A Ban on Cod Fishing in the North Sea

First it is necessary to examine the economic effect that a ban on cod would have on Britain. Obviously the 20,000 British fleet are against this ban, for they believe that it will leave them out of a job and destroy many of the coastal towns which rely on fishing as a source of their income. Also these fishermen believe that their boats will be immobile and will soon deteriorate,

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According to the fishermen this would cost the Government too large an amount of money. In Greenland the drop in migrating cod numbers is already having these knock on effects. There is a large gap in our community for these jobs, and they may be able to earn more income than they did in their previous fishing jobs. They feel that it would be almost impossible for the Government to establish and monitor a ban on cod fishing. Additionally, leading marine scientists believe that 90% of the cod are of age 1-3 and cod only reach sexual maturity at the age of 2. Scientists also believe that the fisherman’s boats wouldn’t have to be immobile because instead of fishing for cod there are many other species of fish which could be caught. However, it could be cut down by almost 90% by just banning the fishing of whitefish which shoal with the cod. So with this ban established the cod stocks should have restocked by 2015. Islands once covered in seabirds are now bare due to a lack in prey. They also still think that cod levels are as high as ever and disregard scientific evidence claiming it to be “incorrect”, believing that the Government’s research methods to be “out dated”. However the government is eager to give the British fleet the 100m pounds compensation asked for by their representative. This wouldn’t cost the Government a lot of money and could lead to replenished cod numbers and keep the jobs of the 20,000 strong British fleet in the long term. Also for those unwilling to catch other fish the government would give training for new jobs such as in construction. leaving them unable to fish even when the cod stocks replenish. Therefore without drastic economical effects yet with a huge benefit to the environment the British fleet could return to fishing as normal fishing as normal.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 821
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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