Doryman

Fishing with Kern Kristensen on the A-20

paul — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:35:29 +0000

We left the beach before daybreak a sharp breeze out of the northwest, anybody could have know that it was too shitty to fish but we wanted to go. So we went. Kern at the helm and his crewman Jorgen sitting down forward and cursing the pounding. For him it was a day of trouble, getting slammed around for a paltry 1200 krone.
Kern was having fun. We’ve been at this 1000 year he said when the winch was dragging his 13 meter wooden boat down the beach. She didn’t have much power: a 4 cylinder Gardner, 145 HP. They used to use them in the buses in London he tells me. So he uses a system called, appropriately enough, Danish seining. “Shnoor” they call it or something like that my transliteration of Danish being very poor as yet. He sets out an “anka” and the runs out 12 rolas of rope
Then shots the net, attaches another 11 rolas and turns to make a loop back. “now we go home. To ouwa anka!” and because as he says it would take too much power to hold the boat in place, we latch onto the anchor and begin to draw in the net. It takes one hour. And the bag comes up full of flounder. He hoists it in over the side, Jorgen loostens the pucker string on the cod end and fish spill into a hopper. Jorgen ties up the cod end and let’s it over the side again. On the stern Kern rolls the net up onto a spool, shaking fish down the long throat of the net, shaking them out of the meshes. And they lift the bag again and another load spills I ot the hopper fillin both sides.
They begin to sort but the boat rocks madly at anchor and kern says, enough, we go home.
Together they hoist the anchor and pin it to the stern, ready for the next set, tomorrow maybe, but not today. We head in, and Jorgen sorts out the fish while Kern steers us in towards the beach. We pound in over one bar, shuddering as the waves dump us hard on the sand. Having made it over the first barrier we run parallel to beach to where the bulldozer awaits us. Kern turns the boat sharply and drives it ashore. Jorgen tosses a thin line toward the beach. It does not reach past the waves but the bulldozer man grapples it and makes the first connection to land, he draws in a heavy line from the boat and attaches the cable to it. Kern and Jorgen winch the cable aboard and hook it to a heavy wire pennant on the bow. The bulldozer starts to take up the slack, Jorgen lets the hook and eye into the water bit in the pounding surf they come
Apart and the whole operation must be repeated. The second time works and the bulldozer drags us healing this way and that up out of the waves and onto the well furrowed sand at Thorupstrand.

Demmark, sleepless on the ferry

paul — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:10:50 +0000

Kalundborg Denmark: traveling without a map on bicycle route 4 from roskilde to k-borg. I’m thinking about the conference and fish and lost blog featuring Nancy Gitonga’s presentation on how things need to change. Typing with my thmbs andmy thumbs are tired from shfting gears into the wind thinking of all the things I need to wrote down about that. Like amanda’z tutorial on the WMD of the finance marke: derivatives. How she explained uncertainty, the spread of it around an average, how she explained what selling short means. All these terms one frequently hears and yet it is not always easy to know what thye mean. And Nancy at the podium speaking about the AU andthe EU and thefisheries partnership aggrements and how they are less about access than partnership and what needsto be done to make them more fair. People do not know the value of the fisheries resources as they stand, nor how much is being taken and the EU partner countries refuse to give upthis information and the EU recuse to force them to tell what they are taking from host countries. And when the fish are on EU boats then they are EU fish. But when the same fish are on AU boats they face heavy tariffs in EU markets. The law says countires Must sell surplus fish. But the assessments do not exist and the artisanal fleet is hurting for fish.

All this and Danish windmills spinning, dead rat in the road, and a Viking ship. And we in the developed
World are all still raiders.

Hahn Goliath: we are, because of others– the spirit of ubuntu

paul — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:57:41 +0000

For the poorest of the poor nothing has changed. The quota system leads to increase division in community between those who have quota and those who don’t, families split apart, gangs are entering our villages with drugs and money. Artisanal fishers going. Now only fishers for money. (social breakdown) mafufundisi. Oms they help us find social Justice coastal links formed. Many of young cannot write their names do not know when they were born.
Now we have taken the fisheries business to court and win. Fighting for community. Court was telling government to give us access. Now we have interim access and government must develop new policy with communities on board. Now we are part of a national movement.

Corruption and power

paul — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:11:20 +0000

Marketing fish: increasing demand declining resources. Intensifies effort. Those with power misuse it to get more.
‘nough said?
Eu allowed 5xore bycatch by Guinea gov. Points to
Corruption.
Negotiating with private Japanese tuna company and at the same time a boatload of Japanese rice arrives.

Hahn Goliath: talks about smallscale in south africa

paul — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:27:28 +0000

Hahn wants more education and better. He wants learning circles among activist groups. He is on th recieving end of standard cultural genocide effort. And losing. Why do we keep losing this battle? There has been success in places like s. America. Need to look at what works. Culturl history of community action helps.

Organizing small-scale fishery

paul — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:57:36 +0000

Hahn Goliath tells a very familiar story of Cultural genocide. Small scale quota better to be in a systemor buy into small scale system. They need lawyers and money. We need lawyers and ecomists in the small scale fisheries movement or
We will waste energy on doomed efforts. We need very precise direction and not just from one source, we need a consensus of experts providing advice so that decisions are more informed and options expanded.

Small scale fisheries conference Copenhagen

paul — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:55:12 +0000

Sitting here in Denmark, lots of good thoughts from Nancy Gitonga of Kenya. She is up against big trawler fishing of the coasts of man African countries often with the complicity of government officials in those countries. It’s so easy for a small group ov people to sell the resources of their countries.
Then we hear from Carsten Pedersen how the Danish government how it is expanding quotas and bolstering the positon of the large scale fleet in effort reduciton negotiations.
Chandrika is talking about human rights based mangemnt.

paul — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:46:49 +0000

Made it to Denmark. Here with 15 great people solving the problems of the world. Lok for results
Soon

Upcoming: Small-Scale Fisheries Conference in Copenhagen, and Cycling to the fishing community of Torup Strand

paul — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:56:35 +0000