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Bass" Protection " Legislation farce.

David Craine

David Craine

Senior Member & Supporter
Hi all, the Bass so called "protection" legislation has really ignited a backlash amongst anglers and other intested parties,as per the other thread by Paul..there is an online petition re this matter asking the government to step in and examine /hopefully ammend somehow the stupidly worded and targeted legislation... it needed 10000 signatures to get a government response, and 100000 signatures for a consideration for debate, I ask that you all consider signing the petition...

Link...

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/116747

Many thanks..and apologies for duplicate post.

Dave
 
Since I now own Sea Fishing Poole on the Quay at Poole specialising in getting people afloat fishing for all species of sea fish including Bass it is very much in my interest to support all aspects of recreational sea angling so consider it signed.
 
The Angling trust are also involved in these ludicrous , pointless measures..
The Sea anglers are saying that the AT do not represent Sea angling , so how dare they try to tell them what to do by trying to enforce and propagate such measures..
I signed this petition some time ago , for all the good it will do..
 
Craig Wood said:
The Angling trust are also involved in these ludicrous , pointless measures..
The Sea anglers are saying that the AT do not represent Sea angling , so how dare they try to tell them what to do by trying to enforce and propagate such measures..
I signed this petition some time ago , for all the good it will do..
Click to expand...

The AT are involved - in campaining to get this changed. I was at the CAG meeting when we discussed it. A lot of sea fisherman are in the AT and like other anglers a lot are not. Further what seems to have infuriated everyone is George Eustice allowing the gill netting, the most damaging method, over 40% of landings, then getting their quota upped under the banner of succesfull conservation :eek: ! This while recreational sea anglers have a 6 month catch and release close season followed by a one fish limit whilst they are not the problem. I think most recreational sea anglers realise bass stocks need protecting and are happy to do their bit to preserve their sports future, it is George Eustice that is the biggest problem here.
 
Hi Andrew,
The original poster that was put out there regarding this matter , was fully endorsed by the AT and the EA..
If the AT are against it , then why is their name, along with EA, on the posters that are in Tackle shops..:confused:
 
Hi Craig,

I think you may have the wrong project. Please see joint BASS and AT statement below. I will also attach the link. I think the posters you have seen might be the save our seabass campaign?


Fishing Ministers accused of ‘shameful conservation con trick’ over bass stocks
Posted on 17 December 2015 by Bass.Blogging.Team

BASS and Angling Trust Statement

Organisations representing Britain’s 800,000 sea anglers have reacted furiously to the news that EU Fisheries Ministers, including the UK’s George Eustice, have caved into pressure from commercial fishing interests and granted exemptions to the highly damaging bass gill net fishery. This sector, described by Eustice as ‘low impact’ is actually responsible for by far the greatest over-fishing of threatened bass stocks in the UK. It will now only be closed for two months of the year rather than six as was planned in the proposed European moratorium on commercial bass fishing during the spawning period. For the UK alone, this represents an increase in gill net landings of 131 tonnes compared with the scientists’ recommendation of a maximum of 541 tonnes of landings in 2016 for the entire Northern bass stock. Furthermore the gill net monthly catch limit per vessel has been raised from 1.0 to 1.3 tonnes, making a nonsense of claims to be conserving bass stocks in line with the evidence and best scientific advice.

At the same time, the £200 million recreational bass sector will see a zero bag limit in the first 6 months and in the second half of the year the bag limit for anglers will be reduced from three fish a day to just one. Whilst anglers were pleased to have retained catch and release fishing for bass during the first half of the year, they claim that the overall package has unfairly targeted the one activity that is most sustainable and creates the greatest economic benefit, in favour of allowing what is virtually ‘business as usual’ for the netters. Prior to this week’s Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels to consider the Commission’s proposals, both the Angling Trust and the Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society (BASS) lobbied George Eustice to retain Catch and Release angling from January to June, to remove the gill nets and make bass a hook and line fishery only.

The only UK commercial sectors that look like seeing any significant reduction in catches are the trawlers and seiners which account for only 15% of all UK bass landing, whereas gill netting is responsible for over half of total UK bass catches each year and so should be the major target of these restrictions.

