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Scallop dredge wankers


John B

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I don't take the things so I've never really thought too hard about it.

At the Mercs we anchored off White beach one day either 17th or 18th jan when I got educated somewhat listening to a diver come up effing and blinding about a dredge that had just gone through in front of him and what it'd done to the bottom. That same boat then crossed within 40 metres of our bow and I called out to him about my concern for my anchor . We were leaving the boat on a changable forecast for a walk over to Coralie bay so we had a bit extra out.

 

Anyway this dude took his dredge ashore to empty it and we talked to him as we walked the beach. The dredge was so full he couldn't clear it on the water so he'd brought it ashore and was sorting out the catch into buckets. We left him sorting and went away for our walk. Two families of us.

 

When we came back a couple of hours later, this is what we found.. all his undersize scallops dumped , dying and dead on the beach. Somewhere between 100-200 of them.

 

IMG_5826_3.jpg

I didn't photo the boat unfortunately.. it was one of those painted tinny half cabin boats. Pretty flash and expensive looking....

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I have an intense dislike for scallop dredges. They are indiscriminate in terms of the scallops they catch, but also all of the by-catch that gets caught along the way. They stir up the sediment on the bottom, break scallops, tear up sponges, catch starfish, etc, etc. They're a major vector for the introduction of diseases into a population of scallops thru shell damage and the effects can be far reaching in terms of buggering up scallop beds for years.

 

Diver caught scallops are the only way to go. You can select the shellfish you take, you're not causing all sorts of damage, you're not running over anchors or snagging on rocks.

 

Of course, magnify this a thousand fold for bottom dredging commercial fishing.

 

Dredges just shouldn't be allowed.

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I agree Grinna, the smashed up sea life in that dredge was a subject in itself . We ( 4 boats worth cruising together) came to the same conclusion as you.. They should be banned.

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The funny thing SD, was that on relating the story to other mates who'd left that day, they told me they had been at anchor the day before intrigued by the behaviour of a guy onshore dressed in camo gear and with big binocs. Over the day they'd seen this guy a few times and had commented to each other about him.. it'd become a bit of a joke.. 'look camo guy is back over there now' type stuff.

At the end of the day, he went for a swim , packed up and then got picked up in an official looking boat .IIRC they said it was a MAF boat.

 

One day later they might have been able to do some good .

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If you see dickheads like that or peeps that are taking undersize or over catch limits of fish the phone number to remember is 0800 4 POACHER.

The people on the end of the phone are more than happy to help and in a lot or areas there are MAF inspectors lurking, its just that sometimes you dont know which boat they are on....

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I have an intense dislike for scallop dredges. They are indiscriminate in terms of the scallops they catch, but also all of the by-catch that gets caught along the way. They stir up the sediment on the bottom, break scallops, tear up sponges, catch starfish, etc, etc. They're a major vector for the introduction of diseases into a population of scallops thru shell damage and the effects can be far reaching in terms of buggering up scallop beds for years.

Well actually, they are not as bad as it seems. Scallops and Oyster beds actually do good with breaking up. They First found that out in Bluff. The Beds locked up didn't do very well. The beds that had been worked recovered well and the Oyster was much healthier. We have been finding the same thing with the Marlborough Scallop beds. The Beds that get hammered each year keep thriving. The beds that don't get worked much just don't do well and as a result, don't get worked much.

The Start fish actually feed on the scallops. And many of the Starfish we now have in NZ waters are not native, they were dropped here and are decimating the Shellfish. So giving them a good hurry up is actually not a bad thing. Then there are the fish. We watched a big commercial dredge go through and then watched Snapper come in behind the turbulence feeding on the stuff dug up. Normally a scallop bed is pretty barren of all other life other than Starfish and the Scallop.

 

Having said all the though. it is illegal to sort the catch out on the beach. The catch must be sorted right there and then on the boat and all under size must be thrown back and they must be returned as close to where they were caught as possible. When diving, you have to measure and sort on the sea bed. You can not bring the catch to the surface and sort then. Which I think is a little overboard, but thems the rules.

