Save Our Bass

[ADM]

I thought it was just static netting banned on that mark, not trawling as well?? (Trawling is just a stupid idea as Pierro showed what happens!!)

 

[foxfish]

Andy I have been told the sea fisheries put an official ban on trawling & netting within a two mile radius, this is a year around ban too, however i will check the facts on Monday.

 

[James T]

Anyone know when the spawning period is for Bass - would it be over the top to have a closed season for Bass. Maybe thats a stupid idea for some reason I am not aware of. Happy to be enlightened

 

[foxfish]

Well we know they congregate in Guernsey around early December & stay until about now in fact the shoal has now gone.

 

[James T]

I am trying to understand this fishing while they are spawning business. Is the reason it is allowed because if it was closed there would be no fishery at all? I.e. is the spawning period the only time Sea Bass can be reliably located on a scale necessary to sustain a fishery?


The Irony is pretty obvious...

 

[foxfish]

James this has been happening for decades but in the past fishermen managed to keep the various spawning grounds to them selves.
However over time as boats became bigger & used more technology more boats found the marks & fished them into submission.
The one in question is the biggest found so far & may be one of the last if not the last?
There are no restrictions other than the netting ban, anyone can catch as many bass as they like!
Sea fisheries say bass are in abundance & what is taken is not a consideration to overall stocks!! hence our anger & concern = our sea fisheries has something wrong with its information?

 

[ADM]

So Guernsey sparos, what is your view of the small bass fishery round the island??

Personally on the rods I have had far fewer real schoolies (i.e. less than 1.5lb) in the last year where they used to be a pain in the rear, every single bait snaffled by little bass.

So are we seeing the decline of the babies from when the spawning process was first upset and big ones caught in huge numbers 4/5 years ago?? 2008 was a year which saw less bass but more larger ones on the rods where previous years have seen high numbers and lower average weight (IMO).

Bit hard to ask if you saw many last year seeing as the end of your spear was in the murk let alone viz to see small ones???

 

[James T]

Hmm - according to the following article Professional Boatmans Association : Offshore Bass Fishery. it takes 6 years for Bass to reach the schoolie size of about 1.5lbs so if this spawning ground was being targetted in a big way six years ago I suppose the low juvenile numbers you see now could be as a result of that. Another interesting point is that very cold winters also impact 'recruitment' so where alot of the UK nurseries are in shallow estuaries etc - very cold conditions (I think this year is colder than many in the recent past) is likely to place an additional burden on stocks of good size fish in a few years time.

 

[foxfish]

Andy you are right about the net ban, it only applies to set nets.

 

[ADM]

I'm a bit dissapointed to have been right Could do with a trawler ban as well!!

 

[Old Man Dave]

I don't think the net ban's got anything to do with conservation. Sea fisheries seem to do what the commercial fisherman want them to. When some of the original prespawning masses of bass were discovered 20 years ago they were "harvested" with rods. Once fished out another spot was found and this was fished with towed lines until the enevitable decline due to being fished out. Next spot turned out to be more sandy seabed rather than reef as previous spots had been. Two fishermen netted this spot and landed many tons per day. This really p*ssed of the other fishermen. So when this spot was fished out and the Boue Blondel was discovered (probably the main and last mark) most of the fishermen wanted a share. Therefore the majority of them made sure Sea Fisheries banned nets so that no one fisherman could catch tham all (in nets). That way all the fishermen could destroy the bass stocks equally. Great.

Dave

 

[dave]

Unfortunately Dave is right about how Sea Fisheries Committees work. They regard their job as looking after commercial fishermen (rather than looking after the resource which is what they are actually supposed to do). Anglers, divers, tourists etc are just not regarded as "real" stakeholders. At a recent Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee meeting for example, several members were calling for a seal cull:head. They are still stuck in a 19th century mindset that the sea is an inexhaustible resource solely for the benefit of commercial fishermen
Lobbying the SFC is banging your head against the wall (but still worth doing), it is best to also go sideways to MPs and tourist boards etc. Letters from "abroad" stating that this situation will lead to you spending your hard earned somewhere that appreciates it have got to help
Another example of SFC idiocy here;
http://forums.deeperblue.com/spearo-board/81736-cornwall-scallop-ban.html

The Marine Bill will replace Sea Fisheries Committees with Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (not sure if this will apply to Guernsey) which are supposed to have a wider representation and more of a conservation remit, but I have a horrible feeling that it will just be the same old faces with a new job title

cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

 

[eric aqua]

I think these bass are coming from the whole of the south coast, although we had a run of bad weather last year, even when we got out the bass were hard to find. Even the commercial boys struggled reflecting in the market price of £16.50 a kilo. The same happen off the isle of Sky in the 70s and 80s when the trawlers wiped out the large breeding Cod while the local fisheries did nothing untill it was to late. The stocks never recovered.

