Article about Gannets caught as food off Mauritania by Chinese trawlers (1 Viewer)

http://www.ornithomedia.com/breves/massacre-fous-mauritanie-01405.html

Tens of thousands i believe, I seem to recall some discussion about this a while ago.







:eek!:

jogresh said:

http://www.ornithomedia.com/breves/massacre-fous-mauritanie-01405.html

Tens of thousands i believe, I seem to recall some discussion about this a while ago.







:eek!:

Click to expand...

Very surprised nobody has commented on this. A big chunk of this slaughter is going to include British Gannets, which winter in that area. So the Chinese are effectively harvesting our Gannet population, as the UK holds more than half of the world's breeding birds.

Previous thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=264813

A google for variations of 'RSPB gannet Chinese fishing Mauritania' turned up nothing. Aren't they on the ball with this?

AlfArbuthnot said:

Very surprised nobody has commented on this. A big chunk of this slaughter is going to include British Gannets, which winter in that area. So the Chinese are effectively harvesting our Gannet population, as the UK holds more than half of the world's breeding birds.

Previous thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=264813

A google for variations of 'RSPB gannet Chinese fishing Mauritania' turned up nothing. Aren't they on the ball with this?

Click to expand...

Are we any better? http://www.virtualheb.co.uk/guga-hunters-of-ness-isle-of-lewis-western-isles.html


Shane

ApusApus said:

Are we any better? http://www.virtualheb.co.uk/guga-hunters-of-ness-isle-of-lewis-western-isles.html


Shane

Click to expand...

Sounds like an argument Alf would make
Large-scale hunting with trawler fleets is more problematic though than local traditional hunting because it's more likely to endanger the species as a whole, as opposed to "only" hunting a local population. That's why I think it's justified to point fingers in this case.

ApusApus said:

Are we any better? http://www.virtualheb.co.uk/guga-hunters-of-ness-isle-of-lewis-western-isles.html


Shane

Click to expand...

Vastly different scale, I think, with the guga hunt having a quota of 2,000, and this one ship having an estimated cargo of 95,000! That's half a century worth of guga hunts on one Chinese-registered ship.

And also a different demographic (taking chicks is the 'safest' way to harvest a bird, taking the adults is the riskiest).

I have no real problem with sustainable harvesting of wildlife for food (although I'm not convinced that the guga hunt is very humane), but large-scale unregulated (and illegal?) hunting of Gannets at sea seems a big problem to me. I'm quite surprised to find nothing on this from RSPB, after a google search.

It is difficult to believe that the RSPB is not highlighting the issue given the work they do in West Africa with Roseate Terns. Taking thousands of adult birds from any population is going to have a serious effect and in a short space of time. I hope they don't wait until the situation becomes critical.

James.