“That is no longer economically feasible. The scientific advice does not take into account what the fisherman himself sees,” says Geert De Groote, shipowner of Z.98 Windroos.
There is therefore an economic reason for fishermen pointing to scientists. Yet ILVO is increasingly working with them to estimate as precisely as possible how many fish there are. “If there is less sole, then our scientific recommendations are indeed low. You can argue whether scientists are right and that is difficult, but we see that we are usually quite close,” says Hans Pollet, who has been researching fish stocks for 33 years.