 

[youngstu]

I just came across this thread, having not looked far on Deeper Blue for a while.
I'm really sorry to see the problems with the Bass fishery in Guernsey at the moment. I'm a Guernsey boy but now live in North Devon and in 1996 (I think!!) I worked for the sea fisheries whilst doing my University coursework on the age length distribution of Bass in CI waters. I was lucky enough to get out fishing with a few of the local fisherman (I was totally ignorant of it myself) to catch and tag fish around the coast and off the East Coast. I remember seeing some of the commercial anglers hauling them out in large numbers then and unfortunately the personal morals of some were pretty clear then. (one tried to take 2 prizes in the bass competition that year, but as I was taking scales from the fish to check the ages it was spotted).
Now I teach Environmental Studies to 6th formers and I do get to have a good rant about many fisheries policies which are, for want of a better word, disgraceful.
It's very sad to see that Guernsey is now allowing other boats in their waters and that there is so little regard for the fish stocks by the people entrusted to manage them and the people who rely on the health of the stock for their livelihood.
I hope that things do get sorted out before it's too late (and that the trawlers and dredgers are forced to go elsewhere!).
In the meantime, good luck with trying to get something done about it and if you get the chance read "The End of The Line" by Charles Clover. It's a very readable book about global fisheries and makes you wonder why all of the other countries couldn't try and follow Iceland's generally good example.

Good luck
Stu

 

[foxfish]

Thanks for your reply Youngstu, very interesting too.

 

[Old Man Dave]

I just came across this thread, having not looked far on Deeper Blue for a while.

many fisheries policies which are, for want of a better word, disgraceful.
It's very sad to see that Guernsey is now allowing other boats in their waters and that there is so little regard for the fish stocks by the people entrusted to manage them and the people who rely on the health of the stock for their livelihood.

Iif you get the chance read "The End of The Line" by Charles Clover. It's a very readable book about global fisheries and makes you wonder why all of the other countries couldn't try and follow Iceland's generally good example.

Good luck
Stu

Many a true word spoken there my boy.

I have recently read "The end of the line" and very depressing reading it makes. Just goes to show it's not only Guernsey but it still hurts when it is your "local" fish.

Dave

 

[eric aqua]

Thank you for a good letter, our fisheries in Sussex have been quite busy in the last few years and are working on a couple of bream breeding areas including the Kingsmeer, that will be closed to beam trawlers in the breeding season. I have given them GPS marks for a couple of boxes off of Bognor and Hove and hope they will include them in the banned areas. I dived an area at Bognor on April 17th three years ago to find big bream digging their moon pits, as we call them, large shoals of Bass, Pollock, dogfish and some rays where in the area feeding on what the bream where stirring up. Returning on 24th April I found the area had been devastated by two pair trawlers that had been working the area all week. The beds had been smashed to pieces and not a fish was to been found in the area and to make you feel really sick I found out that most of the bream taken had been under size and had been sold at a very low price for fertilizer. I am not sure if the fishermen realise the damage that they do to the sea bed or if they care but would like to see the boats that drag things along the bottom and do the most amount of destruction kept outside the twelve mile limit.

 

[devondave]

Thank you for a good letter, our fisheries in Sussex have been quite busy in the last few years and are working on a couple of bream breeding areas including the Kingsmeer, that will be closed to beam trawlers in the breeding season. I have given them GPS marks for a couple of boxes off of Bognor and Hove and hope they will include them in the banned areas. I dived an area at Bognor on April 17th three years ago to find big bream digging their moon pits, as we call them, large shoals of Bass, Pollock, dogfish and some rays where in the area feeding on what the bream where stirring up. Returning on 24th April I found the area had been devastated by two pair trawlers that had been working the area all week. The beds had been smashed to pieces and not a fish was to been found in the area and to make you feel really sick I found out that most of the bream taken had been under size and had been sold at a very low price for fertilizer. I am not sure if the fishermen realise the damage that they do to the sea bed or if they care but would like to see the boats that drag things along the bottom and do the most amount of destruction kept outside the twelve mile limit.

eric , you've summed up perfectly whats wrong with our current fishing methods . The twelve mile exclusion for dredging is a brilliant idea but one that may be impossible to get put into practice .
( legislators take note , this man knows what he's talking about . )