The shoreline around the british isles as everyone im shore would agree differs quite considerably. its easier for fishermen to trawl say a nice smooth sandy area for sole and flatfish etc like where i live, than a rocky headland or something similar with standard trawling gear with out the need of more specialist rockhopping equipt trawls.

We all know that areas where the commercials find more difficult or more time consuming to work there is still some stock of reasonable size fish to catch, how do we know? well its reported even on here by anglers saying so every other week and in magazines etc.

Now to my point, after stating the obvious once again, is that if a licence was introduced nationaly this may well give some value to those areas where there are some fish left, but where there is no stock at all and never likely to be any, this i feel will not be the same and would be unfair.

If and its a big if" the powers that be? introduced measures so to favour those areas that have been and continue to be over fished and made priority to stop commercial inshore fishing like trawling to start with, then perhaps people will invest some money and not object to paying for a licence.

People keep refering to the usa about licences and what it has done there, well not all states have one and it is only those that would maybe benefit that have" they dont have it nationally like what is being proposed here, if b.a.s.s. are using the idea of the licence as a carrot? what good is that to other areas like n.irland where you dont even get them. you could make similar comparisons with other species like skate etc, but thats enough for now.

So would a national sea licence be unfair? maybe if you are getting some return from your days effort then perhaps not, but if you live and fish these areas that are all so easy for the commercials to trawl and net etc, then its not so easy to swallow paying more money for nothing in return, and before anyone says 24 quid is nothing to pay you tight git, its not the money as they say its principles.......

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Hi Stavy,

Who would want to fish these areas?

Now to my point, after stating the obvious once again, is that if a licence was introduced nationaly this may well give some value to those areas where there are some fish left, but where there is no stock at all and never likely to be any this i feel will not be the same and would be unfair.

Hi Stavey

May I clarify a point you have made.

You state that,

"People keep refering to the usa about licences and what it has done there, well not all states have one and it is only those that would maybe benefit that have" they dont have it nationally like what is being proposed here, if b.a.s.s. are using the idea of the licence as a carrot? what good is that to other areas like n.irland where you dont even get them. you could make similar comparisons with other species like skate etc, but thats enough for now."

Please note BASS has NOT recommended national licences for recreational sea anglers, in their 'Bass Management Plan(BMP)' .

The reference to licences in the BMP relates to commercial fishermen only.

dsr1

Stavey,

You seem determind to knock the idea of a licence but you don't have any other viable solution...

Most of us agree that a cash investment is needed to at least START to make a difference. Also your suggesting that fishless areas will always be so but that is very nieve.

Recently I read a wonderful article that suggested we follow the Austrailian example of using old tires to make huge man-made reefs. These sunken rafts would be grafted to the sea bed and left to be covered by weed etc so to give the fish vast refuges out of the reach of the nets...

Cash can make things like this a reality and I don't see any other way in which such funding could be raised other than by the licence...

Jeff

[ 27. June 2005, 01:07 PM: Message edited by: JeffB ]

A sea licence would be no more unfair than a national freshwater licence is. The folks that coarse fish in northumberland have a really rough deal compared to say surrey or hampshire to name but 2 counties with pretty good coarse fishing.

The real benefit of having a licence system is that it means that the government can no longer ignore RSA as a stakeholder. If they are prepared to put in place the legislation to require licences then they MUST take on board the needs of those licence holders.

I for one will gladly pay for a licence. It provides the best hope of being taken seriously as a stakeholder in the future well being of the seas around these islands.

On an old Rick Steins Seafood Odyssey programme last night he was talking about the Cod-Wars and the now notable foresight of the Iclandic people...

He said that they saw these problems coming whereas we didn't... I agree with him to an extent but i feel that ignorance played a massive part of that as well for I'm sure we knew this could happen but merely hoped that it would not...

thanks for the feedback lads, first of all ken some of us live in areas where sandy smooth beaches is what we have locally, there was once plenty of mussel beds here but as you know they are no longer, because of the trawlers.

dsr1, il take your word on what the licence was being refered to in the bmp, my mistake, i have read it some time ago and given out a few copies here and there, what i remember about it was, that it was quite well put together and raised some very good points..

jeff, believe it or not we do agree at times and youl be happy to hear that artificial reefs in the form of old tyres or better still all these old cars dumped on the side of the road these days with their engine and oily bits removed would be even better, i am at the moment working on this with local authorities (early days though) it is hopefully part of a bigger plan for my area, this would be financed locally because at the end of the day it is them and us that will benefit mostly and much fairer than say for some one 400+ miles away, who knows you and others may spend some money on vacation down here for some shore fishing "qaulity" rather than having to hop on a plane and spend hundreds to get something similar.

nickinnorth, sorry mate to hear you dont get much value compared to the south for your ea licence, but every thing else up their is a lot cheaper than it is here mate,ie,housing,food,bear, etc, yet you still have the same minimum wage, funny that....

anyway keep the feedback coming its interesting and constructive to hear every one elses opinions on here isn't it" we may all live on a tiny little island but its so healthy to be different in some ways....

Stavey, I don't need any licence at the moment, as I live north of the border. However far from complaining about the national rod licence I have been a supporter of it from it's inception. Prior to the national rod licence I had to buy 3 seperate licences to fish in yorkshire, the trent area and down in the fens.

As to your other point about everything up here being cheaper, then I am afraid it shows just how little you know. In both northumberland and here in the highlands of scotland you will find that average prices for all things - apart from housing - are higher than you pay down there. In addition average wages are way below the rates down in the South East.

With regard to the actual point of your post, I personally do not think that the introduction of a sea fishing licence would be unfair, it would be a means of licencing individuals to fish anywhere in the UK. As such it would allow anyone to fish anywhere. Far better in my opinion than a series of regional licences that would mean that anyone wanting to fish in another area would need to buy an additional licence (or licences) and that would be much more expensive overall.

Hi Stavey,

There are many so called blank areas around the British coastline.

A lot of people who go sea fishing have no coast line and have to travel every time they go sea fishing.

Is it fair that they to will have to pay a licence?

50p per week is nothing to pay for our hobby, anyone who begrudges paying 50p a week should look very hard at the cost of all other hobbies and realise just how lucky we are to be paying nothing now and the prospects of paying 50p per week so that we are no longer freeloaders and have a right to moan.

Like Nick I also support the idea of a licence if only to buy a voice that will be listened to. Sad but true.

Once we have paid they have to give something in return, and even though a lot of people just see it as 'another tax' they will at least have to show some accountability. Road tax fixes the roads, well sort of anyway, NI pays for the NHS, well sort of anyway, and at least 'well sort of' is betting than bu**er all.

Regional licences would be a mess. The best way is a national license but with regional control over how best to spend the tax raised. That way bass won't be the only species to benefit.