All Scallops must be brought ashore in the shell. You can not Shell or Shuck them on the Seaward side of the High water mark. Unless you are eating on board the boat and that you catch no more than your daily limit for that day.

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I DISPISE the dredges with tynes, they should be banned yesterday. Dive and all you see is piles of undersized shells with a 10mm hole punched in them. Ban the f**kers.

 

But there are a few designs which are OK in my books. One newish one (I'll try and find the name) has a dodacky whatsit that is designed knot to hurt any of the fish, what's more it has a semi-auto size selection whatsit so 90% of the undersized fish fall out the back and never make it to the surface or into appalling photos like John B's, that is a gut wrencher. That I don't mind as it isn't a scorched earth system.

 

There is another being made in the top end of the sth Island which has a wobbly plate rather than tynes. It wobbles as you pull and flick the fish up rather than stabs them. That one is OK in my books as well.

 

Up here Wheels a lot of the beds are transient rather than the stay putters you tend to have down there so there isn't such a need to stir them up now and again, the clever buggers do it themselves. Ha, just had a thought, even the shellfish in the Nth Island are smarter than their Sth Island cuzzies :twisted: :lol:

 

That photo.... just how wrong can you get.

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We used to use one when I lived in the Golden Bay that was from that area, No rakes, rather a tickler chain. You only got the scallops, no other crap, so on the bottom it was really doing the job.

 

The dredge was so easy to use, why would you wish to do it the hard way. I know the beds do need a bit of ploughing from time to time as it does help them, But the problem as I see it, is that you do kill other bottome dwellers. After all true farmer removes the stock before he ploughs the paddock.

 

The above photo is a shocking example of the types of wankers that give all other users of the ocean a real bad name

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99% of the dredges down here are those Aluminium Wing design things. They have a "tickler" chain across the front, but that is mainly for keeping the basket/net open. The chain and bottom of the net is clear of the bottom. The foil actually "sucks" the shell up off the bottom and into the path of the net. There is a Skid each side of the foil that it slides over the bottom on. After you run it for a while, you then turn and run back over it to tip the dredge over and it actually "flies" to the surface. Although we just simply haul it in.

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The dredges that I've seen around here are a simple galv steel rectangle with angled tines designed to plough up the bottom and scoop stuff into the mouth of the rectangle and into the net trailing behind. Very destructive.

 

A tickler chain running along the bottom has nowhere near the adverse effects of a dozen or so tines digging up the seabed and damaging whatever gets in its way.

 

Sounds like we're talking about very different types of dredge here.

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Well isn't that interesting , all dredges are not created equal after all. And its also interesting to hear the comments about the beneficial side of the 'burn off' they create.... just goes to show.

 

Re reporting it. we would have done that the same day if we had any hope of identifying the boat and we certainly did discuss it at length .My wife and I can't even agree on its colour.. I thought it a dark blue, she a dark green. I didn't take a photo of it because well, I don't take pics of tinnies ,and at the time we were talking we had no idea the guy would turn out to be a totally irresponsible tosser like he turned out. His dredge incidentally was quite big I thought (he was on the beach because he couldn't lift it aboard as I said earlier)and had the big teeth / tines at the leading edge.

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Kev's suprer dredge is certainly the Design. I don't think he was the guy that created it though. The design first came out about 20years ago and we were one of the first to sell it for the guy in our shop. We would report back slight design changes and the thing was refined over a short time to a very workable design. I see very few of any of the old antiquated things around now and just assumed every one everywhere used the thing. Looks like the market still has a lot of potential for the guy. or guy's now as it seems. They are not expensive, as in, I looked at making the thing for myself once and it wasn't worth my time. I don't quite know how he does it to be honest. Maybe he buy's his Chain and shackles form KM. :wink: :lol:

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Kev (aka "Splitpin) has all the sections pre-cut & rolled then welds them together in his garage in Cissy Baywhen he's not arguing with his neighbours. :lol:

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I don't think it's the same guy. Kev used to work in the meat works in Nelson I think & has only been in the sounds 10 or so years. I get on well with him & have used him a lot for alloy work etc. he sure has a habit of winding up the natives though. Even had a stoush with Darryl Crimp over some minor thing.

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