The answer's simple. If you want industrial quantities of a foodstock, you've got to farm it rather than letting it grow wild and hoping there's enough there. Fish farms need to sort out the disease problems though - fish just aren't bred for that yet. The other solution is simply to stop eating fish. Supply and demand - if less ppl eat fish, not so much will get caught!

I'm afraid I don't have too much sympathy for fishermen - it's a shame, but things change. If my job vanishes underneath me tomorrow, I'll have to look for another one, and fishermen are no exception. What's really required is more than what Gerald Durrell called "paper protection" - in other words, protection for species diversity which is more than just laws passed and actually has some teeth to it. In Europe, the Spanish are notorious for overfishing, and unfortunately there isn't the political will to back up the Royal Navy in excluding Spanish boats from protected areas of UK waters.

Graham.