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Seabass ban next year

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polspear

Member
Dec 27, 2014
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Hi everyone,
I am surprised there is no discussion on the urgent and annoying matter as yet! (or couldn't I just find it?)
So how about that? no bass untill 01 july 2016 and only one fish per day bag limit for the rest of the year
I think it sucks!
 
Seabass is a widely used name to describe all kinds of fish. This is an international forum so could you are more specific?

I am not aware of any new restrictions on white sea bass in California- like the one in my avatar.
 
Sorry mate, I thought I was writing in UK section... Yes it's about northern European area (UK. N. Ireland and France)
 
Republic of Ireland has had a 2 fish a day bag limit for a good few years now and I see large Bass most times I head out.

Nothing wrong with a few bans being thrown around in my opinium
 
yes I totally agree with the reasons for it, I can see bass stocsks are decreasing myself, but realy they should be aiming at different areas of the industry (the discussion is ongoing), ban for netting fishermen who are responsible for overfishing is only 2 months. and how about these bugers:
I truely doubt if reducing fishing for every recreational fisherman by 2 per day is going to make a difference- commercial guys landed 3500 tons of bass last year!
 
The greed of some people, crazy amount of fish most being schoolies..
 
It really doesn't surprise me at all, moves to create a sustainable and healthy stock are good news in my book if they are fair and proportionate and apply across the board. One rule for everyone and all that! lets be honest, some in the fishing community don't help the cause, I am used to seeing dead and dumped mackerel and doggies, that is nothing unusual but this year I saw dead and dumped smoothounds.................... I was totally p****d off, just another nail in the coffin of fishing, good stocks and a healthy respect for the natural inhabitants of the ocean..................... Not good, not good at all!
 
Somebody pointed out a newspaper article on this over Christmas, otherwise I would have been blissfully unaware of the latest restrictions (which seems token & symbolic targeting recreation anglers/fishers, rather than the commercial fishers who can catch more in a single haul that the entire communities of anglers & spearos could in a several years). By targeting enthusiastic amateurs in this way , they risk loosing the support of those who have the most interest in fish stocks, sustainable fishing & the marine eco-system -- the general public are largely ignorant of the problems and they (& commercial fishers) have far more pressing concerns

That said, they do appear to have some restrictions for Commercial fishers too*, and I rarely dive in winter now and I would normally be happy with just 1 bass a day in the Summer (as there are other tasty species available), especially if the ban is for only one year, 2016. BUT imagine if you were spearing on your annual holiday to the coast, you were lucky enough to get several consecutive days of good weather (hey, it could happen!) allowing the water to clear well enough to dive. You go out and after a couple of hours, getting back into the swing of things & exploring the marine environment, you are lucky and skillful enough to find and spear a decent bass (45cm+). You then carry on spearing for another couple of hours, exploring, making the most of the conditions, getting some much needed exercise, perhaps looking for some other prey - a crab, scallops, pollock, grey mullet, mackerel perhaps - and come across the bass of a lifetime...then what do you do? Let it go I suppose or, less ethically, spear it & discard the original smaller one I only mention this because, sod's law, that is what will happen, you'll see no decent bass for months & then (like the proverbial buses) two will come along at once!

*More info. here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...ational-fishing-restrictions-for-bass-in-2016

 
Reactions: Pinniped72
Agreed, that is disgusting. Mackerel are very good eating and very good bait. Even festering fish can be used in crab/lobster traps or as/in chum (ground bait).
 
Reactions: Pinniped72
Every fisherman & spearo knows this "rule" is ridiculous. The only people who will abide by it will be the more ethical among us who realistically, don't take many fish any way - it will be completely ignored by the rest and to what consequence? Who's realistically going to enforce it? As @Mr. X said, you alienate the people who actually care and those who abuse the seas will plunder to their hearts content, as usual.

Increasing quotas for gill netters while imposing blanket bans on the recreational angler? It's hard to take it seriously.
 
Reactions: foxfish
It's crazy, seriously how many recreational anglers would it take to catch 1300kg of Bass? and that's only one boat's worth
 
Received this from one of our (6?) local MEPs today - includes a section on commercial Bass Fishing with rod & line from Weymouth.
Seems like only commercial fishers get any consideration from politicians - and they are the problem (both of them ).

I'd like to see mackerel quotas cut too. Saw a horrendous documentary on a huge brand new purpose built mackerel. It is designed to hold 4 tonnes of mackerel. In their first test trip out, they caught 5 tonnes of mackerel in the first drag!

They deal is such vast volumes that they don't process the fish on board, instead when they return to port and pipe the fish straight in to a purpose built automated processing facility via a large diameter pipe. The fish are process on an automated "production" line. They are raping the seas. They will not be satisfied until there is nothing left - the huge equipment investment means they have to .

They will likely put some of the smaller fishers out of business before they finally fish themselves out of business and collapse Britain marine eco-system, again (herrings, sardines/pilchards,...). Sandeels are apparently threatened too from over "harvesting", so that'll be two of the main remaining prey species gone, so what then will become of the species which feed on them (e.g. bass)? [Hint: American tycoons used to take their private yachts to Scarborough, Yorkshire to fish with rods for the mighty blue tuna - which used treached weights up to and over 900lb! When was the last time you heard of a blue fin tuna of 900lb? When was the last time you heard of blue fin tuna off the coast of Yorkshire?]
 
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Reactions: Pinniped72
Its all just so damn tragic. Mackerel have all but gone from the coast near me compared to 10 years ago. All seemed fine until that Hugh chef bloke started encouraging all and sundry to eat them............................ I blame him.......................... only joking Hugh, well kind of The problem is that we are so efficient with trawlers and factory ships that so much damage can be done in a short amount of time............................... that's why spearos are being restricted.................... what a minute, I've lost my train of thought ...................... I will just leave it to the politicians, they know what they're doing
 
I am a bit confused, the petition says it is asking for the ban to be watered down, does anyone know what this actually means, I will not sign anything that increases commercial fishing, I agree Bass need protection but find the solution hysterical. To be clear, is the petition asking for the restrictions on recreational fishing to be lifted, or any bans and reduced commercial limits to be lifted. Having read the report in one of the links I realise that there is a recommended total catch quota, my issue is the way in which the quota has been divided with disregard to environmental and bycatch issues, it really is simple.................. spearfishing is the most selective and environmentally friendly form of fishing that it is possible to do and its about time that this was recognised by official bodies, we seem to get zero say in any of these issues, when in reality we should be consulted at every step for the environmental reasons detailed above.
 
The petition is aimed at commercial gill netters who are being allowed to fish when the recreational fishers are banned. ie whats the point of banning us and then allowing the commercial guys to carry on - its madness. To be honest banning recreational fishers is plain retarded but it turns full retard when they permit the gill netters at the same time.
 
Reactions: Broseidon
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