there as a breakfast treat for the local wildlife and the seagulls."

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Wildlife-officer-finds-fish-dumped-Plymouth/story-16438390-detail/story.html

Orca sighted just metres from Scottish coast

Killer whales' mackerel drive witnessed by hundreds
June 2012. An exceptionally close encounter with a group of five Orcas by hundreds of visitors and locals at Thurso and Scrabster was the dramatic return of well documented pod.

Karen Munro, from Scrabster, who has recorded sightings for Sea Watch for seven years, said: "I have never even seen harbour porpoises that close in to the harbour. The water in the harbour was said to be ‘boiling' when the killers passed Thurso. There were also lots of gannets and other fish eating birds around so we think they were driving a shoal of mackerel before them!"

Karen was first alerted to the group by her stepson, a local lifeboat man, who had seen them in Dunnet Bay. She followed the group - a sub adult male, two females, a juvenile and a calf - along the coast around Thurso to Scrabster.

Just 5 metres from the shore
At one point the group was in the surf just 5m from the coastline, at another it was swimming through a group of yachtsmen and women from the Pentland Yacht Club, and at another it was so close into the harbour that hundreds were able to stand and watch.

Karen said: "The harbour was busy with holidaymakers and locals and there was a real sense of excitement. We have heard of killer whales so close in to the shore in the Shetlands, but they have never been this close in to the mainland here. I have been watching killer whales in Caithness since 2006, but this was really exceptional!"

Known orca
She sent her photos to Dr Andy Foote, who compiles records of killer whale sightings for the North Atlantic Killer Whale Project and he was able to confirm from distinctive ‘saddleback' and fin markings of two in the group that they are numbers 72 and 73 in his catalogue, and are always seen together in the group of five.

Sea Watch Director, Dr Peter Evans said: "Identifying these killer whales is extremely important in helping scientists to understand numbers and the strength and health of populations, their behaviours and their movements. The more we know about them, the better we can conserve our marine animals.

"We always welcome pictures of whales, dolphins and porpoises from around the coast and will help to identify what has been seen. Pictures of fins are often the most reliable way to identify whether individuals have been seen before, although in the case of killer whales a shot of the flanks is very useful as the saddle patch can vary also in shape and size."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orca-scrabster.html#cr

Rare shark caught off coast of Galway

LORNA SIGGINS, Marine Correspondent

A RARE deepwater shark and a “monster” mackerel have been landed by two Irish fishing vessels into Rossaveal, Co Galway.

The shark, which has been identified as a sharpback (Oxynotus Paradoxus), was caught by skipper Colin Reynolds and his crew of the Fragrant Cloud .

Reynolds had never seen anything like the dark-coloured 65cm fish with clearly visible claspers, very rough skin which was taken in a net at 500m.

Sea Fisheries Protection Agency officer Siubhán Ní Churraidhín said the flattened underside suggested that the shark crawled across the seafloor, and its clearly visible teeth resembled a lamprey.

Rare fish expert Dr Declan Quigley, who has kept records with fellow expert Kevin Flannery of Dingle, Co Kerry, noted that the first such sharpback identified was taken from the Labadie Bank off the southwest coast in May 1935.

A second was recorded off Sybil Head, Co Kerry, in June 1967, according to a paper by Quigley and Flannery in the Irish Naturalists’ Journa l. It would be another 21 years before a third was caught, in 1988 off Ballydavid, Co Kerry, and was donated to the National Museum of Ireland.

Ms Ní Churraidhín has also been presented with an oversized or “monster” mackerel (Scomber scombrus) which was caught by Kevin Dowd and Darren O’Sullivan of the Star of Hope .

The 1.3kg mackerel is about 50cm in length, and is among the dozen largest mackerel on record here.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0220/1224312052732.html

High noon for mackerel talks

THE Scottish Government is billing tomorrow’s talks as the last chance to secure international agreement for the sustainable fishing of the North East Atlantic mackerel stock during 2012. The EU (including senior Scottish Government representation), Norway, Faroe Islands and Iceland have reconvened negotiations to seek agreement on each country's mackerel quotas for 2012 and beyond. In recent months four previous rounds have failed to reach a deal – while numerous sets of talks since 2009 have been unsuccessful. Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Mackerel is a high-value stock for all the countries that participate in the fishery, therefore it is common sense that we work together and ensure the stock is sustainably fished. However, this has not been the case over the past three years. "We need a new four-way international agreement that will safeguard the long-term sustainability of the mackerel fishery. Therefore I call on all parties to work together constructively and negotiate reasonably."


http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/scottish/7573-high-noon-for-mackerel-talks-.html