The figures recommended by the scientists at ICES in order to rebuild European bass stocks were for an 80% reduction in landings in 2015 and a 90% reduction in 2016 down to 541 tonnes in total. By watering down the Commission’s proposals, through an increase in the monthly vessel catch limits for both line fishing and gill netting and restricting their closure period to just February and March, the impact is now likely to deliver a little more than a 20% reduction in mortalities. By contrast anglers will be expected to return every bass they catch from January to June and then see their bag limit for the remaining six months slashed by 66%.

Angling Trust Campaigns Chief Martin Salter said:

“This is nothing more than a conservation con trick by politicians who have ignored the science and capitulated to commercial pressure from the very sector that has caused the decline of bass stocks in the first place. Anglers are supposed to feel grateful for being allowed to return our bass to the sea during the first half of 2016, whilst for four months of that period gill netters will actually see their catch limits increased. And how gill netting, which is responsible for more than half of all commercial UK bass landings and catches two and a half times more than any other method, can be labelled ‘low impact’ simply beggars belief.

For George Eustice to describe what has been agreed as ‘a good result’ for bass whilst at the same time claiming on TV that his local netsmen will be virtually unaffected by ‘this generous exemption’ is downright disingenuous and deeply insulting to Britain’s anglers and anyone else who cares about sustainable fish stocks.â€

Nigel Horsman of BASS added:

“Once again, our politicians have ignored the scientific advice, ignored the economic facts, thought only about the short term and given in to the bullying tactics of the commercial fishing sector, shafting the future bass fishing prospects of hundreds of thousands of sea anglers in the process. The rapid decline in bass stocks will continue under this deal, giving a real risk that the whole bass fishery for everyone will have to be shut in the next year or two, just as we warned the Minister directly last week. A major plank in the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy was to take politically motivated, short term dealing out of fishery management and replace it with long term decision making based on ecological, economic and social evidence. Our politicians have just driven a coach and horses through their own new rules, proving again, that they are not to be trusted with anything to do with fishery management. Sea anglers are justifiably furious with this outcome for not only threatening their future sport, but also for the blatant disregard for any fairness or justice in allocating these “fishing opportunities†between anglers and commercial fishermen. This is a shameful result.â€

Long standing bass campaigner and Angling Trust Ambassador Malcolm Gilbert said:

“The recreational sea angling sector has been well and truly screwed over by the politicians. This year, we have had a bag limit of 3 bass. In 2016, whereas, gill netters can now fish during four of the first six months and retain/land up to 1300 kilos in each of those months, recreational anglers have a zero bag limit. For the second half of the year, again whilst gill netters can retain/land 1300 kilos each month, recreational sea anglers are subject to a one bass bag limit. [Defra must have told the Minister that in 2014 only 111 vessels out of 1,331 in the UK managed to catch 1000 kilos of bass in a month, so the vast majority were unaffected by such a limit, yet the Minister has seen fit to increase the limit to 1300 kilos for gill netters, effectively dismissing the scientific advice with similar contempt with which he has treated the recreational sea angling community.

This debacle is not only grossly unfair to recreational sea anglers but even more importantly, the bass resource itself is going to be subjected to far higher levels of fishing mortality than the scientists recommend. In the long term it is a catastrophic outcome for all of us who crave restoration of bass stocks with truly sustainable long term exploitation.â€

The Angling Trust will now be briefing MPs on the consequences of these latest decisions on bass and is hoping to see a debate in the Commons in order to hold the minister to account for this failure to deliver meaningful conservation measures and some of the extraordinary claims that he has made in defence of unsustainable fishing methods.

Fishing Ministers accused of ‘shameful conservation con trick’ over bass stocks | Bass Anglers

As you can see they are certainly not supporting George Eustice :) I believe there is a lot of support for what the European Commision are trying to do as there is also a lot of opposition from people who wish to retain their catch. As someone who always releases any bass I catch it does not bother me although I feel the one fish limit may be OTT and the closed season is as normal wrong with it's timing. The European Commision believe recreational angling accounts for 25% of bass mortalities so rightly or wrongly is trying to reduce them. These figures are from ICES who reccomend an 85% drop in landings.
 
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