Is Electric Fishing Cheating Our Oceans?

Electric pulse fishing is said to cause less damage to the ocean floor and allows fishermen to use less fuel. But, this fishing method might be doing more damage than good.

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[sgoorden]

There are several indicators that show the electric pulse fishing causes less damage, carefully investigated following the scientific method and those arguments are brushed of, and given the same importance as some Belgian fisherman claiming that years ago he caught 15kg and today none. That argument is empirical at best, but more likely topped with exaggeration.

Also please note that the ban is more political than anything else. The French government has always been taken hostage by it fishermen and the French fishermen have not invested in new methods, so their reaction to that is that the new method needs to be forbidden, so nobody has it.

The worst of this video is what it says implicitly, that it somehow is bad that the research continues. Research is important, better methods are vital.

[derain]

I wonder what the ocean would look like if we had a 5-10 year ban on commercial fishing.

[BloodyDragonStudios]

You're right, let's just smash our big ass chains into the ocean floor instead.

[jelle]

Actually the electrocuting only happened to 4 out of 45 fish, and in addition these 45 fish were of a smaller size. This means the overall rate of fish snapping their spines is far lower than this video claims. Also, it has been determined that the sharks and rays are not affected.
This video does not look at the actual facts, and follows the French lobby. French fishermen did not innovate and are now jealous of a good technique that they do not have. Instead of adopting this new technique that is better in practically every way, the French have started a lobby in the EU to ban pulse fishing altogether. Gotta love bureaucracy.

[epsylonz]

the French are just salty because they compete with the Netherlands

[LogEekumanAgination]

Human logic on virtually anything: "Our old traditional methods are extremely destructive sure but these new methods that are provably vastly less destructive are still not completely non-destructive, so why bother updating our old methods?"

[stfnkrz]

IT IS ONLY BANNED BECAUSE OF THE FRENCH

[StealHrtVideo]

Omi.. the fish spines are broken.. well let's not eat them.. we much rather kill them and eat them with whole spines before we debone them..

[Twiggy]

I notice when it comes to cons: it just is. When you're talking about a pro: its a claim.
Seems you're not "reporting" objectively on this topic.

[Novitchi]

Even though I'm not a fan of commercial fishing. I can't deny that electric pulse fishing is less damaging to the seafloor then the alternatives. Besides that, in the video it is mentioned that certain types of fish break the spine when caught with pulse fishing. She forgot to mention that those same fish also don't make it out of conventional nets alive.

[rasputingrigori]

You could say this technology is... Shocking.

[RenatoLaporte]

The thing here is:

France doesn't have the technology and it's lobbying heavily to see the ban on electric fishing, which although it isn't without environmental impact, the impact can be much less than other older methods.

It's a shame that the EU is basically run with heavy pressure from Germany and France, and that those two countries will do whatever it takes to get their will.

[poweroffriendship.]

*_So what about that time when Squidward got electrocuted by the electric fence?_*

[aderinolamiju]

People fail to realize that we can’t have it all as humans. We have to use the method that’s more effective, cheaper and more sustainable.

[woowyer]

Cheddar portrays this as a bad thing. Why? We have next to no extensive research as to how this affects marine life in the long term. And as for the Netherlands being allowed to carry on doing this for research purposes until the EU has finished its negotiations, seems like a good thing to me.

[jag]

Does anyone here feel like discussing whether there really is true objectivity in narrative media?

[WonderfulAkari]

Sure the method we currently use is much more destructive and the new one does less damage, but it still does some of the same types of damage so let's ban it.

[marnixhoogwater]

Pulse fishing is 2 to 3 times more efficient and less harmful than trawling. The EU wants to limit the HUGE growth the Netherlands is offering the world. Don't think of this problem in a closed minded, small scale. Think globally on these regulations

[Grofvolkoren]

All fishing methods damage the fish. So either you ban fishing as a whole. Or you allow fishing in a way that damages the fish and the environment the least. Electric pulse fishing is less damaging than older fishing methods.

[Floedekage]

3:28
Can you please provide imperial measurements, please?
I'm trying to find out what the difference is in percent...