Bass size limit

M

MarkTheSpark

Guest
Next to pike, bass are my favourite fishing species. They've always been scarce due to flawed Government rules and poor enforcement, but the glimmer of hope provided by the no-fishing bass nurseries could be improved massively by upping the minimum landable size to 45cm, allowing the bass to breed once before ending up in a restaurant.

So sign the petition below and help sea anglers fight for better treatment of this fantastic fish. It would b better still if the minimum size for farmed bass were set at the same level - at present, undersized schoolies are being passed off as farmed bass.

Petition
 
F

Frothey

Guest
funny thing is that there are actually so many bass around at the moment, the price is dropping - prime cod's getting as expensive!

they've been catching them right through the winter down here, and i know the boats have still been picking them up in the channel
 
A

alan

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
1
Location
portsmouth
Frothey, there are loads of bass around, they tend to stay all year now, but how many are above 36cm?

the bass nursery areas are helping the smaller fish to increase in numbers, but as soon as they are big enough to get caught in the nets they are.

bass at 36cm are to young/small to breed, at 45cm, most, if not all bass would have bred at least once. think of how many would be around then, no need for the bass farms, sea anglers would have a hope in catching one of a keepable size, and enough for the trawlers.

Defra, Bradshaw and the rest of the fisheries committies looked in to it and agreed and as of this year the minimum bass size was going to be increased.

that was untill some time in the last 2 weeks, they have decided it will cost the trawlers to much to change their nets to a larger mesh, so the have scrapped the plan.

once again we have the same situation as the cod, the goverment are ignoring all common and scientific evidence and even their own advice and have bowed to the wishs of the trawlers.
they will continue to kill bass that have not bred, they will continue to provide small bass of which most familes need to buy a couple to get a meal out of, and all because it will cost the industry to replace their nets.


and deispite saying bollocks to the sea angler, they are still talking about introducing a sea license.
 
F

Frothey

Guest
maybe we should try to protect the cod stocks as well though..... but they arent as "sexy" as bass are they?
 
G

Graham Marsden (ACA)

Guest
It looks like the closing date for the petition was yesterday.
 
A

alan

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
1
Location
portsmouth
do you mean the petitions, surveys, letters etc sent to the t***s in charge to get them to reduce trawler activty for cod, dont count?

and the ones trying to have smouthhounds classed as a sport fish? after all not many people eat them, and the tonnes that are caught in the solent at a time are only used as pot meat for crabs.

how about the action being taken to stop them taking and killing sharks and tope. the fins are taken to france and sold as there is no market here, the few that do get sold here end up as a display piece on a fish counter.

or the ones trying to stop monk fish being killed just for their tails.

and we must not forget the rays being sold off as skate, they all but wiped skate out, and have been using rays as a replacement. up in scotland the have the skates on a catch and release program and the numbers are climbing.
 
F

Frothey

Guest
i reckon we ned a decent war alan, with the sea's unsafe for trawlers..... two or three years without fishing should be enough to sort the fish stocks out!

what about legislation to stop the dumping of non-quota fish? it's ridiculous that they have to dump dead fish at sea just to stop them going over quota....
 
N

Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

Guest
Have not had a wild bass from the fish mongers for a while now.All are farmed.Will the market for wild fish decline I wonder?
 
A

alan

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
1
Location
portsmouth
sounds good Frothey, destroy the french and spanish fleets while they are at it.

up to 3/4 can be dumped back, surely the bigger net sizes(meshing) will mean the smaller "waste" fish wont be caught as well.


trawler skippers dont like 6oz weights and 2/0 hooks, espically when they come in to casting range along the beach.
 
F

Frothey

Guest
not just the small fish alan, if a skipper caught a tonne of 10lb bass and they were over quota already, in theory(!) they'd be dumped.....
 
F

Frank "Chubber" Curtis

Guest
It's not mesh size that matters, it's the shape. For a number of years now Russian trawlers have been using a square mesh instead of the usual diamond shape because it stays open to its full size thus allowing the smaller fish to escape. Underwater cameras have shown huge amounts of undersize fish escaping along the full length of the trawl net leaving only the sizeable fish to be hauled up. British and European trawler owners have resisted the change to this type mesh for financial reasons.
 
M

MarkTheSpark

Guest
The Russians are some of the worst fishing pirates in the world, usually found to be using undersize mesh.
 
A

alan

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
1
Location
portsmouth
I didnt know that Frank, thanks.

the financial excuse is really starting to p**s me off.

they wont change nets because its to expensive.
they wont accept quota cuts because they might lose money.
they wont accept scientific evidence that the are destroying the fish stocks as it might cost them money.
they want paying for their fishing licenses, which the goverment gave to them for free.
 
F

Frank "Chubber" Curtis

Guest
As I said Mark size is not the issue. The conventional mesh (diamond) closes when the net is dragged through the water making an almost solid barrier to any small fish attempting to escape whereas the square mesh stays open to it's full size all the way down to the cod end thus allowing smaller fish to escape. Russian mesh size may be smaller than the European standard but the numbers of undersized fish landed are many times less.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top