Over fishing of Cuttlefish in Devon

I notice in Dive Magazine this month (July Edition) that there is a reports of Cuttlefish being overfished on the south coast of England. The divers have reported a dramatic drop in the number of the breading population of cuttlefish in Torbay Devon. They saw over 25 mature animals in pots on their dive and very few eggs on the seaweeds near the pots where in the previous years there had been thousands of eggs.

I have no problem with fishermen making a living, but you would think after the disasters in the North Sea Cod Fisheries that we could have a more sustained approach to managing our coastal resources.

I understand that in the Mediterranian that it takes 15-20 months for Cuttle Fish to sexually mature does any one know how long it takes for Cuttlefish to Mature in British Waters? So hopefully if fishing is reduced then the populations would recover fairly quickly.

The Daily Record - NEWS - THE ICEMAN COMETH: "THE ICEMAN COMETH
WHEN DAROS GRAY'S FAMILY MOVED FROM SCOTLAND TO SOUTH AFRICA THE YOUNGSTER FELL IN LOVE WITH THE SEA, DIVING WHENEVER HE COULD. NOW AN EXPERIENCED FREE-DIVER, THE 34 YEAR OLD LIKES NOTHING BETTER THAN TO HOLD HIS BREATH ...AND PLUNGE BELOW THE POLAR ICE CAP
By Samantha Booth

SCOTS free-diver Daros Gray spent much of his childhood in the seas off South Africa.

By the time he was a teenager, spear fishing, scuba diving and gathering crayfish among the wildlife were all second nature to him.

Even an attack by a Great White Shark was not enough to keep the young Daros out of the water.

But what possessed the 34-year-old, originally from Callander, to become the world's polar free-diving pioneer?

Now instead of enjoying the warm water and nautical delights of tropical seas around the world, the burly Scot likes nothing better than to dive to depths of up to 131ft underneath polar ice caps with no breathing equipment.

His most recent expedition took a team to Arctic Sweden to establish nine world records in incredibly dangerous conditions.

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Not only did he have to consider the normal hazards of free-diving, including the the dreaded black out that can happen to any free-diver as they head back to the surface - it happened to Daros on Loch Etive a few years ago causing his heart to stop for three and half minutes - he also had to think about the possibility of equipment freezing and the edges of ice holes collapsing.

He says: 'For me it is not about breaking or making records for glory's sake or even about the danger.

'I do what I do in the hope that I can help science in some way by finding out how a human body will respond to extreme conditions, although there is another aspect to it - which is about becoming one with the liquid around you.

'It is about going back to Mother Natur"