Angling Trust calls for Bass Bag Limit to be restored

[FishingMagic]

Later this month EU Fisheries Ministers will be considering a proposal from the European Commission which is expected to recommend the reinstatement of a bag limit for recreational catches of sea bass for the remainder of 2018.


This follows the publication in June of revised scientific advice from ICES which significantly reduced the estimated impact of recreational fishing on bass from 1,627 tonnes down to 212 tonnes, giving scope to reinstate a bag limit.



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[no-one in particular]

The real eye opener is that ICES got their previous estimate wrong by 87% which is not acceptable by a body in charge of something as important as fish stocks, if I got anything wrong by 87% someone would stop me doing it..

Their new estimate is based on a new methodology, does this mean the old methodology has been wrong by 87% for the last 50 years and do we wait for another 50 years to see if this one is any good. And I bet I cannot find out what this new one is because I could never find out was the old one was. The sea is divided into about 200+ areas and some 20 species by them so that's about 4000 estimates they make every year which I reckon were based on faulty science given the results, a sea devoid of many species and this will continue is what I think why they carry on experimenting with different methodologies with 50 year "see if they work" time spans..I have no faith of any sort in them or their methods.

Harvest-able marine reserves are the better option.